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OFFICE OF GOV. BILL RITTER, JR.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THURSDAY, OCT. 11, 2007

CONTACT

Evan Dreyer, 720.350.8370

GOV. RITTER CONSOLIDATES, REFORMS IT OPERATIONS AND LAUNCHES NEW INNOVATION COUNCIL

Gov. Bill Ritter today launched a comprehensive high-tech initiative that will consolidate and reform state government's fractured Information Technology operations and establish the state's first Innovation Council to spur advances in Colorado's technology sector.

"In state government and in the private sector, the Digital Age of the 21^st Century means Colorado must be ambitious, innovative and effective when it comes to maximizing the use of technology," Gov. Ritter announced Thursday. He unveiled the new high-tech package to hundreds of technology industry professionals at the third annual Colorado Software and Internet Association (CSIA) DEMOgala in Denver.

"We can vault Colorado into the nation's technology elite," Gov. Ritter declared, "and we'll do it by using technology to save taxpayers millions of dollars and more effectively deliver services to people all across Colorado. We also will utilize the Innovation Council to expand and grow opportunities for the 3,800 high-tech businesses and 175,000 IT/software employees in this state."

Gov. Ritter issued an "Improving State Information Technology Management" executive order in May, elevating the state's Chief Information Officer to a Cabinet-level position as the first phase in the reform plan.

The second-phase initiatives announced today call for a multi-year IT consolidation that folds state government's decentralized operations into the Governor's Office of Information Technology. This will allow for centralized technology purchasing, spending, planning and asset management. It also will create a statewide enterprise structure, compared with today's ineffective department-by-department model.

An "IT Consolidation Bill" will be introduced in the 2008 legislative session by sponsors Reps. Andy Kerr, Bernie Buescher and Bill Cadman and Sens. Ron May and John Morse to enact the reforms.

"Because of a decentralized information technology structure, Colorado state government uses information technology systems inefficiently," Gov. Ritter said. "This approach has led to redundant purchases, failed or under-performing IT applications, and an inefficient operating environment. Not only does the failure to pool purchases of IT goods and services create significant inefficiencies and unnecessary costs, it leads to greater risks related to security and reliable project performance."

Among the IT redundancies: state government has 38 data centers, while many states have just two or three, the Governor noted.

"Currently within the state's many information technology groups we have a wealth of talented employees who are ready to rise to the challenge," Chief Information Officer Michael Locatis said. "As we undergo a significant change from a highly decentralized and fractured IT environment to a consolidated enterprise model, our goal is to restore and improve basic operations and project performance. I look forward to carrying out Gov. Ritter's vision of transforming state IT into to a highly agile and innovative delivery organization."

Gov. Ritter today also established the state's first Innovation Council, bringing together 34 leaders from around Colorado. The Council is composed of experts from large, small, urban and rural technology businesses, as well as leaders in the venture capital, government, academic and nonprofit sectors. The council will have three primary subcommittees that will:

• Assist the state as it reforms and improve its use of information technology;
• Develop a strategy for spurring broadband deployment throughout the state, and;
• Support state government's economic development efforts for the technology sector.

The council will be co-chaired by venture capitalist Brad Feld, managing director of the Foundry Group; entrepreneur Juan Rodriguez, who founded StorageTek and Exabyte; and national telecommunications policy expert Phil Weiser, who teaches law and telecommunications at the University of Colorado at Boulder and is executive director of the Silicon Flatirons Program.

In addition to Feld, Rodriguez and Weiser, three other tech-industry leaders also will serve on the Council's executive committee: Cathy Fogler of Charter Communications; Su Hawk, president of CSIA; and Lee Kennedy, founder of TriCalyx.

"Our state must develop a robust and ubiquitous broadband infrastructure to support an array of applications that will transform how the people of Colorado work, learn and play," Weiser said. "Deploying broadband to unserved areas of Colorado is a make-or-break issue for the state. We cannot afford to leave Colorado citizens or businesses behind as other states and countries adopt broadband connections and applications that catapult them ahead in the 21^st Century economy."

"Technology infrastructure is key for rural Colorado and will affect how we provide education, health care and business opportunities for decades to come," said Council member Audrey Danner, executive director of the Yampa Valley Partners in northwest Colorado. "I am honored Gov. Ritter has invited me to join a group that offers such a broad range of statewide expertise to tackle one of the most important economic-development opportunities facing rural Colorado."

The Innovation Council is expected to hold its first meeting this fall, with periodic recommendations submitted to Gov. Ritter beginning in 2008.

BIOGRAPHIES OF INNOVATION COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Brad Feld is a managing director at Foundry Group and Mobius Venture Capital. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became chief technology officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Gold Systems, Judy's Book, NewsGator, Rally Software, and StillSecure. Brad received his S.B. and S.M. degrees from MIT.

Cathy Fogler is the vice president and general manager of video for Charter Communications Inc., where she is responsible for defining and delivering video programming content across all video platforms.  Prior to joining Charter, Cathy served as vice president of video product management with Adelphia Communications and as director of video product management at AT&T Broadband. Cathy regularly participates in a number of civic and community organizations. Cathy received her BSE degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and her MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. 

Su Hawk is the president of the Colorado Software and Internet Association, the state's  premiere IT association serving the interests of more than 750 IT/software companies across Colorado. Su has been at the helm of CSIA since 2004, and prior to this post, she served as the senior vice president of the Southeast Business Partnership; senior vice president of Clarus; and vice president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. She is very active in the community and serves on the board of directors for Colorado MESA; was chair of the board for Family Tree and the Colorado Public Relations Society of America, and also served on the boards of the Colorado Enterprise Fund, Girls Count, and the Colorado Technology Community Foundation. She received her B.A. from Colorado State University.

Lee Kennedy is  founder of TriCalyx. Most recently Lee was CIO of Webroot Software. She was vice president of customer operations and sales at CreekPath Systems; vice president of business development for Panopticon (acquired by Kana); executive in residence for Kindling, a California venture capital firm; and vice president of strategic alliances and sales operations at enCommerce (merged with Entrust). Lee also held senior marketing management and sales positions at NetDynamics (acquired by Sun Microsystems), AUTODESK and Hewlett-Packard. Earlier in her career, she worked with NASA/Martin Marietta on the Space Shuttle Launch Team. Lee holds a B.S. degree in industrial & systems engineering from the University of Florida. Lee serves as a board member for the National Center for Women & Information Technology.

Juan Rodriguezis the founder of StorageTek and Exabyte and currently works in venture capital at Appian Ventures. Over the last decade, Juan has served as a professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado. He is also the co-founder of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, a joint venture between the College of Engineering and the College of Business at the University of Colorado. In 1990, he was elected as a Fellow of the IEEE and was awarded The CCNY Engineering School Alumni Group's Career Achievement Award in 2002. Juan holds a B.S.EE from The City College of New York and a M.S.EE from New York University.
 

Phil Weiser is a professor of law and telecommunications and the founder and executive director of the Silicon Flatirons Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Weiser moved to Colorado in 1994 after graduating from New York University's School of Law to serve as a law clerk for Judge David Ebel on the 10^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. After a three-year stint in Washington, D.C., where he served as a law clerk for Justices Byron R. White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, he moved back to Colorado to join the CU faculty. Since that time, he has emerged as one of the nation's foremost experts in telecommunications policy, co-authoring Digital Crossroads:  American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age, Telecommunications Law and Policy, writing articles published in leading law journals as well as publications such as Foreign Affairs and The Washington Post, and testifying before both houses of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE INNOVATION COUNCIL

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