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4 in Public Sector Recognized with CIO Academy Awards

The awards were given to an up-and-comer, a new division director and two veterans of the public sector.

The GIS manager for the city of Oxnard, Michael Shaffer, won the Up and Coming Leader Award at last week’s Los Angeles Public Sector CIO Academy.

Shaffer, who joined the city in 2016, oversees municipal GIS operations under Keith Brooks, the city’s chief information officer. Previously, Shaffer was with the Carpinteria Valley Water District.

“Michael is clearly an outstanding professional, mentor, teacher and colleague,” Brooks told Techwire, “but I believe he should be viewed first as an outstanding up-and-coming leader in information technology management. His leadership has affected every department within the city and continues to improve efficiency and transparency through cost-effective solutions.”

Shaffer said it was an honor to represent Oxnard “and the great work we are accomplishing in the IT Department and the city as a whole.”

“Our team's success is a reflection of our strong work ethic, ability to think creatively, and commitment to serving the community,” he said. “This award means a lot to me personally, and it will continue to serve as an inspiration to lead the way in taking on the challenges that we see across many different communities. This is just the start for what we hope to achieve in Oxnard.” He also credited the city’s GIS team and Brooks, who he said creates “a work environment that encourages innovation.”

Ardene Blackhall, division director for Los Angeles International Airport’s Operations and Facilities Systems Support, was recognized with the High Impact Leader Award from the CIO Academy.  

Blackhall is a newly appointed division director at Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), which encompasses Los Angeles International and Van Nuys Airports, and “helped lead the implementation of airport technology innovations that are changing the way we will all travel in the future,” according to the awards program.

Blackhall is “piloting the use of airline passenger remote bag and tag check-in capability, self-service ticketing, automated security checkpoint screening capability, and automated airline self-boarding gate check-in capability using facial recognition technology,” the program says. “He has also aided in transforming airport facilities maintenance customer service with the introduction and expansion of maintenance management ticketing, dispatch, and problem resolution using mobile devices for the 800+ employees, in the facilities maintenance group, operating at LAX and Van Nuys airports.”  

Benny Chacko, deputy general manager for IT Services in the Los Angeles County Internal Services Department, was one of two IT professionals who were recognized with a Most Inspirational award.

For more than two years, Chacko has been responsible for all activities within the Information Technology Services Shared Services Branch. He manages an annual operating budget of $60 million and holds executive responsibility for directing and planning the county’s centralized technical support and infrastructure management functions. Additionally, Mr. Chacko manages communication efforts with executive-level management in the 36 county departments and works with board office deputies and the Chief Executive Office to provide insight and status on various countywide project and initiatives. 

Tim Grant, IT director for the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission for the past 16 years, was also acknowledged with a Most Inspirational award.

“In the past year, he engineered a complete redesign of the commission’s website in terms of both functionality and user interface,” the award says. “In creating this upgrade, Tim worked tirelessly to program complex and specific data searches relative to each of the campaign finance, lobbying, and governmental ethics databases he designed and maintains for the program areas under the commission’s jurisdiction. These efforts resulted in a substantial uptick in website traffic. …”

The awards were presented at Thursday’s event by L.A. County CIO Bill Kehoe and L.A. CIO Ted Ross.

Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies including USA Today in Washington, D.C.