Nichols, who's worked in state IT for more than two decades, served as acting CIO for five months earlier this year.

The CIOs of California and Minnesota said at NASCIO's midyear conference that sometimes small state IT projects have outsized impact.

Former Google Ventures partner Rick Klau was named the state's new innovation officer. Newsom also named a new CTO and deputy CIO.

A new statewide plan to connect inmates and staff to digital resources is overturning old assumptions about the use of technology in the corrections system.