The California Student Aid Commission welcomed Gurinder Bains as its new IT chief earlier this month. Bains will oversee the commission's Technology Services Division.
For the past five years Bains had served as the branch chief for IT operations at the Department of Child Support Services, where he was responsible for statewide service desk, Web services, interagency interfaces, and batch and production operations.
Bains previously was a deputy director of Infrastructure Services and Architect Services at the Legislative Data Center from 2005 to 2010. He was responsible for defining and establishing technical architecture and the data center's information model.
Before coming to the public sector, Bains was an engineer at Sun Microsystems and established a call center for Sun's overseas department.
Bains has a bachelor's degree in computer science from California State University, East Bay, and an MBA from John F. Kennedy University.
At the Student Aid Commission, Bains will work with CIO Tracy Howard. The commission's major IT project is modernization of the Grants Delivery System, which disburses more than $2 billion in financial aid to students each year.
The system receives nearly 3 million Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) annually; processes more than 38,000 Dream Act Applications; and determines awards for Cal Grants, Chafee Grants, Middle Class Scholarships and National Guard Education Assistance Awards.
The Grants Delivery System is one of the first IT projects moving through the state's new four-stage project approval process. The Student Aid Commission plans to complete Stage 2 — the alternatives analysis in 2017.
As the new procurement moves forward, the Student Aid Commission is making security enhancements to the existing legacy system. The 2016-17 state budget allocates $2 million for this purpose.
