Election years often signal a period of transition for leadership in state governments, and while state chief information officers are not elected officials, some often take the opportunity of an election to make a change, too.
Several CIOs have announced over the past few weeks that they’ll be vacating their roles at the end of this year or during 2025, even if there wasn’t a gubernatorial election in their respective state. As of Dec. 27, four state CIOs have confirmed their departures so far — whether it’s that a new governor potentially wants to bring in their own CIO, that retirement is on the horizon or a new opportunity has presented itself.
Here’s a look at who is headed out in 2025, and which states may receive a new top tech official.
North Carolina
Jim Weaver, who has served as the CIO leading North Carolina’s IT department since March 2021, announced last week that he will step down at the end of 2024 to pursue a job in the private sector.
The timing of his announcement comes as Gov. Roy Cooper will hand over the governorship to Gov.-elect Josh Stein next month. Weaver’s move to the private sector is a big one for the seasoned public servant, as he previously served three years as CIO of Washington state, and before that, spent more than three decades in Pennsylvania state government.
As North Carolina’s CIO, Weaver led efforts to expand broadband access and affordability across the state, strengthen cybersecurity and improve digital services. He also, as the most recent president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, led some of the efforts to explore how state governments were using generative artificial intelligence. Weaver also helped to expand uses of the tech through the state’s AI sandbox, which he called an “innovation island.”
Stein has nominated Teena Piccione, an operations executive at Google, to be Weaver’s replacement, according to a local news report. Weaver said he plans to work with whomever is appointed to be the next CIO on the continuation of the state’s ongoing AI initiatives, and data management.
Tennessee
In the coming year, there will also be a new CIO of the Volunteer State, as Stephanie Dedmon announced her retirement last week, with state officials adding that her last day will be sometime in July.
Dedmon has served as Tennessee’s CIO for the past six years, leading the state’s Strategic Technology Solutions division within the Department of Finance and Administration. She joined the state’s government in 2005 after 15 years with the professional services firm Accenture, leaving the company as an associate partner with its government business.
In her role, Dedmon oversaw the deployment of robotic process automation across 16 state agencies, and also served as the NASCIO president for the 2022-23 term, overseeing the production of multiple reports, including one examining 20 years of progress in digital government. Prior to becoming CIO, she served as the director of Project Edison, a state project consolidating 20 systems into a new enterprise resource planning system, and after that, spent four years as the agency’s director of business solutions delivery before being named deputy CIO.
While there wasn’t a gubernatorial election in Tennessee this year, and the next is slated for 2026, the state has yet to name a successor.
Kentucky
Just north of Tennessee, Kentucky will also be receiving a new CIO in the new year as Ruth Day, who has served as the top tech official in the Bluegrass State for five years, shared her resignation last week. Like Weaver, Day’s departure will also be effective at the end of the year.
Gov. Andy Beshear appointed Day to lead the Commonwealth Office of Technology as CIO in 2019, and she arrived at the state government with previous experience as an executive at Landstar Systems — a transportation services company focused on logistics, where she managed acquisitions, system integrations and IT infrastructure modernization.
In her role, Day helped administer IT services for the state and lead the KentuckyWired program, a statewide project to deploy high-speed fiber optic infrastructure to every Kentucky county. Kentucky has yet to announce a replacement for Day.
Indiana
Indiana rounds out our list of states receiving a new CIO this coming year, as Tracy Barnes — who has led the state’s technology strategy at the Indiana Office of Technology for four years — will step down from his role on Jan. 10 before the new governor takes office, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced last week.
Prior to becoming CIO in 2020, Barnes joined Indiana’s state government as an IT director in 2015, and then served as a deputy auditor of operations and chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch. He is credited with the execution of a variety of state IT projects, such as leading a successful statewide cybersecurity program, creating Indiana’s State Earn and Learn IT training program, furthering adoption of cloud computing among the state’s agencies and creating a “one door to Indiana” strategy.
In an interview with StateScoop last week, Barnes said he was most proud of his success in building relationships with local governments to improve their cybersecurity practices. He also received praise from Holcomb for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred in tandem with his appointment to the CIO role.
“Within weeks of being named to the position, [Barnes] and his staff implemented steps nearly overnight to keep the state of Indiana operating during the pandemic as well as developing long-term policy critical to state government operational security,” Holcomb said.
Gov.-elect Mike Braun has yet to name a replacement for Barnes, but has announced the names of several state technology leaders under his new administration, including leaders of the Indiana Broadband Office and the Indiana Management Performance Hub.
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