October 30, 2018
Rajiv Rao Recognized Among Elite Group of Leaders
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) today announced that Rajiv Rao, New York State Chief Technology Officer, received the National Association of State Chief Information Officers State Technology Innovator Award.
NASCIO established the State Technology Innovator Award to recognize individual contributions that advance state technology policy agenda through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies, and advancement in service delivery. Rao received this honor at the NASCIO Awards Dinner Oct. 23 in San Diego.
Robert H. Samson, New York State Chief Information Officer, called Rao a natural leader who takes pride in inspiring others and helping teams excel.
"In reading the description of this prestigious award, I could think of no one more deserving than Rajiv," Samson said. "His broad experience and bold vision drive his work with our clients to architect innovative technology solutions that deliver maximum impact for our clients and all New Yorkers. Through Rajiv's work on complex projects like our data center consolidation, creation of the New York State Excelsior Cloud, enhancement of the NY.gov ID service and the deployment of Watson Chat to enhance our service delivery, Rajiv's leadership is helping to drive innovation for ITS and New York State. Congratulations, Rajiv, on this well-deserved honor."
"Your leadership in New York is a shining example," NASCIO President Bo Reese and NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson wrote in a letter informing Rao of his award. "NASCIO and its members recognize that such leadership is critical to advancing citizen service, information sharing, and good government and we applaud you for your commitment to these efforts."
Rajiv Rao, New York State Chief Technology Officer, said, "Thank you to NASCIO for this wonderful award and to our state CIO, Bob Samson, for nominating me. It is a privilege to work with him and to be part of the executive team. We have an amazing team at ITS and I'm grateful for their talent and dedication. Technology is limitless in its potential to allow us to do great things. But it's always the people who matter most, and who help us achieve our vision of Innovation That Matters ... For All New Yorkers."
Rao was named New York State Chief Technology Officer in 2015. As an IT professional for more than 20 years, he has worked on numerous high-profile projects, leveraging many different technologies throughout his career. These opportunities provided experience in all aspects of IT, including research, design, implementation, maintenance, business continuity and disaster recovery. His broad base of experience gives him the necessary perspective to fully understand the technology and customer connection, and to drive value for New York State.
About ITS
The New York State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) was created in 2012 to transform IT services in an effort to make New York State government work smarter for its citizens and enable the state to be accessible for businesses through the use of technology. ITS provides statewide IT strategic direction, directs IT policy and delivers centralized IT products and services that support the mission of the State. ITS operates data centers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to support statewide mission-critical applications for over 50 Agencies, over 17 million citizen accounts, 120,000 employee accounts, 60,000 phones, 99,000 desktops and laptops, and 3,433 Virtual Desktop remote connections. ITS operates a secure network of over 1,600 miles of fiber to deliver telecommunications, Internet and Intranet services, enterprise email systems and support, IT training, networking, data storage and processing to State government entities in addition to developing new services in support of citizens, businesses and State Agencies.
For more information, visit https://its.ny.gov and follow us on Twitter @nysits.