County Executive Ed FitzGerald will be complemented by the county’s first strong CIO as part of the reorganization. Mansfield, Ohio, native Jeff B. Mowry was named to the CIO post on Monday, Feb. 28.
Mowry returns to Ohio from Broward County, Fla., where as CIO he managed a 165-person staff and the county’s data center, IT applications and telecom. Previous to his public-sector service, Mowry worked for two decades in IT with Chrysler.
FitzGerald said Mowry’s e-government work showed results. Mowry has been credited with achieving a 16 percent cost reduction in Broward County while generating revenue through online transactions.
“His proven track record of creating efficiencies in government information technology, greatly reducing costs to the taxpayers and his long-time management skills are all reasons he is uniquely qualified for this position,” FitzGerald said, “and we look forward to his guidance in the area of information technology. We also welcome Jeff back to his home state of Ohio.”
A joint committee of citizens, public employees and private-sector stakeholders involved in the government reshaping has identified e-government and technology centralization as priorities to make Cuyahoga County more efficient.
According to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, the Cleveland Foundation spent $110,000 for a national search to fill the CIO post, along with a fiscal officer and director of development.
