Overview

March 4

Information technology teams are transitioning away from being seen as cost centers for state and local governments. Instead, they’re becoming a key part of delivering value and improving service delivery.

To make that transition successful, IT teams must be prepared to show how the investments they’re making are delivering true value. To help transform and modernize public IT, you’ve got to demonstrate the value you bring in maximizing ROI.

In this 30-minute webinar, we’ll outline best practices and successful strategies for shifting your IT organization to become a value center:

How can you best show value of investments from ARPA, the federal infrastructure bill and other stimulus revenues from Washington?
How can you leverage technologies like cloud to further extend value to your organization?
How can IT leadership teams work with finance teams to move in the right direction?

Speakers

Brent Messer

Former CIO, City of Chattanooga

Brent Messer is an award-winning thought leader, author, and international speaker on the world of IoT, Smart Cities, Agile, digital transformation, and innovation in the public sector; named to State Scoop's Golden Gov: City Executive of the Year in 2020. Brent has worked in Information Technology for over 20 years and spent eight years as CIO for the City of Chattanooga, transforming the City into an agile and innovative civic tech powerhouse recognized the world over as one of the most innovative cities in the United States and known as the "Gig City" for their 10-gigabit municipally-owned broadband network.

Lookman Fazal

Chief Information & Digital Officer, NJ TRANSIT

With over 25 years of executive management experience in IT, Lookman has been recruited by NJ TRANSIT to modernize and drive the cultural changes necessary to innovate and implement a new era of IT-enhanced public transportation. By bringing private-sector sensibilities to one of the country’s largest public transit systems, Lookman has implemented an intra-departmental digital transformation that includes onboarding top-tier talent and utilizing innovative technologies across multiple platforms to rebuild the customer journey for a modern age. Lookman is the recipient of the 2021 CIO 100 Awards, 2020 StateScoop GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year Award and the 2020 HMG Strategy Global Technology Executives Who Matter Award. He serves on the boards for the Intelligent Transportation Society of New Jersey (ITSNJ) and Junior Achievement of New Jersey (JANJ), and is an Ambassador with CXO Global 100. Lookman has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Ramapo College, a master’s degree in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology, and a mini-MBA for Technology Executives from Boston University.

Steve Emanuel

Director Consulting Services, CGI

Steve joined CGI as a Director, Consulting Services in July of 2020. Prior to CGI he has held many public and private sector roles. Steve accepted an opportunity with Amtrak in 1998 as the Director, Network (Philadelphia) and was promoted in 2000 to Sr. Director, CIO of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) operations. In 2004, he was relocated to the DC Metro area to perform as the Acting Chief Information Officer (Washington DC) and awarded the position in April 2005 and departed in May 2007 after accepting a CIO position with Montgomery County, Maryland. After joining the County, he completed the first Enterprise Technology Strategic Plan to create the first enterprise view of technology, solutions and support. He also sponsored the County’s newest strategy for Public Safety identified as the Public Safety Systems Modernization plan. It was inclusive of a systems modernization strategy, a roadmap for CAD improvements and future improvements as well as the County’s Interoperability Communications Plan. Steve transitioned back to NJ serving as the Chief Information Officer for the State of New Jersey from2011 to 2016. Steve joined TenFour in 2016 as a Senior Industry Advisor for Public Sector and Regulated Industries, serving in the role through January 2019. TenFour’s model transformed the Information Technology industry and his role was to counsel public sector IT leaders to evolve their infrastructures into the Digital Age. Steve returned to the public Sector in February 2019 as the CIO for the City of Newark, NJ. He was responsible and significantly improved the City’s data resiliency through a yearlong initiative to update and fully secure the City’s data infrastructure.

Bill Rials — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

William (Bill) Rials, Ph.D., is a professor and associate director (department chair) of the Tulane University School of Professional Advancement IT and Cybersecurity Program. He focuses on continually delivering and updating the program curriculum based on innovative and emerging technologies. Before transitioning to academia and higher education, he had a diverse gov tech career delivering value to state agencies, local governments, and law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Mississippi.

Webinar

The Dollars and Sense of IT: Moving Technology from a Cost Center to a Value Center