Winners announced for 2018 StateScoop 50 awards

The 2018 winners of the StateScoop 50 awards which annually highlight the best and brightest in the state IT community were announced Sunday April 22 in Baltimore, Maryland, at the beginning of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ mid year conference.

The awards, which were presented for their fifth consecutive year, honor state government information technology and cyber security executives, industry influencers, up-and-comers and innovative projects.

Members of the state and local IT community nominated thousands of government leaders in February and March 2018. From there, StateScoop narrowed the list to the top 170 with the most nominations. StateScoop readers then cast more than 500,000 votes nationally in March and April to select the final 50 2018 winners.

“For the fifth year, we are honored to highlight the brightest leaders from government and the tech industry for their work in the government IT community,” said Goldy Kamali, founder and CEO of Scoop News Group, StateScoop’s parent company. “Every day, Scoop News Group engages these leaders online and in person, and today, we’re excited to bring them together and honor them in Baltimore.”

“StateScoop is all about community,”Jake Williams, StateScoop’s associate publisher and director of strategic initiatives, said. “These leaders inspire me every day, and encourage leaders across state and local government to work hard and continue to serve their workforces and their citizens with the best services. We’re thankful for what they do, and can’t wait to see what they do next.”

The 2018 StateScoop 50 winners are:

GoldenGov:State Executive of the Year

• Stu Davis, Chief Information Officer, Ohio
• John Dunlap, Chief Technology Officer, West Virginia
• Michael Hussey, Chief Information Officer, Utah
• Marcie Kahbody, Agency Information Officer, California State Transportation Agency
• Eric Larson, Chief Information Officer, Florida
• David McCurdy, Chief Technology Officer, Colorado
• James “Bo” Reese, Chief Information Officer,Oklahoma
• Bob Samson, Chief Information Officer,New York
• Ed Toner,Chief Information Officer, Nebraska

State Leadership of the Year

• Tyler Clark,Chief Of Staff, Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology
• Nikhil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer,Georgia
• Tracy Doaks, Chief Services Officer,North Carolina
• Tiziana Galeazzi, General Manager, Michigan Department of Technology, Management &Budget
• Richard “Dickie” Howze, Chief InformationOfficer,Louisiana
• LeonJones,Director, Arkansas Department of Labor
• Barney Krucoff, Interim Chief Technology Officer &Chief Data Officer,Washington, D.C.
• Jayne Scofield, ITAdministrator, State ofNebraska

State ITInnovation of the Year

• Alexa Louisiana Driving Test, Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles
• Michigan CISO as a Service,Michigan Department of Technology,Management &Budget
• Colorado DRIVES, Colorado Governor’s Office of InformationTechnology
• Gov2Go National Rollout, NIC Inc.
• Georgia Gateway, Georgia Department of Human Services
• Hawaii Annual Code Challenge Program, Hawaii Office of Enterprise Technology Services
• Maryland Business Express Portal, Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation
• MISSI Official Chatbot for the State of Mississippi, Mississippi Information Technology Services
• Nebraska State Patrol, State of Nebraska
• NJ Outdoors Camp ground Reservations,New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry
• Oregon Government Ethics Commission,State of Oregon
• Utah Practice Driver License Platform, Utah Department of Technology Services

State Up &Comer

• Aaron Call,Chief InformationSecurity Officer, Minnesota
• Graig Lubsen, Communications&Marketing Director, Indiana Office of Technology
• Jon Minshew, Chief Customer Officer, North Carolina
• Jerrod Roth, Program Manager, Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology
• Deanna Towne,IT Director, Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology
• Corbett Webb, Chief of Staff, Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation

State Cybersecurity Leader

• Alfritch Anderson, Senior Manager -Security Operations,Colorado Governor’s Office of InformationTechnology
• Erik Avakian, Chief Information Security Officer, Pennsylvania
• Dustin Glover,Chief Information Security Officer, Louisiana
• Chris Hill, Chief Information Security Officer, Illinois
• Mike Lettman, Chief Information Security Officer, Arizona
• Maria Thompson, Chief Information Risk Officer, North Carolina
• Walter Tong, Director – Cyber Intelligence, Georgia Technology Authority

Industry Leadership of the Year

• Jennifer Axt, General Manager – North America State &Local Government and Education, Dell EMC
• Dwight Chamberlain, Senior Director – SLED, Red Hat
• Harry Herington, CEO&Chairman, NICInc.
• Thomas MacLellan, Director of Policy &Government Affairs, Symantec
• KimNelson, Executive Director -State &Local Government Solutions, Microsoft
• John Pellettiere, National Sales Director – State,Local &Education, Nutanix
• Bethann Pepoli, Director – SLEDBusiness Development, Splunk
• Kenneth Smith, Principal, Deloitte

Continue to the next page for individual profiles on each winner.