NSW Department of Housing loses CIO

The New South Wales Department of Housing has confirmed its long-standing chief information officer, Vladas Leonas, has resigned from his role after holding the position for more than four years.

Leonas was one of the best-known IT executives within the NSW State Government, alongside state CIO, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Geoff Tye, director of IT at shared services agency ServiceFirst.

Before joining Housing, Leonas’ last role was chief technology officer at the Advanced Centre for Advanced Computing and Communications (ac3) and chief information officer at NSW’s Public Works department for almost four years and 10 months, respectively.

He has also held several high roles at Telstra that spanned eight years, including positions such as general technology manager of Convergent Business and national technology manager of the telco’s payphones division. It is believed Leonas’ deputy has been appointed to interim-CIO at the department.

Leonas was contacted for insight into what he has in store for the future but has not immediately responded.

It is the second most recent executive position open in as many months within the NSW Government.

The Department of Education and Training is also advertising for a CIO, with incumbent Stephen Wilson having joined Qantas as the airline’s head of technology.

The NSW government is keen to adopt a shared services model across agencies. In August, it published a complex blueprint for its future shared services strategy, including the provision of ICT services.

The move has been described as ‘ambitious’ by analyst firm, Longhaus, which it was problematic and subject to great exposure with a change in leadership — especially when it came to the ‘clusters’ of agencies receiving services.