Uphill Climb at Virginia DOTBernard Hill Jr. has a rocky road ahead of him. As the first CIO of the Virginia Department of Transportation (DOT), he is charged with revolutionizing the agency’s suffering IT department. “There’s no continuity in terms of databases, computing platforms, programming languages or security,” says Hill, who just left a job as CIO for the Virginia Department of Corrections. “Data isn’t integrated, and it doesn’t meet department needs.”That lack of integration makes reporting data to the federal government?the basis of funding?a monumental task each year. “We have to report data on numerous aspects of the highway system, but right now, information ends up coming from different systems. There’s some on PCs and mainframe and Unix systems,” says Hill. With 150 IT staffers and a $45 million annual IT budget, Hill plans to make continuity and integration his top priorities. Why would anyone want to join such a tech-challenged environment?“I love torture,” Hill says, half-jokingly. He also loves that Virginia’s DOT, formerly managed by two division directors, makes greater use of technology than the commonwealth’s Department of Corrections. But just because the DOT sees the advantage of technology doesn’t mean it always makes the right IT decisions. Just eight days into his term, Hill halted some of the agency’s IT efforts in order to implement his proposed ERP system. To overhaul the IT systems successfully, Hill will adhere to some philosophies he adopted at the Department of Corrections. “We will engage systems integrators for three- to six-month time periods in implementing components in ERP systems,” says Hill. “When they are successful at implementing the component, we’ll pay them. We did this at the Department of Corrections, and the state adopted that as a state model.”Player’s GuideJohn M. Coyle Vanion The former vice president of enterprise development at Rhythms NetConnections, Coyle has become CIO at Vanion, an integrated communications provider in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coyle is responsible for providing organizational and technical leadership, and for establishing corporatewide strategy.Evon Jones The Dial Corp.Jones joins as senior vice president and CIO of this Scottsdale, Ariz.-based consumer products manufacturer. Formerly senior vice president and CIO of America West Holdings, Jones is expected to provide organizational and technical leadership, and to establish corporatewide strategy, policies and standards for the use of IT.Dave Liddle Tommy BahamaFormerly a member of the information services management team at Lands’ End, Liddle has been named the first-ever CIO at Tommy Bahama, a retailer of clothes, accessories and home furnishings with headquarters in New York City and Seattle. In this newly created position, Liddle will be responsible for all aspects of technology development and applications integration. Dan Piteleski Metris Cos. As the new senior vice president and CIO of the Minnetonka, Minn.-based credit card issuer, Piteleski, former vice president and CIO at H.B. Fuller, is charged with expanding Metris’s existing IT infrastructure.Josephine Young NuVox Communications The former CIO and senior vice president of Digital Access, Young has become senior vice president and CIO of the Chesterfield, Mo.-based communications and applications service provider. Young will be responsible for the oversight and leadership of information technology for the entire company Related content opinion Website spoofing: risks, threats, and mitigation strategies for CIOs In this article, we take a look at how CIOs can tackle website spoofing attacks and the best ways to prevent them. By Yash Mehta Dec 01, 2023 5 mins CIO Cyberattacks Security brandpost Sponsored by Catchpoint Systems Inc. Gain full visibility across the Internet Stack with IPM (Internet Performance Monitoring) Today’s IT systems have more points of failure than ever before. Internet Performance Monitoring provides visibility over external networks and services to mitigate outages. By Neal Weinberg Dec 01, 2023 3 mins IT Operations brandpost Sponsored by Zscaler How customers can save money during periods of economic uncertainty Now is the time to overcome the challenges of perimeter-based architectures and reduce costs with zero trust. By Zscaler Dec 01, 2023 4 mins Security feature LexisNexis rises to the generative AI challenge With generative AI, the legal information services giant faces its most formidable disruptor yet. That’s why CTO Jeff Reihl is embracing and enhancing the technology swiftly to keep in front of the competition. By Paula Rooney Dec 01, 2023 6 mins Generative AI Digital Transformation Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe