CIO at NYS Thruway Authority
Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself
I’m currently serving as the Chief Information Officer for the New York State Thruway Authority, home of the best public sector IT team in the state of New York.
What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?
I started out by getting an internship and that morphed into a full-time job. From there, I was fortunate enough to have a lot of people that I worked for support my growth and see potential in me (and help me unlock it as well). From desktop support & testing, to systems administration and database administration roles, I moved into leadership positions managing small teams in the analytics space. This continued to grow as I took on directing larger teams and projects and there was a natural transition into taking on cybersecurity with my varied background. The recurring theme along the way was a willingness to tackle new things, learn and apply lessons from failures, and a commitment to successful delivery.
Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?
My vision has always been, and continues to be, to ensure that I never fall short of what I’m capable of. For me, that means continuing to push myself and my team to deliver the best solutions, services, and support we possibly can. Every day we hope to grow and innovate in our space, and try to surprise even ourselves with what we can accomplish with the resources available to us. At this point in time, I’m highly confident that I have the single best public sector IT job in the state of New York. Nowhere else can you go and have the impact we have. Our team is perfectly sized to be large enough to deliver, but small enough to not suffer from bureaucratic bloat. We can pivot quickly and concurrently be able to support massive statewide infrastructure and assets that were (at their time of completion) the largest technology projects in the state. I’m blessed to have an incredibly innovative, dedicated, and brilliant team of professionals in our Department. So did I ever envision myself in this specific seat? No. Would I trade it to be anywhere else? Absolutely not.
Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey?
I’ve never been in a role where there wasn’t someone who was kind enough to mentor me whether formally or informally. Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky enough to work under incredibly strong leaders, all of whom took the time and energy to help me grow professionally. Whether this was by helping me sharpen my technical skillsets, exposing me to areas where I was weak or need more experience, or simply having the confidence in me to put me in the position to succeed at levels above where I currently was. I can confidently say that I would not be in the position I am today without the support of those that I served under at every organization I was at. I’m forever grateful for those people and opportunities.
How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?
The technology leader is, and will continue to be, working in lock-step with the executive team as an enabler of the organization’s strategic vision. Seldom is the case where new business occurs without technology integration, and by virtue of this technology leaders have to remain acutely aware of business goals and needs.
What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?
It mostly goes without saying that having a strong foundational set of technical competencies is required. Increasingly, the need for a complimentary business acumen will become a must-opposed to a nice to have. Beyond the traditional project management and budgeting skills come diplomacy, relationship building, contract and vendor management, etc. Being able to coach, mentor, manage morale and personality issues, recruit, innovate, negotiate, close deals, design, build, and implement – all of it is part of the everyday for leaders, and little of it is tech-based. To succeed as a leader, you have to know you must be able to depend on, and often defer to, the experts on your team. You’re leading, seldom doing, and that is a big change for many of us in the space who were able to rise through the ranks by being prolific doers.
How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?
I try to immerse myself in the weeds whenever possible. When I see interesting new software, analytics platforms, security tools, or other I get as hands on with it as possible. Whether it is trying out new tools our team uses, asking question, or explore emerging trends to sift through the marketing materials to understand the real potentials, I try to stay on the leading edge. The tech landscape is never the same in the morning when you wake up as it was the night before when you went to bed, and by virtue of this you have to keep your finger on the pulse of the industry to keep your organization poised to succeed. I’m a hands on learner, so for me that means getting my fingers dirty and playing with new tech whenever possible.
What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?
For the Transportation sector it is the maturation of the connected vehicle/autonomous vehicle space. We’re in an interesting position at the Thruway Authority (with our massive Fiber Optic network) to be at the forefront of that space. Whether it is autonomous trucking, drone traffic, V2X, or other, we have the assets in our portfolio ready to be disposed and put to use as this arena becomes more sophisticated.
"There is no shortcut for hard work or experience."
If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?
It is a matter of both working harder and smarter. There is no shortcut for hard work or experience. Step up for projects, give yourself stretch goals, ask for opportunities to do more, and you’ll be where you want to be faster than you anticipated. Bring creative ideas to the table, don’t be afraid to be laughed at or to fail – that’s where we learn the most. Watch how the people who are in the positions you seek carry themselves – how do the approach problems, how do they set priorities, when do they use their authority instead of diplomacy, what are the things they focus on and how do they spend their time. All of this will help you understand what the next levels of your career will look like, and where to focus your energy. Ultimately it takes hard work, a strong internal drive, and commitment to your goals. There’s no way around that.
Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?
In this position I am fixated on the goals of blanketing our corridor in coverage (for the safety of our workforce, for the convenience of our customers, and to move the organization forward), improving our technology offerings, growing our fiber program, exploring novel ways to improve our toll collection, and ultimately deploying the products that meet the needs of our users.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
There are so many things that come to mind, but in the space of technology it would be the end of the digital divide. For nearly 20 years I’ve been researching the impacts of this and following projects aimed at addressing it. I’m excited that the organization I work for is positioned to be a strong partner with NYS to support this need. Access to information is pertinent, and in an every increasingly digital world lack of access to digital assets is an incredible hindrance for many. It is often taken for granted what those of us with access to ubiquitous technology resources are able to conveniently do. I’m committed to doing whatever is within my domain of control to making sure that opportunity exists for all.
A big thank you to Josh Klemm from NYS Thruway Authority for sharing his journey to date.
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