Norman took on the CIO role in January 2022 after serving as acting CIO since 2020. When she stepped in as permanent CIO, she identified her priorities as data governance, IT infrastructure modernization, updating communications technologies and software applications; and improving connectivity for residents.
Those areas remain key focuses for her, she said, but others have emerged. One such priority is to assess how the city can create an AI-enabled workforce that offers AI-enabled services, Norman said.
This is going to become visible sometime in roughly the next year, through the launch of a chatbot on the city’s website; and with its constituent response system, 311, to answer and take questions. Before the city gets to this point, Norman said the workforce needs to be trained on how to use these tools.
Another city priority this year is beginning to bring a new network online for the city’s 118 facilities, Norman said: “That is something that we’ve needed for a very long time.” Modernizing the behind-the-scenes infrastructure will enable the city to bring new systems online, such as a Traffic Management Center for its Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
While this does not directly impact the public, she explained it will enable new city services. The project is the result of years of work, planning and budgeting to modernize and operationalize the city’s back-end network, leading to the next phase of bringing the network online.
Pittsburgh launched the 10th cohort of its PGH Lab in March, its local government startup incubator, which aims to support startup businesses and allow them to test products or services.
The lab previously served as a government marketplace test bed. Now, the city issues requests for proposals (RFPs), and entrepreneurs go through the entire procurement process through the PGH Lab. Participants are paid $25,000 for their participation in the six-month program.
Companies that have participated in the program are finding “that doors are opening faster for them,” Norman said, because they can demonstrate that they have effectively responded to a government RFP.
This benefits businesses in future public-sector partnerships because they have proven experience as a formal customer of a local government. Because the products and services companies are offering have been tested in a safe setting, Norman said these companies are finding follow-up contracts to further support their growth. Companies sometimes even work with the city, following their participation in the program: “We love it when that happens,” the CIO said.
The city recently launched two other significant technology projects. At the end of 2024, officials completely overhauled the design and back-end technology of the city website; efforts to enhance this platform are ongoing. And, in the first quarter of 2025, the city launched its new 311 customer relationship management system, or “constituent relationship management system,” as Norman refers to it.
Pittsburgh has also made steady progress in its data-informed decision-making, and in February, found itself elevated from Silver to Gold Certification in the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities program.
Another accomplishment for the city is its steady pace of modernizing legacy IT systems since 2020. Norman said just one major enterprise system remains in this effort: the financial enterprise resource planning system. This modernization will be a multiyear process.
The city has also made consistent progress toward closing the digital divide, with the Pittsburgh Digital Equity Coalition publishing its Community Strategic Plan at the end of 2023. Since then, the city has expanded its partnerships and is now working with a group called the Greater Pittsburgh Digital Inclusion Alliance, a chapter of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance. This collaboration supports efforts to identify grant opportunities for expanding digital equity programming. The city was also recognized as a Digital Inclusion Trailblazer in 2024, for the second year in a row.
In nearly eight years at the city, Norman has worked under two mayoral administrations, and she underlined the value of having both administrations’ support for IT initiatives. The appreciation goes both ways, city Press Secretary Olga George said during the conversation: Current Mayor Ed Gainey recognizes Norman and her team’s ability to meet challenges that he poses.
Throughout her time with the city, the CIO said, she has learned how to match the pace of need and change more closely — both from residents and other city departments — with technologies, to deliver better services.
