Markell Storay has taken over the job from Reenie Askew, who has retired.
Storay has worked for the city, the state’s most populous, since 2020, most recently as chief technology officer. Previous positions include technology services director for the Charlotte Douglas International Airport and technology manager for Wells Fargo.
Neither Storay nor city spokespeople provided immediate comment.
Askew told Government Technology that she left the city in late October and has moved back to Texas. She now works as an executive partner for Gartner, a consultancy.
“Charlotte is great, but my family is in Texas,” she said.
Askew became CIO in 2019 and also worked as assistant city manager.
Storay takes over tech leadership for a city recently recognized by the Center for Digital Government* in its Digital Cities 2024 list, which includes local governments deemed leaders in tech advancement. Charlotte, with an estimated population of more than 900,000, shared the spotlight with such cities as Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Diego.
The city’s Innovation and Technology Department, which Storay leads, won praise in that listing for bringing “Internet connectivity to unserved and underserved areas in the city,” among other achievements.
Storay is a U.S. Air Force veteran with experience as an IT director in the federal government, according to an in-house interview with him posted on the Charlotte city website earlier this year, when he was CTO.
“I have always valued roles grounded in public service,” he said. “Being a civil servant allows me to take my professional expertise and align my skills with helping the citizens of my community.”
In that interview, he named cybersecurity and enterprise resource planning as among his main areas of focus.
“My favorite part about working for the city of Charlotte is the opportunity to build a strategic technology road map, surrounded by talented professionals, all focused on doing the right thing,” he said. “Each day provides the opportunities to challenge the status quo and identify areas to improve and help drive change.”
*Note: The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.
