State CIO Sanjeev “Sonny” Bhagowalia

By Hawaii Office of the Governor

HONOLULU – Gov. Neil Abercrombie is proud to announce that Hawaii is the only state government in the nation to be recognized as part of the 2013 Federal 100 Awards by Federal Computer Week magazine, which will bestow State Chief Information Officer (CIO) Sanjeev “Sonny” Bhagowalia with the prominent award.

This honor highlights the State of Hawaii for transforming its technology infrastructure, implemented as an element of the Governor’s New Day Plan by Bhagowalia and the newly created Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT).

The “Fed 100 Awards” recognize top leaders in industry, academia and government who had the greatest impact on the government information systems community in 2012. This year’s honorees include 22 from industry, two from academia, 75 from the federal government, and Hawaii – the lone state government recipient.

“Sonny has built confidence and momentum across government agencies, industry leaders, and the people of Hawaii toward modernizing our state’s aging technology infrastructure and systems, a long-term investment that will improve government and business processes,” Gov. Abercrombie said. “His work transcends technology into a new way of doing business in Hawaii and providing public services.”

Gov. Abercrombie appointed Bhagowalia as the state’s first CIO in 2011, charging him with planning and implementing the state’s IT transformation, as well as overseeing the OIMT. Bhagowalia inherited business, information technology, and organizational cultural environments that were significantly behind the times – up to 30 years in some areas.

He was nominated for the Fed 100 Award for achieving groundbreaking results in transforming government in Hawaii through:

• completion of a first-ever, baseline analysis of the state’s business and technology environment;
• development of a comprehensive Business and Information Technology/Information Resource Management (IT/IRM) Transformation Plan that provides the roadmap for the state’s modernization initiative;
• implementation of foundational projects necessary to initiate transformation efforts; and
• facilitation of a positive “aloha with urgency” organizational culture change with all key stakeholders.

“While I am deeply honored with the Fed 100 Award, the recognition really belongs to everyone who contributed and collaborated in our efforts to develop and implement the state’s Business and IT/IRM Transformation Plan,” Bhagowalia said.

Bhagowalia also joins an especially elite group of multiple Fed 100 Award recipients, as this is his third; he previously received the award in 2010 and 2009.

In October 2012, Gov. Abercrombie and Bhagowalia unveiled the state’s Business and IT/IRM Transformation Plan, which highlights three categories of activities that help achieve the transformation:

1. Streamlining and improving current business processes and applications to directly benefit the public.
2. Leveraging the state’s investment in shared enterprise services and consolidated technology infrastructure.
3. Establishing a strong organization-wide management and oversight framework, including policies, processes, performance measures, program management and organizational change management.

The Transformation Plan is available at: oimt.hawaii.gov