Fairfax County, Va., is seeking an executive to serve as its new chief information officer, with Gregory Scott, its current chief technical officer (CTO), preparing to exit after nearly six years in the position. Scott confirmed his upcoming retirement during an interview with Government Technology, sharing his plans to step down in early 2025.
Scott was appointed as director of the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and county CTO in September 2019. During his tenure, he was responsible for the management of all aspects of county technology, directing the efforts of more than 300 DIT employees in areas including program and budget development, e-government, IT security and creation of enterprisewide technology architecture and standards.
Scott has held various roles with the Fairfax County government for more than 30 years. Before ascending to CTO, he was the county’s deputy director of IT for six years; and for 12 years before that, he helmed DIT’s E-Government and Enterprise Architecture Division, which has oversight of county websites and customer relationship management. During this time, Scott was technical manager on the county’s migration to a new enterprise resource planning system it shared with Fairfax County Public Schools.
The veteran tech executive told GT he initially hoped to retire sooner, but agreed to stay on until a successor was recruited and a smooth leadership transition took place.
Reflecting on his tenure, Scott highlighted the transformative advancements in technology and customer service initiatives during his time as CTO. A regular winner in the Center for Digital Government’s* and the National Association of Counties’ annual Digital Counties Survey, the county moved from fifth place in 2021 to second in 2022, going on to earn top marks in its population category in 2023, and placing second in 2024. Fairfax County has a population of more than 1.1 million. Top initiatives noted in last year’s survey included an emphasis on data-driven decision-making, using AI solutions and assistants to make workflows more efficient, and improving the resident experience with more multilingual offerings.
“As much as we’ve done in Fairfax County in the last five-and-a-half years with technology, and how I expanded customer service through different initiatives, it’s been very rewarding,” Scott said.
Fairfax County’s recruitment process is well along, with final applications for the CIO position due by Friday.
*The Center for Digital Government is a division of e.Republic, parent company of Government Technology.
