Former Illinois CTO Mike Wons joins online payment vendor PayIt

Former Illinois Chief Technology Officer Mike Wons is joining PayIt, which provides state and local governments with online transaction platforms, to serve as its chief client officer, the company announced Wednesday.

Wons, who joined PayIt’s advisory board in December, had been the chief technology and product officer of the risk-management firm SAI Global since stepping down as Illinois’ inaugural statewide CTO.

Appointed in 2015 by Gov. Bruce Rauner, Wons used his time as Illinois’ CTO to establish the state’s “FIRST” strategy, a modernization initiative aimed at raising government technological standards.

Mike Wons

Now, Wons will take his 30-plus years of experience in the public and private sectors to PayIt, which offers government clients a cloud-based platform for payment processing. PayIt says it offers its clients a “consumer-focused, smart, modern, and convenient approach that is reimagining the way people do business with their government.”

“PayIt and our clients will benefit from Mike’s unique experience working to simplify government,” the company’s chief executive, John Thomson, said in a press release . “We’re thrilled to add his leadership, vision and expertise to our world-class team at PayIt.”

Wons said in the press release that he used PayIt’s platform in Illinois to improve citizen self-service while also saving state agencies money.

“I had the unique opportunity to be a PayIt client prior to joining the team as we launched the IllinoisFIRST platform and am a true believer in this unique technology and the team behind it,” Wons said.

Before joining the Illinois state government, Wons spent six years as president and CEO of CellTrak Technologies, a healthcare software company.

Rauner recently signed legislation making the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology a permanent part of state government.