Doug Murdock, Who Guided Modernization, Retires as Hawaii CIO

Doug Murdock, who has served two governors and helped to lead the state through the COVID-19 crisis, is retiring after more than five years as Hawaii’s CIO.
Murdock’s retirement is effective Friday, May 31, according to the office of Gov. Josh Green; he had been in place since January 2019. Tom Ku, who serves as IT services operations officer for Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), has been named acting chief information officer while the state conducts a search for a permanent replacement. In Hawaii, the CIO role is a cabinet-level position, and Murdock’s successor will require state Senate confirmation.

“CIO Doug Murdock was responsible for leading Hawaii’s technology efforts through the very difficult pandemic years, while continuing to move the state forward with the modernization and consolidation of our IT infrastructure,” Green said in a statement. “We wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

Murdock, 63, helped to oversee the deployment of a system that kept track of COVID-19 metrics like quarantine data as well as testing — both crucial pieces of controlling the spread of the virus across the state, which is a popular tourism destination.

Murdock also helped to modernize the state’s computing infrastructure, moving Hawaii’s mainframe to mainframe as a service. In January 2023, announcing Murdock’s continued appointment as CIO and keeping him in place for the Green administration, the incoming governor credited him for overseeing “some of the state’s largest technology initiatives,” and for the successful drive to modernize “the antiquated payroll and tax systems.”

His priorities then included continuing work on modernizing the state’s enterprise resource planning system, enterprise portfolio management and workforce development, per a news release. Murdock was named one of Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for 2024in May.

Technology, however, is hardly Murdock’s only area of background. He spent 25 years in the U.S. Air Force, largely as a judge advocate. In 10 years with the state, Murdock served as state comptroller and director of the Department of Accounting and General Services immediately before becoming CIO; he also served as vice president of administrative and fiscal affairs for the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

“It has been an honor and a privilege serving the people of Hawaii and working with the extraordinary multiaward-winning team at ETS. I want to thank everyone, both within government and in the private sector, who supported our efforts to modernize digital government in our state,” Murdock said in a statement.