I was CTO of a high-tech firm in Northern Virginia, and then one day in early 2003 I got a call from Bill Pickle, the sergeant at arms for the U.S. Senate. He told me that the Senate was interested in raising its level of technological sophistication and wanted to know if I would be interested in being its first CIO. I thought about it for maybe a nanosecond. Contrary to some perceptions, the technology I found in the Senate is actually quite good. I’m responsible for technology vision, leadership and the general information infrastructure. I work with everyone from the network administrators at the 137 Senate offices to the senators themselves to make sure that everything is running the way it should. (Each of the 100 senators and 37 Senate committees and leadership offices are responsible for their own LANs.) It’s like running a mall in the sense that the stores have their own systems, but I need to provide the water and the electricity. The senators are very tech savvy. They have BlackBerrys and PDAs, and a couple of times a year I organize emerging technology conferences where vendors and industry leaders come to talk about technology trends and products. I’m interested in politics and I’m interested in history, but what attracted me to the job had more to do with the opportunity to serve. What I love about my job is the sense of honor and responsibility that comes with it. Sometimes I have to serve late-night duty and I get to walk around the Capitol at 9 or 10 when there’s nobody else here. During President Reagan’s funeral I escorted former President Bush and Mrs. Bush through the Capitol rotunda. These are special moments. 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 —As told to Ben Worthen Related content news CIO Announces the CIO 100 UK and shares Industry Recognition Awards in flagship evening celebrations By Romy Tuin Sep 28, 2023 4 mins CIO 100 IDG Events Events feature 12 ‘best practices’ IT should avoid at all costs From telling everyone they’re your customer to establishing SLAs, to stamping out ‘shadow IT,’ these ‘industry best practices’ are sure to sink your chances of IT success. By Bob Lewis Sep 28, 2023 9 mins CIO IT Strategy Careers interview Qualcomm’s Cisco Sanchez on structuring IT for business growth The SVP and CIO takes a business model first approach to establishing an IT strategy capable of fueling Qualcomm’s ambitious growth agenda. By Dan Roberts Sep 28, 2023 13 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership feature Gen AI success starts with an effective pilot strategy To harness the promise of generative AI, IT leaders must develop processes for identifying use cases, educate employees, and get the tech (safely) into their hands. By Bob Violino Sep 27, 2023 10 mins Generative AI Innovation Emerging Technology 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