New York City Names A New CIO

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has named Carole Wallace Post, the director of agency services in the Mayor's Office of Operations, to replace Paul Cosgrave as commissioner of the city's Department of IT and Telecommunications. Bloomberg has instructed Post to conduct a "top to bottom" review the city's 1,200-person IT department.

In naming Post to New York City's top IT position, Bloomberg cited her experience in the areas of government accountability, strategic planning, and leveraging technology to improve city services. Post is a lawyer by training, working for a Florida law firm before joining New York City's Department of Buildings in 2001.

Post starts the new job on Jan. 19, replacing Paul Cosgrave, who served as commissioner of DoITT since 2006. Cosgrave is credited with revamping New York's 311 citizen services operations and with overseeing implementation of the New York City Wireless Network, a $500 million project outsourced to Northrop Grumman. The network is used by city agencies and first responders, including the police and fire departments.

Cosgrave was among InformationWeek's Government CIO 50, but his tenure was marred by problems with the city's 911 emergency call system. In announcing his replacement, Bloomberg credited Cosgrave with expanding the city's 311 call system, but made no mention of the 911 system.

New York's DoITT has a $375 million budget, which includes operating 311 call centers, the city's NYC.gov site, municipal TV and radio stations, a data center, and networking infrastructure. Bloomberg, citing "tough budget times," alluded to a need to reign in IT spending. "We've got to find ways to do more with less," Bloomberg said.

In addition to conducting a 30-day review of DoITT, Post's priorities will include consolidating New York City's IT infrastructure, providing more city services online, and offering "enterprise solutions" to common agency functions. Post also cited a need for increased transparency and accountability from the city's IT vendors.

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