On July 10, the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) announced that Michelle Gore had been hired to fill the role starting June 22.
Gore will lead the state’s data efforts, which include administration of data.colorado.gov, the state’s open data portal, as well as open data contests. She will also take leadership of the Government Data Advisory Board, a governance body for developing the state’s data strategies and policies.
Before taking this latest role, Gore served as senior manager of business intelligence and analytics for Denver Public Schools starting in 2012. For 20 years before that, Gore operated her own consulting company specializing in data services.
“Michelle has the focus and passion to use public data for the good of our state,” CIO Suma Nallapati said in a press release.
Colorado was the first state to create a chief data officer position in 2010, and in the following months, other states (including Texas, New Jersey and Utah), cities and counties also named CDOs. In March, legislation in California tasked the governor with naming a state CDO by January 2016.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. on July 16 to correct an error regarding the URL of the state's open data portal.
