Governor Fallin today appointed James “Bo” Reese as state government’s chief information officer, a position that oversees information technology services for all state agencies.
Reese, who has served as interim CIO since January, has held multiple technology and management positions in state government since 1995.
“Bo’s exceptional interim leadership of IT consolidation – one of the largest, most complex initiatives underway in state government – showed that he is clearly the right CIO at the right time for Oklahoma,” Fallin said. “Technology is a major part of everything we do in government today, and Bo has convincingly demonstrated the ability to ensure that the state uses the best technology for the job at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers.”
The CIO, a gubernatorial appointment, reports to Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Technology Preston L. Doerflinger, who is director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
“Bo has done a tremendous job repositioning the consolidation initiative as a partnership with agencies rather than a mandate forced on agencies,” Doerflinger said. “He is a unique talent who is equally skilled as both a technologist and consensus builder, which is exactly what we need from our CIO.”
Prior to serving as interim state CIO, Reese was the chief operations and accountability officer for the OMES Information Services Division. Prior to that, he was CIO and deputy administrator of HealthChoice, the state’s self-funded health and life insurance plan for government employees, where he led development and implementation of all technology applications and infrastructure.
“As state government’s unified technology provider, our mission at OMES is to provide secure, cost effective technology services that allow our partners to better fulfill their missions. The CIO exists to make others successful, and I am truly honored by the trust placed in me and our operation by Governor Fallin and Secretary Doerflinger to do just that,” Reese said.
All state agency IT infrastructure and services were consolidated within OMES in 2011 under legislation signed by Fallin and authored by Sen. Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, and Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie. Rather than having an IT department at each agency, the state now has one IT department run by the CIO in consultation with agencies. The consolidation, which is about 55 percent complete, has reduced IT spending by $81 million and dramatically increased cybersecurity.
“Oklahoma is now a model other states are looking at for technology services and cybersecurity,” Fallin said. “IT consolidation is one of the biggest government right-sizing and modernization victories the Legislature and I were able achieve during my first term. With Bo Reese and Preston Doerflinger at the helm, I am confident the initiative will bring even more success in the future.
Reese is Oklahoma’s second state CIO. He was preceded by Alex Pettit, who served as CIO from April 2010 until January 2014, when he accepted the Oregon CIO position.
Reese, 44, is a lifelong Oklahoman born in Miami. He holds a bachelor’s degree in university studies with an emphasis in computer science from Oklahoma State University and an associate degree in computer science from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. Reese, an avid hunter and technology enthusiast, lives in Edmond with his wife, Lori, with whom he has two children.
Hopefully he will work closely with Jason Murphey in order to get the support he will need from the legislature to finish the consolidation of all the mini-department-empire dp operations into one effective central system.
Good luck Bo and Jason!