Washington State names new CIO: Tortorice from LA Unified Schools

After a four month search, the state of Washington has named a new state CIO.  The word came today from the governor's office. The full text follows:

Gov. Chris Gregoire today named Tony Tortorice, a California Information Technology executive with more than 25 years of IT experience in both the private and public sectors, to head Washington's Department of Information Services.

"Tony brings the unique background and wealth of experience required to be successful in this role," Gregoire said. "Our state, like any other business, has to make technological advances if we're going to be successful. I am confident that Tony's strong technology experience will greatly benefit Washington as we develop strategies to streamline state government - which will better serve our communities while improving our bottom line." 

The Legislature created DIS in 1987 to make government information and services more available, accessible and affordable. The agency now employs nearly 450 workers who provide more than 100 technology services. The agency also provides technology leadership and guidance to government agencies across the state.  

"Information technology has tremendous potential to improve government's services to citizens. I came to work for Governor Gregoire because of her commitment to tap that potential," said Tortorice.

A California resident for the past 30 years, Tortorice, 57, is the chief information officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest public K-12 school system. There, he led the recovery of a troubled HR/Payroll implementation. Tortorice was also the senior IT executive for the Los Angeles Community College District, the largest system of community colleges in the nation. Before working with the community college system, he was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to beginning a doctorate program in public administration at the University of Southern California, Tortorice served in the U.S. Navy, where he started his career in IT by installing his command's first word processing system. Tortorice holds a master's degree in systems management from USC, and a bachelor's degree in history from the University of State of New York.

"Tony Tortorice will be an outstanding Chief Information Officer for the State of Washington," said Scott Griffin, former chief information officer at Boeing who served on the interview panel. "He comes to the job with a wealth of technology and public service experience, and is aligned with Governor Gregoire's priorities for our state. Tony's leadership and experience will be a great asset as we move our state forward in the information age."

Gregoire commended DIS Interim Director Jim Albert, who has led the agency since January, when former Director Gary Robinson retired from state service.

"I want to thank Jim for his leadership at DIS. I know it will be an easy transition thanks to Jim's commitment and dedication to the agency," Gregoire said.

Tortorice will begin at DIS July 1, where he will earn an annual salary of $147,000.

Tortorice comes to the role just as the Administration won legislative approval to build a new data center, for which DIS will be the general contractor. He also faces the challenge of working on relationships with customer agencies that have become strained over time as DIS repositioned itself from being a discretionary service provider to a control agency.