Texas CIO Amanda Crawford appointed to serve as state’s insurance commissioner

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday appointed Amanda Crawford, the state’s chief information officer and executive director of the Texas Department of Information Resources as the state’s commissioner of insurance.

Crawford has served as the Lone Star State’s top tech official since 2019. In the new role, she will lead the Texas Department of Insurance for a term that is set to expire on Feb. 1, 2027, according to Abbott’s announcement.

A DIR spokesperson said the department is “not anticipating” that Crawford will retain her CIO role and that transition plans will be announced in the coming days.

“I am deeply honored and humbled that Governor Greg Abbott has appointed me as Texas Insurance Commissioner,” Crawford wrote in a shared statement. “I am grateful for his trust, and I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the people of Texas in advancing the mission of the Texas Department of Insurance.

“Serving as the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Information Resources and Chief Information Officer for the state of Texas since 2019 has been the most rewarding chapter of my career to date. I am extremely proud of what we have built at DIR and how we have served Texas. I am confident I am leaving a strong agency with an exceptional leadership team that will continue to deliver for Texas.”

As Texas’ CIO, Crawford has guided statewide technology efforts and set strategic priorities for digital services, security and modernization across a number of state agencies, managing a portfolio with an annual fiscal profile of more than $6 billion.

She has also led the state’s engagement with artificial intelligence, serving on Texas’ artificial intelligence advisory council, which was created in June 2023, and helping to make the state’s relationship with the tech “serious.” In an interview with this publication last October, she noted that AI is motivating stronger data governance work across agencies, allowing them to unlock new capabilities through data sharing.

Crawford spearheaded changes to the state’s cybersecurity posture throughout her tenure, and helped state agencies and local governments navigate cybersecurity incidents. She said the state’s Regional Security Operations Center program was “paying dividends,” creating a continual pipeline of cyber professionals and supplementing local government agencies’ cybersecurity assets, which are often lacking.

She led expansion of the state’s digital services offerings, including a digital assistant in the state’s Texas by Texas app that can help residents with services such as renewing their boat registrations and upgrading their driver’s licenses.