The emerging role of IT leadership in local government: challenges, realities, and recommendations

This experience paper sets forth a look at the emerging role of local government IT leaders, namely IT Directors and CIOs, and presents challenges and opportunities as local governments navigate with these leadership professions within their own context. Much of the research to date on the role of CIO has been conducted in larger governments (i.e. state and federal) but as counties and cities continue to appoint IT leaders, there is a need to look at how the context of local government CIO is different. Based on data collected from New York State Local Government IT Directors, experiences of working with hundreds of local government leaders from across the world over the past 20 years, and a review of practitioner and scholarly literature, this paper also sets forth findings and a set of recommendations for local government IT leaders and elected officials as they work together maximize their investments to generate the most value for their constituents.