Ed Toner
CIO
Nebraska
Since taking over as Nebraska’s chief information officer, Chief Information Officer Ed Toner has consolidated key information technology systems and services, and positioned the state to save roughly $5.3 million over the next decade. Toner achieved the cuts by eliminating redundant applications in the state, retooling some major information technology contracts and cutting back on the number of state servers by making greater use of Nebraska’s two data centers. Toner hails from the private sector and brings to the public sector his experience from an Omaha-based IT firm. Toner has mandated state government to run more like a business.
Todd Nacapuy
CIO
Hawaii
Todd Nacapuy took the reins as the chief information officer of Hawaiiand has since been charged with leading a new restructuring effort of the state’s information technology departments. Nacapuy is looking to implement a new governance structure to help the state finish its largest information technology projects on budget and on time. The new process will give information technology staff at Nacapuy’s agency the opportunity to stop and evaluate potentially doomed projects at several stages in theprocess.
Yessica Jones
Deputy Director, Department of Information Systems
Arkansas
Yessica Jones joinedthe Arkansas Department of Information Services as deputy director to help the state’s information technology department manage its fiscal division and compliance practices. In addition, Jones directly oversees the enterprise architecture division, which encompasses the project management, quality management and human resources departments. Before coming to the Department of Information Services, Jones worked directly for Gov. Asa Hutchinson as his outreach liaison to the Hispanic community while teaching management information systems at Harding University. Jones has also worked as a solutions developer for oil company Pennzoil.
Elizabeth Rowe
Chief Data Officer
New Jersey
Elizabeth Rowe, who nine months agobecame the first chief data officerfor New Jersey,is defining priorities and creating consensus on policies regarding the aggregation and sharing of data among internal and external stakeholders. A strategic adviser to the New Jersey Big Data Alliance, Rowe has formed partnerships with many business and technical stakeholders across the state. In New Jerseys executive branch, she has been discussing increasing engagement via transparency,identifying open data opportunities,using big data, and improving customer experiences through information sharing across agencies.
Archana Vemulapalli
CTO
District of Columbia
Mayor Muriel Bowser tapped Archana Vemulapalli as her nominee for the chief technology officer post in January, and since then, she’s been working to collect feedback and implement the district’s new open data policy, while developing her own roadmap of the district’s IT future. Vemulapalli says politics is foreign to her, and instead wants to bring an outsider’s perspective to city government and use her private sector experience in the new role. Vemulapalli has held meetings with new staff and other agencies and businesses in an effort to craft a shared vision for the how agency should proceed.
Eric Ellis
CTO
North Carolina
As thechief technology officer for North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Eric Ellispartnered with Chris Estes then, the state’schief information officer and current state CIOKeith Werner to begin work on the North Carolina Innovation Center. Since its inception, the iCenter has saved state agencies money by giving them thechance to try new technology from a diverse group of vendors before they buy it. Now,as chief technology officer for the state, Ellis continues to play a fundamental role in the iCenter’s operations.
