The new GIO is Carlos Isaac Cabrera, most recently the GIS administrator for Contra Costa County. Cabrera has been a leader in the state GIS community, speaking at industry conferences and serving as vice chair and then chair of the public/private California GIS Council.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) began recruiting for the newly created position in February. The state’s chief technology innovation officer, Scott Gregory, had served simultaneously as GIO, but the responsibilities of that position have increased dramatically as the state has embraced GIS technology in recent months. The most visible products of that emphasis are the state’s Geoportal and its Open Data Portal.
According to the recruitment by CalCareers, one of Cabrera’s first responsibilities will be building “a dynamic team responsible for the development, maintenance and support of web- and cloud-based technologies and services including the GIS and Data portals.”
As reported in February in Techwire: “The GIO is also responsible for organizing and leading state communities of practice and supporting strategic data initiatives sponsored by the state Chief Data Officer. The GIO will also outreach and collaborate with the state’s geospatial and data communities to understand critical issues impacting the state and plan, deliver and manage common technology platforms and shared services.”
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed IT veteran Joy Bonaguro to the chief data officer position.
The GIO will work within Gregory’s Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) and will consult with partners throughout state government on the development and ongoing support of the state’s GIS and data programs. Cabrera will report to Gregory’s second-in-command, Deputy Chief Technology Innovation Officer Manveer Bola.
In a November interview with Techwire, Gregory discussed the growing importance of GIS and data in virtually every aspect of state government.
“We’re going to see a lion roar,” he said of GIS. “We, the Department of Technology, will leverage a Software-as-a-Service technology provided by Esri to not only stitch the information together, but to bring the information to the user in a way that’s meaningful,” Gregory said in the interview.
Cabrera had been a frequent speaker on GIS topics at conferences of, among others, the California County Information Services Directors Association (CCISDA), and last year he and Contra Costa County CIO Marc Shorr won CCISDA’s Operational Effectiveness Award for the Contra Costa County Regional Emergency GIS Initiative, which began in response to the Butte Fire during the 2015 California wildfire season.
Cabrera began his career in 2002 in the Fresno area as a GIS specialist with the U.S. Forest Service. After that, he served as GIS technician for the city of Clovis, followed by roles as GIS coordinator for Madera County and then as GIS manager for Merced County, before taking the Contra Costa County role in 2016.
Cabrera is an alumnus of California State University in Fresno, having studied technical geography, GIS, IT and computer science. His professional credentials include a GIS Professional designation from the GIS Institute, a Coursera Course Certificate in Python for Everybody Specialization, and a California County Technology Executive Credential from the California State Association of Counties.
