Massachusetts is making changes to its IT office. Governor Charlie Baker has appointed Mark Nunnelly, the current Commissioner of the Department of Revenue and Special Advisor to Governor Baker for Technology and Innovation Competitiveness to lead the newly created Executive Director position at MassIT, the state technology office. Nunnelly will take over the office on April 4, 2016.
The changes come after an eight-month review of current practices across state government. That regulatory review included a special focus on finding ways to improve how Massachusetts residents interact with government online.
Nunnelly will lead an effort to revamp and improve how end users interact with the Commonwealth on the web. With over 75% of constituents interacting with state government online, focusing IT operations on delivering a more user-friendly experience to fully meet expectations has emerged as a top priority for the Governor’s office. Nunnelly will also focus on procuring services, managing projects using more readily available technology, and streamlining duplicative IT applications currently in place.
The steering committee that lead this process was commissioned in August 2015 and included Secretary Lepore, Commissioner Nunnelly, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Connector Louis Gutierrez, interim Chief Information Officer for the Commonwealth Charles Desourdy, and former Chief Information Officer for the Commonwealth Bill Oates. A full implementation schedule for technology modernization will be released later this year.
“This is an important step that not only addresses some of the problems we have, but is an essential way forward to a better future,” Governor Baker said in a statement about the appointment.
