Washington state acting CIO Rob St. John retires

Washington state’s acting chief information officer will soon end a 33-year career in government, the state’s technology office announced Wednesday.

Rob St. John will officially retire on June 30, according to a press release from Washington Technology Solutions, also known as WaTech. St. John took over as director of WaTech and became the state’s top technology official after the resignation of Michael Cockrill in September.

Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, praised St. John for his work “these past several months” and for his previous decades of public service in which he “helped our state and our agencies navigate many important changes and innovations.”

Rob St. John

Before venturing into the state’s technology offices, St. John started his career in Washington state government at the Department of Social and Health Services, where he first worked with clients, according to WaTech. He later became a systems administrator, supporting a welfare reform effort and developing case management and child care eligibility systems.

In 2007, St. John was named the CIO of the health department. He later joined the Office of Financial Management as deputy state CIO. In 2012, he was named director of Consolidated Technology Services, a state technology office that was later consolidated into today’s WaTech. St. John eventually served as director of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and then became acting CIO in October.

“This agency employs some of the brightest and hardest working staff in state government, and because of that I’ve always had confidence that our systems and services are dependable, secure and ready to meet the needs of our users,” St. John said in a press release.

An interim replacement to St. John has not been named. For a new state CIO, a spokesperson from the governor’s office told StateScoop “a national search is underway.”