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State Fair Announces 2017 Champions of Technology Award Winners

Bryan Sastokas has been called a risk-taker many times in his career. It seems to be paying off, as the Director of Technology and Innovation for the city of Long Beach won the individual Champion of Technology award from the California State Fair for 2017.

Bryan Sastokas has been called a risk-taker many times in his career. It seems to be paying off, as the Director of Technology and Innovation for Long Beach won the individual Champion of Technology award from the California State Fair for 2017.

Sastokas has served as director of technology and innovation for Long Beach since 2015 and before that served as CIO of Oakland. Under Sastokas, Long Beach was the only city organization to receive a CIO 100 award in 2016.

The Silicon Valley Business Journal named Sastokas a Community Champion during his time as CIO of Oakland for working to create more digital equity and open government.

However, Sastokas is wary of open data because too many local governments do not provide enough context for data, he told Techwire’s sister publication Government Technology.

Sastokas has encouraged digital equity through providing hackathons for low-income students and recruiting millennials and women into tech positions. He also pushed for the creation of a cyber-risk officer in an attempt to get ahead of security breaches and create innovative plans in case breaches do occur.

Sastokas earned his master's degree in management from Cambridge College.

Project Champion of Technology

The California State Fair also announced its Project Champion of Technology. Aira is a San Diego-based technology that will allow visually impaired individuals to connect with certified agents who can interpret surroundings. The smart glasses used include live video, miniature sensors and artificial intelligence.

Kayla Nick-Kearney was a staff writer for Techwire from March 2017 through January 2019.