In his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as "a lifelong Information Technology geek/manager/leader with a track record of success managing all kinds of software and database projects." Cesena participated in this email question-and-answer interview with Techwire:
Techwire: How did you get to your position as CIO of Department of Managed Health Care?
Cesena: I came to this position from the private sector. The department was in need of a CIO that was versed in technology fundamentals, process and governance, and modern technology architectures to support its strategic plan and mission of protecting consumers’ health-care rights and ensuring a stable health-care delivery system. Having spent several years as a consultant with various state departments, I was referred to this position by professional acquaintances at the state, as a likely “great fit” to bring some of the private-sector innovation to DMHC.
TW: What was the most interesting stop in your technology career?
Cesena: My father was an entrepreneur and pioneer of new agriculture technologies. In 2013, he was honored by University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources as an innovator in "Conservation Tillage" systems, which was his life's work.
I learned at a young age how to question the status quo and think critically about new ways to improve upon accepted practices and principles. This led me to pursue career opportunities that were highly entrepreneurial and innovative in nature.
The most interesting stop was my time with AUTOVIA, which was a Sacramento-based dot-com founded in 1998. I was one of the original six founders of the company, and one of four founders named on the company's technology patent. This was an exciting time where new and innovative technologies were rapidly adopted and deployed. Our ultimate goal was being first-to-market with a market-maker concept to provide an automotive parts-buying network for auto repair facilities and wholesale parts distributors. This included development of a universal online electronic parts catalog that would allow auto repair facilities to build a parts order, locate those parts across their distributor network, and compare pricing/availability/delivery options that enabled quick purchase decision making. Prior to such a solution, the parts location and purchasing process was a manual, telephone-based process. AUTOVIA hoped to be first to market in this $5 billion-plus industry. It was during this time that I learned many of the methods, concepts and disciplines of innovation that continue to serve me well in the capacity of technology leadership.
TW: What newer technologies are out there that could provide some immediate impact within government IT organizations?
Cesena: Force-multiplying technologies!
IT infrastructure is moving to the cloud with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which allows for much faster infrastructure procurement, automation administration and monitoring, dynamic scaling of environments, consistent security and virtualization across the technology stack. This enables more flexible infrastructure that can be supported with existing staff. The Health and Human Services Agency seems to be moving assertively to adopt these technologies.
In the business intelligence domain, there are rapid business intelligence development platforms that enable delivery of analytic data stores and analytic tools in significantly less time than using traditional methodologies. The BI analytics space has exploded with visualization tools that really knock it out of the park by making it simple for business users to perform ad-hoc reporting and analysis, often times through cloud-based analytic service platforms.
But being an AppDev geek, I feel the biggest transformational change could be in the area of Software Development and Delivery. The maturation of enterprise low-code development platforms — deployed in a Platform as a Service (PaaS) model — are poised to be significant force multipliers for DevOps teams. These technologies will allow one software developer (today) to increase throughput 300 to 400 percent by simply changing the development metaphor. These platforms also provide simple configuration tools to enable integration with other application programming interfaces (APIs) and Web services, and enable mobility by quickly reconfiguring the user interface to dynamically render for phones, tablets and other mobile devices. All of this while leveraging the underlying “single unified code and logic repository.” Many of these platforms natively support agile software development methodology by providing integrated feedback loops between end users and scrum masters, to more quickly introduce enhancements into the software development life cycle.
TW: What are your top priorities as CIO at DMHC?
My No. 1 priority is to provide highest-quality applications, data and analytic capabilities — within a secure framework — to better support the department's mission.
Strategically we have enterprise IT infrastructure and application architecture modernization initiatives that will support this priority and help our office better provide systems, data and analytic capabilities to DMHC and the public, while helping meet the higher-level strategic goals of the Health and Human Services Agency.
From a tactical perspective, my top priorities are security (policy, procedure and infrastructure) in addition to improving project management discipline, IT governance and IT service management processes.
TW: What are the biggest challenges you have encountered thus far as CIO?
Cesena: I would say learning how to effectively function within state government by understanding the recruiting, onboarding and procurement processes! Our Human Resources and Administrative Services units have been outstanding in helping me get up to speed!
TW: What do you like to do in your spare time?
My wife, Christine, and I enjoy the outdoors, hiking and RV camping. One of my personal loves is music, and I am a performing musician in a couple of bands that play throughout Northern California. My love of music came from my paternal grandfather, who was a swing and Dixieland band leader — and lifelong musician — who performed annually at the Sacramento Dixieland Jazz Jubilee!
