NASCIO Honors Exceptional Contributions in State Government
SAN DIEGO, Calif., Wednesday, October 24 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) presented the State Technology Innovator Award to three deserving public servants during the 2018 NASCIO Annual Conference in San Diego.
The NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award honors outstanding individuals who have made contributions to advance state technology policy through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery. Nominees must be a state government employee. Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members as well as non-members and selected by the NASCIO Executive Committee. The following are the recipients of the 2018 NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award:
Chris Cruz, Deputy Chief Information Officer, State of California
As Deputy CIO for the State of California, Chris Cruz is a visionary leader in digital technology for the department, the state and the nation. From driving SaaS solutions and a single statewide e-mail solution to serving as an ambassador both at home and across the country, Chris has been instrumental to California’s continued success.
David McCurdy, Chief Technology Officer, State of Colorado
David McCurdy is blazing a path for the State of Colorado in modernizing IT. David’s advancements to Colorado’s technology agenda are making a difference for state employees and Coloradans, thereby helping to create a safer, happier and healthier state. He works to empower the state with flexible technology that will drive sustainable and intelligent business decisions for years to come.
Rajiv Rao, Chief Technology Officer, State of New York
Rajiv Rao’s broad experience and bold vision equips him with a perspective to work with clients to architect innovative technology solutions that deliver big value for New York. Leading projects such as data center consolidation, identity-as-a-service, single sign-on for more than 800 New York state apps, and modern artificial intelligence and machine language processing to improve IT support for the state workforce, Rao is truly an innovator making a difference for the state of New York.