Armani and partner Suri Jetty, a longtime friend and IT colleague, have founded AnSurTech Consulting, based in the Sacramento area. The company, which has been operating since July 1, already has been certified as a small business with the California Department of General Services, opening the door to state contracts.
Before retiring on June 30, Armani was deputy secretary and agency chief information officer (AIO) for the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, and AIO for the powerful California Government Operations Agency. He was known by many as the dean of state CIOs and AIOs, and was a fixture for decades as a speaker and leader at state IT conferences, including the California Public Sector CIO Academy, which he helped pioneer.
So what’s in store for Armani and Jetty now that they’re on the other side of the table?
“Right now, we are meeting with a lot of companies, different businesses, to see where we can partner with them, where we can add value to what they are working on – mostly public sector, and especially state (government), of course,” Armani told Techwire in an interview Monday.
AnSurTech will focus on “any kind of consulting, whether it’s application development, whether it’s reselling – just about anything like that,” said Armani, who had a 30-year career with the state.
“As I was planning retirement, I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do next?’” Armani said. “It was not going to be retiring into the sunset.”
He said he and Jetty have known each other for more than three decades; both worked in software and hardware engineering in the private sector early in their careers, and both subsequently joined state government.
“Although both of us have extensive IT background and management (experience), we are trying to see what are the fields that we can work on,” Armani said. “The main goal in the near term is to stand up the company so we have some funding behind us. We are not restricting ourselves. We’ll do whatever we can for our customers, our partners.”
Armani said he and Jetty are working in the ed tech sector, among others, and they already own a product related to distance learning.
Ed tech is “not rocket science,” said Armani, a graduate of California State University, Chico with a degree in electronics and computer technology. “There are a lot of products out there, but we are trying to approach it a little differently.” He said he’d talk more about that as the business matures.
As busy as he was overseeing technology and advising on policy for two sprawling state agencies, Armani said he’s working even longer hours now – and has been since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many state workers to telecommute.
Unlike business sectors that have been hurt by COVID’s economic fallout, Armani said, the tech industry is somewhat protected from that, since its goods and services are designed to help individuals and companies succeed in the new, tech-dependent environment.
In the long term, Armani said, AnSurTech will focus on the applications and platforms using blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
“I think we are two, three years – maybe five – until the state really jumps in and starts to use those platforms to provide services to California residents. That’s where we are going to put a lot of focus.”
Armani said he and Jetty aren’t just looking to “make a quick buck” and then cash out of their new enterprise.
“I’d like to do it for 20 years,” Armani said. “My goal is to provide services that I could not do in the public sector. … If I can move forward and have the funding behind us – investors and what have you – and provide services, that’s where I want to go.”
After so many years of dealing with vendors from his perch in state IT governance, Armani knew he’d be treated a little less deferentially now that he’s a private-sector vendor.
“It’s absolutely different,” he said. “I’ve always advised people that I mentored, ‘Don’t get hung up on your title, because once that’s gone, you’re treated just like everybody else.’ I can feel the difference: ‘You’re not now a deputy secretary, so we’ll talk to you when we need to.’ That’s fine. I’m not going to bug people constantly to sell things. I’m going to see where we can be useful and where we can provide a service. We’ll see what happens.”
