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Chris plays a key role in aligning the city's technology resources with its strategic goals. His leadership involves collaboration across all city departments to improve infrastructure, streamline processes, and drive efficiencies through modern IT practices. With the rapidly changing tech landscape, his responsibilities also include adapting to new trends, prioritizing data security and promoting technology use that supports community engagement and service delivery.
Insights about Professional Journey and Current Responsibilities
I moved to Texas to attend the University of North Texas, where I majored in Business Computer Information Systems (BCIS) and earned a Bachelor of Science. During my senior year, I interned with the city, which had just launched an ITS internship program. The internship let me apply the concepts I learned in school to real-world scenarios and after a year, the city offered me a position as a systems engineer.
Starting out, I worked primarily with hardware—building servers, managing storage, and setting up infrastructure—which I really enjoyed. My original plan was to stay for two years and then move to the private sector, but I grew passionate about public service and the difference my work made. After two years, I was promoted to a public safety administrator role, where I shifted from hardware to software administration. This new role required more user interaction and collaboration with vendors, which pushed me to develop my soft skills and social abilities, helping me grow.
Next, I moved into a tech operations manager role, overseeing support, networking, and systems. The role was a perfect mix of technical work and management, where I handled both operational responsibilities, strategic planning, and budgeting.
After about six or seven years, I was promoted to IT Director and in 2018, I became the CIO. My current role is far more strategic; focused on aligning technology with business goals and driving efficiency.
Inside the Tech Boom: Key Trends Shaping the Industry
It is an extraordinary time to be a technologist. We’re witnessing an incredibly transformative era for technology, driven by rapid advances in AI and machine learning. Over the recent months, developments in these fields have completely reshaped the landscape; introducing both exciting opportunities and significant challenges. The technology is evolving faster than governance and regulatory frameworks, leaving a gap in guidance.
From a CIO’s perspective, the goal is to embrace these technologies responsibly, optimizing for efficiency and competitive advantage. For example, the recent executive order on AI from the U.S. offers some direction but lacks depth, whereas the EU’s AI Act has made notable progress. The EU’s approach categorizes AI into four risk levels, ranging from applications that are ethically unacceptable to those that are low-risk, like AI in video games. For CIOs, this tiered framework provides a useful model for assessing AI solutions based on their potential societal impact, privacy implications, or financial consequences.
“AI is no longer an option; it's a necessity. As it reshapes industries, adopting these technologies responsibly is the key to maintaining competitive advantage and public trust.”
To responsibly adopt AI, organizations should establish a clear framework to assess and minimize risks; especially for applications affecting civil liberties or financial outcomes, which demand a transparent approach and avoid “black box” solutions. One example is the potential use of AI in body cam analysis for law enforcement. While AI-written reports could boost efficiency, it raises issues like accuracy and the integrity of evidence. Each AI application should therefore undergo rigorous scrutiny to ensure it aligns with ethical standards, organizational policies, and objectives. In practice, this involves a blend of strategic options—building, buying, or extending AI solutions. Extending could mean tailoring a pre-built model like ChatGPT to fit internal policies, while buying requires thorough vetting to match AI solutions with the organization’s risk tolerance.
When procuring AI solutions, organizations need a risk framework to determine the risks to accept, mitigate, transfer or avoid. The public sector in particular must prioritize public trust and accountability, as issues can’t be erased by rebranding.
The AI-Powered Future: What Lies Ahead for Tech and Innovation?
We’re on the brink of a massive shift in the workplace due to AI and digital tools. Historically, knowledge-based roles like accountants or other professionals with four-year degrees have felt secure in their employability. However, AI is changing that landscape. Many assume that frontline roles are most at risk from automation, but knowledge-based positions are equally impacted.
With growing access to digital tools and large language models (LLMs), digital literacy and critical thinking are essential skills. Just like reading and writing, being able to work with AI-driven data, analyzing it, and making informed predictions is rapidly becoming a foundational skill.
AI now impacts work similarly to how spreadsheets transformed accounting in the nineties. For example, our development team uses AI tools like GitHub Copilot to write and check code, saving significant time. Those who don’t leverage these tools risk falling behind; as employers’ expectations increase with AI’s ability to boost productivity up to 40 percent. Employers increasingly expect proficiency with these tools, meaning that traditional degrees alone may no longer guarantee job security.
In terms of applications, AI is enhancing services across the board. Smart traffic systems now use machine learning to analyze real-time traffic flow and adjust light timing, greatly enhancing safety and efficiency. By examining historical accident data and recent traffic patterns at specific intersections, these systems can better understand driver behavior, marking a significant shift in traffic management practices.
Public safety departments are using license plate recognition (LPR) technology to identify stolen vehicles or flagged individuals, even at high speeds, enhancing law enforcement capabilities and situational awareness. This technology is invaluable for detectives, helping them track down suspects and recover stolen property. LPR can also be deployed in parks or areas frequented by children, cross-referencing with offender databases to help maintain safety.
Digital services for citizens are set to advance with AI-driven avatars and chatbots becoming standard on public websites, streamlining access to information. ERP systems like Workday and Oracle, are evolving too, with RPA automating tasks like payroll and scheduling. AI can screen candidates by qualifications, allowing HR teams to focus on strategic work. These shifts will redefine roles and make AI skills essential for future workforce readiness.
Advice for Senior Leaders and Upcoming Professionals
AI is a major disruptor across various fields. It's changing practical applications and transforming security dynamics. The barrier to cyber threats, like phishing, has dropped significantly as AI improves the sophistication of these attacks, making them harder to detect.
For organizations adopting AI, the foundational step is to establish clear and responsible AI principles focused on fairness, transparency, and anti-bias measures. A common challenge with many AI technologies is their potential to reinforce unconscious biases, especially since they rely on historical data for training. For instance, in HR recruitment, if AI models are trained on past hiring data with preferences for candidates from certain universities, it could inadvertently reinforce bias. To avoid this, organizations need governance structures like a steering committee with members from IT, HR, legal, and public relations, to guide responsible AI use across the company.
Performing AI maturity assessments are also essential to understand where the organization stands in its AI adoption journey. Take advantage of IT consulting services to ensure you don’t overlook critical opportunities. Embracing and understanding AI technology is essential, as it’s here to stay and will only continue to evolve.
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