Arizona CIO resigns

Arizona chief information officer John Kelly, a leader in state information

technology policy, resigned Monday to accept a job in the private sector.

Kelly will work as Intel Corp.'s Government Affairs Manager, working

with Arizona and Texas' state governments. He begins at the Chandler, Ariz.-based

company on May 1.

"It was a wonderful opportunity presented to me by a local company to

learn and grow," he said. Although he was not actively seeking a new job,

Kelly said he was contacted by Intel and realized that he could not advance

further in state government. He said he couldn't turn down the offer, although

he said he felt he had the "best job in state government."

Kelly is the second state CIO to leave his post recently. Alaska's Mark

Badger left his position last week to work for Cisco Systems Inc.

Since being appointed the state's CIO and first Director of Government

Information Technology in June 1997, Kelly helped lead states into e-government.

"We're going to miss John," said Otto Doll, President of the National

Association of State Information Resource Executives (NASIRE). "He had some

really good insight into how to view this whole information technology arena

from a state government policy viewpoint."

Doll mentioned Kelly's work to eliminate barriers to e-commerce and

digital government as highlights of his work. Doll said Kelly's ability

to make partnerships with other groups, such as the National Governor's

Association or other state CIOs, was a significant contribution to NASIRE.

Some of Kelly's other accomplishments include developing ASSIST, an

online process to organize agencies' IT plans, inventories and assessments;

implementing a review of all IT investments over $25,000; and helping to

design No Wrong Door, an information sharing project among state social

service agencies to help Arizona children asses services.

Kelly was active in NASIRE, serving as Secretary/Treasurer, chairman

of the Research and Publications Committee, and as a member of the Partnership

Committee.

Kelly said the department is conducting and internal and external search

for a replacement, and welcomed applicants. However, he said the search

would not be lengthy.