NASCIO Recognizes Exceptional Contributions in State Government

PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Tuesday, October 15 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) honored Scott Gessler, Colorado Secretary of State and Selvi Stanislaus, Executive Officer, State of California, Franchise Tax Board, with the association’s State Technology Innovator award. The awards were presented during NASCIO’s 2013 Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pa.

To encourage valid voter registration and reduce the potential for fraud and abuse of the system, Secretary of State Scott Gessler spearheaded a focused effort to make registering to vote more accessible and voter rolls more accurate in the state of Colorado. To make registering to vote easier and more accessible, Secretary Gessler and his office developed the first mobile-optimized voter registration site in the country. GoVoteColorado.com enabled Coloradans to register to vote through their mobile device for the 2012 election and avoid the inconvenient trip to the post office.

Stanislaus extraordinary efforts helped the nation’s most populous state close its tax gap and get on with the critical work of service delivery for all Californians. She leads the nation’s second largest tax department with over 5,300 permanent and 2,000 seasonal and intermittent employees nationwide. Under Stanislaus’ leadership, Franchise Tax Board (FTB) brings in roughly $55 billion annually—more than 65 percent of California’s annual General Fund revenue. Each year, FTB processes more than 17 million personal income tax returns and more than 1 million business entity tax returns.

Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members as well as non-members. NASCIO presents the State Technology Innovator Award on an annual basis to recognize state leaders who steadily promote innovation, excellence and good government. Nominees must be an employee of, elected official, appointed official or other appointee representing state government.