How being a cabinet agency empowered IT in Massachusetts

On the Priorities podcast, Massachusetts CIO Jason Snyder says taking the helm of the cabinet-level IT agency in the state has “really empowered” what technology can do in state government.

Snyder, who was named state CIO in January, returns to state government nearly a decade after he last served as the state’s chief technology officer. When he left government in 2013, the state IT function was a service provider, and had not yet become the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security, which was formed in 2017.

“When I was here, Information Technology Division was a service provider for the different agencies of the Commonwealth, and so that was its entire focus,” Snyder tells StateScoop Managing Editor Benjamin Freed. “Those have continued, but what’s been quite evident with the expansion EOTSS is the expectation of technology leadership, within the secretariat and beyond.”

During his first budget hearing last month, Snyder testified that cybersecurity, data analytics, identity and access management and digital services were the state’s top four technology priorities.

In the news this week:

Pennsylvania’s current IT office opposes a bill currently circulating through the state legislature to restructure IT operations in the state. The bill would restructure the state’s IT office and create a unified spending mechanism for technology across the Commonwealth. Former state CIO John MacMillan testified against a previous version of the bill in 2021, calling it quote overly prescriptive.

Washington, D.C. has a new interim CTO. Stepping into the role is Michael Rupert, who has been with the office since 2014 in various roles. He told StateScoop that he’s planning to continue work on digital services, and expand the city’s Community Internet Program. 

New York State Chief Technology Officer Rajiv Rao has resigned. The resignation, which was submitted March 24, ended his government tenure of more than 11 years. Rao’s resignation also came after he took a voluntary leave of absence while the state inspector general’s office looked into how he and the state’s now-former acting budget director handled various contracts.

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here.

If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and Stitcher.