Oakland CIO Andrew Peterson Leaves to Join Riviera Partners

The technology leader for the state’s eighth largest city by population is returning to the private sector.

Andrew “Pete” Peterson has stepped down effective June 4 as chief information technology officer (CIO/CTO) at the city of Oakland according to an automated response from his city email. Peterson confirmed to Techwire via email he has joined San Francisco-based executive search firm Riviera Partners as its chief technology officer and said Monday was his first day. It’s unclear whether Oakland has begun the search for his replacement; this article may be updated.

An Oakland native, the longtime C-level executive joined the city in March 2017 from Up Communications where he had been CIO for five years. It was his first public-sector role and Peterson toldGovernment Technology* magazine that year that he envisioned bringing agile project development on board to change and speed up the city’s methodology. Among the projects he worked on was Oakland’s 2019 deployment of the Vision risk management system, which analyzed data to enable the police department to flag problem officers – a key task ordered by a federal judge as part of a 20-year-old police corruption case.

Later in 2019, the city’s new OAK APPS portal, already a point of origin for as many as a dozen apps, brought it honors from IDG Communications, Inc., which gave Oakland its CIO 100 innovation award for transforming service delivery. The project helped Oakland move off paper, aggregate city services and showcase them digitally on its portal via apps that could supplement its website. But Peterson said he’s proudest of the OAK WiFi project, which created live hot spots throughout the city, expanding coverage across 13 zones that included West Oakland, downtown and along the International Boulevard corridor. The final zone came online in March.

“I chose this project because of the direct impact it has on underserved/disadvantaged communities, especially in light of the pandemic,” Peterson said. Oakland’s mobile Homelessness Resource Application, which is being spearheaded with several city agencies, is one project Peterson said he wished he’d been able to see to fruition. It should debut this summer, he said.

Peterson pronounced himself “super excited” about his new role at Riviera Partners.

“I will be focused on working with the team to drive enhancements to the company’s data, AI/ML and analytics platform. Specifically focused on product extensibility, scalability, maintainability, reliability, to facilitate company growth, ever changing requirements, and improved time to market,” he said.

This article was originally published by Techwire, Government Technology's sister publication.