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Dallas County CIO to Lead IT Operations in Frisco, Texas

Melissa Kraft, who has led Dallas County’s IT division since September 2020, will take over the city of Frisco’s Technology Services Department. She announced the move in a recent social media post.

An aerial view of downtown Frisco, Texas.
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Melissa Kraft is leaving Dallas County to head up the city of Frisco’s Information Technology Services Department (ITS), which has been under interim leadership.

Kraft held the Dallas County CIO position since September 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. She announced her new role Monday via the social platform.

“I am honored to be part of an organization that truly values innovation and embraces a strong sense of purpose. From day one, it was evident that [the] city of Frisco is committed to driving positive change and aligning it with Frisco’s core values,” she wrote.

Melissa Kraft LinkedIn image.jpg
Kraft will oversee 50 full-time employees, according to city documents. The city, one of the fastest growing in the nation, employs about 1,750 full-time workers, and the ITS budget is $15.4 million.

The FY23 budget included funding for a server and wireless refresh, disaster recovery expenses, switch and network replacements and a Police Department firewall refresh. It also planned to add a data governance program, according to budget documents.

As Dallas County’s CIO, Kraft oversaw IT systems for about 6,600 county employees. The IT department, according to the county budget, has about 140 full-time employees and a $42.6 million budget. The county has 2.6 million residents (nearly the population of Kansas) and is the eighth-largest county in the nation.

Kraft’s experience includes multiple tech roles spanning 12 years in the city of Denton, culminating with the chief technology officer position from 2015 to 2020. Before that, she held roles at Aastra and Buchanan Associates. Kraft is a U.S. Army veteran and studied at Sam Houston State University and Troy University.

Curt Balogh led Frisco IT from 2002 to 2020 and recently returned from retirement to serve as interim CIO. Beth Ann Unger, who took the CIO position in August of 2020, died earlier this year.

Frisco has grown from a small Main Street town with 6,100 residents in 1990 to a bustling city of more than 225,000 residents. It is home to the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters and several corporate headquarters including Lexipol.

This article was originally published by Industry Insider—Texas, Government Technology's sister publication.
Rae D. DeShong is a Dallas-based e.Republic staff writer and has worked at The Dallas Morning News and as a community college administrator.