Leek joined Clark County from Multnomah County, Ore., where he was CIO for about seven years. Nearly 75 percent of Nevada’s population lives in Clark County, and that number grows by about 2,500 people a week. That means not only housing constraints, but also workforce challenges. The county is drawing big biotech firms, but companies won’t move there without an educated workforce, and people won’t move there if there aren’t great places to work. Technology is a part of all of that, Leek says, and the IT office touches everything from connecting all those new houses to building a high-tech workforce.
Outside of his county job, Leek is helping to build the talent pipeline. He’s the president of the Las Vegas chapter of the Society for Information Management, an IT leadership development nonprofit. He also sits on the advisory board for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas tech program, stressing what graduates need to be successful in IT careers. With his own hiring, Leek doesn’t necessarily need another programmer. “IT folks need to have skills in communication, empathy and leadership,” he explained. “They need to be able to talk with diverse communities.”
That community-driven mindset also fuels his internal work at Clark County. Leek’s team is working on top issues like cybersecurity and resilience, as well as doing major transformation projects like overhauling elections technology. But he’s also invested in smaller projects where tech can help, like workflow optimization and making daily tasks easier for staff.
Leek’s personal tagline is “leveraging technology, people and processes to make a difference in the community.” He says you can’t do anything without tech anymore, “but for those of us who see technology as a way to achieve outcomes, that may be the secret sauce.”
This story originally appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.
