Features Government

Within the broader scope of the country’s government operations, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FINTRAC, is a relatively small agency staffed by between 500 and 600 people.  Its mandate is much larger, however. According to Rachel Porteous, the Centre’s chief information officer, one of its most pressing responsibilities involves a […]

There’s a level of excitement and satisfaction to Rob Brown’s work with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that other technology professionals may rarely enjoy. “We’re helping people achieve the American dream,” he says. “We’re helping refugees and asylees looking to start their new life in the United States.” And there are many desperate and deserving […]

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020, employees at Municipal Property Assessment Corporation were able to transition to remote work in only a few hours. While other companies using the cloud had similar experiences, this wouldn’t have been possible for MPAC five years ago, says Sujit Jagdev. The organization’s chief information and technology officer, […]

When Devin Townsend joined the Nebraska Department of Transportation as a highway project construction inspector in May 2008, he didn’t envision eventually managing the department’s IT. Townsend was a civil engineer fresh out of the University of Nebraska where he’d earned his bachelor’s degree in transportation and highway engineering. He’d also served as a graduate […]

Brandie Reynolds has learned a couple of things about the judicial system as deputy chief information officer for the Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County. First, court proceedings take much more coordination than what anyone sees. Second, connecting all the participants is complex work. Reynolds, whose 20-year career in tech includes working in health […]

After more than 20 years in IT, Nicollette Wands knows where her skills lie and where she’s eager to apply them with new opportunities in 2022. Most recently a CIO for the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, or DoIT (she left in November 2021), Wands says the curiosity, creativity, resourcefulness and agility she’s applied […]

It’s Dec. 31 and the clock just struck midnight, ringing in the new year—and the opening of State of Alaska’s online form to purchase a state fish and game license. Since 2011, except for 2019 and the pandemic, Alaska has annually issued well over 800,000 licenses to residents, non-residents, professionals and commercial crews. The thousands […]

This was no ordinary day in the classes at a Baltimore County family life center. Not with 100 students and their parents learning how to build a PC and writing code. Not with IT professionals from the public and private sector volunteering to teach and share their experiences about careers in IT. The event was […]

Leading up to the 2020 election, IT staff from each of Colorado’s 64 counties had weekly calls to ensure they had strong technology to support processes such as voter registration, vote tallying and the dissemination of results. The calls allowed everyone to share best practices and current threats, and they allowed staff to talk through […]

When the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in work from home mandates, for some employees, it was a blessing in disguise allowing them to spend more time with family and less money on gas. For the five people working in the information technology department for the Township of Franklin, New Jersey, it was a challenge they’d never […]