States get new CIOs

Florida State Technology Office

The state chief information officer landscape shifted in the last week, with two long-time officials leaving for the private sector and one political official stepping into the field.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush on May 12 named Simone Marstiller as CIO, filling the position that has been open since former CIO Kim Bahrami left in February. Marstiller comes to the state's top technology job from several management positions within the governor's administration — primarily as a lawyer within the Agency for Health Care Administration, but most recently as deputy chief of staff.

In other parts of the country, two CIOs who have been in place for years decided to move on into positions in the private sector.

On May 14 Washington Governor Gary Locke announced that state CIO Stuart McKee will be leaving the Department of Information Services on June 4 to become the national technology officer at Microsoft Corp.

McKee has served in the CIO position since April 2002, and has taken the national lead through the National Association of State CIOs on issues such as privacy and wireless communications. Prior to coming to government, McKee headed the Internet divisions of the Walt Disney Co., including ESPN.com, Disney.com and ABCNews.com.

Brian Wolf, who has served as Montana's chief information technology officer since 2001 when the legislature created the position, also announced last week that he will be leaving government in June to become chief operating officer of the utility division at National Information Solutions Cooperative in St. Peters, Mo. The company develops and supports IT solutions for utility and telecommunications cooperatives and companies.