Newly sworn-in Gov. Mark Gordon made the announcement Feb. 14. Knopp replaces Tony Young as the state's CIO.
Young, who had served as former Gov. Matt Mead's deputy chief of staff, stepped into the role in September 2017 following the departure of former CIO Flint Waters, who left for a position with Google.
Knopp, who begins his new role as state CIO on March 5, currently serves as the director of technology and CIO at the Laramie County School District No. 1, the largest school district in the state, which serves more than 14,000 students.
As his first order of business, Knopp said he plans to “get to know the people inside DTS, and the leaders of the agencies DTS serves. That would be my first priority.”
"I want to hear from the people who are inside DTS, providing the services out there, hear their strengths and weaknesses, hear where they think things need to be addressed or not be addressed. What is DTS doing well? What does DTS need to do better?" Knopp told Government Technology during a followup interview Feb. 19.
"I know they already have a road map in place, and I don’t plan to unplug anything, or anything like that,” said Knopp. “But I do want to fine-tune. I do want to realign. But I want to hear from the people inside the agency.”
At Laramie County Schools, Knopp oversaw a staff of about 50 and managed the technology operations across 40 facilities, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also served as an education and technology consultant and a calculus instructor with Laramie County Community College from 1999 to 2002.
“As far as scale and size, there’s not too big of a difference," Knopp said of the transition from a regional school district to the state. "You get a diverse portfolio that you’re dealing with. And I know that’s what we’ll run into with the state.
“What I would say I bring to the table is the experience to align systems, grow teams, bring in talented people, help them grow, help them become leaders, help make sure that the services we’re providing are what’s needed,” he continued. "Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s about growing people and working with people and building those relationships, to get the desired results, to make sure the desired processes work.”
Editor's Note: This story has been updated since it was first published.
