The California Health and Human Services Agency on Wednesday announced two key appointments at the Office of Systems Integration — Adam Dondro as agency information officer (AIO), and Tony Fortenberry as deputy director for the Child Welfare Digital Services project.
Dondro will oversee the technology and governance functions within the agency. As AIO, he will provide oversight and coordination for the strategy and activities of IT offices throughout the agency, its constituent departments and electronic interface partners. He will also lead the agency’s governance structure to plan enterprise direction, coordinate the handling of critical IT policy issues, and lead the development of IT business and tactical plans.
“Adam’s enterprise view of data, architecture and planning will serve us well as OSI supports the critical systems on which so many Californians depend,” said OSI Director John Boule. “His emphasis on efficiency, innovation and customer service will benefit the departments we serve.”
Since 2013, Dondro served as the assistant director for horizontal integration at California Department of Social Services. From 2010 to 2013, he served as the assistant secretary for external affairs at the California Technology Agency. His experience also includes five years in the Legislature in both policy and budget roles.
Based at OSI headquarters, Dondro leads a team of 15 staff who work directly with department chief information officers, chief technology officers and enterprise architects throughout CHHS.
“Our agency has a tremendous opportunity to leverage technology and innovation across so many critical systems that serve Californians," Dondro said Thursday in a statement to Techwire. "I look forward to exploring bold new ways to help state government modernize and innovate.”
Fortenberry, recently appointed OSI deputy director, has served as project director for CWDS for the past year. He is a veteran technology executive with more than 25 years of experience in the industry, including 10 years with California state government working in IT procurement, contract management, vendor performance evaluation, and Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V).
“I am pleased to have Tony join OSI as a deputy director to lead this innovative project,” said Boule. “Tony’s vast experience in product design, organizational strategy, agile methodologies and open source software is a tremendous resource for our agency.”
Fortenberry has worked extensively as a management consultant, technology adviser and procurement specialist for California government agencies, health-care service providers, and nonprofit organizations. Before serving as project director for CWDS, he worked on various projects at CalPERS, CalHEERS, the California Horse Racing Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Public Utilities Commission and California Department of Technology, among others. Career highlights include serving as chief technology officer for Communications Service for the Deaf, based in Austin, Texas, and chief information officer for the city of Northglenn, Colo.
“CWDS has an historic opportunity to demonstrate that a public organization can design, develop and operate a modern software solution for child welfare," Fortenberry said. "The open ecosystem of web applications we are delivering may impact human services well beyond California.”
Fortenberry comes highly recommended.
“Tony provided steady leadership and tremendous insight as we launched California’s first major project using agile methodologies,” said OSI Chief Deputy Director Peter Kelly. “His unwavering commitment to the project and staff will serve us well.”
As a part of CHHS within the Office of Systems Integration, Child Welfare Digital Services is developing a modern platform and infrastructure to replace a 20-year-old legacy child welfare management system used by county caseworkers. The project consists of eight digital services to replace the Child Welfare System/Case Management System (CWS/CMS) that manages work for county child protective services programs, foster home approvals and licensing, and other critical functions that allow case workers to protect children.
In November 2015, after a decade of planning, the project changed its development strategy from the traditional “waterfall” approach to using "agile methodologies," which focus on iterative development cycles and a rapid feedback loop with end users. Agile teams work in two-week sprints with daily status meetings to measure progress. With the project’s first code release in March, teams of state staff and contractors, including designers, developers and project managers, have been working toward full velocity under the new approach. Momentum is building as more developer teams are joining the effort each month.
Fortenberry joins Department of Social Services Deputy Director Kevin Gaines and County Welfare Directors Association Executive Liaison Penni Clarke as members of the project’s Executive Leadership Team.
This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. with a comment from Adam Dondro.
