California Chief Information Officer Carlos Ramos, San Jose CIO Vijay Sammeta and Los Angeles County CIO Richard Sanchez have recently announced they are stepping down from their positions.
Oakland announced it was seeking a CIO in October, but has yet to fill the vacancy left by Bryan M. Sastokas, who now services as Long Beach CIO and head of technology and innovation.
Of significant importance is the state CIO opening, and its convergence with evolving talk of establishing a government digital service team, much like what has been done in the United Kingdom and here in the United States with the U.S. Digital Service and 18F. It’s an ideal time for California to bring in someone more focused on open technologies, open data and a broader vision for non-private, cloud-based solutions.