Cruz, who is also chief deputy director of the California Department of Technology, was named one of three recipients of a NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award, which “honors outstanding individuals who have made contributions to advance state technology policy through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery.”
Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members as well as non-members and selected by the NASCIO Executive Committee.
"As deputy CIO for the state of California, Chris Cruz is a visionary leader in digital technology for the department, the state and the nation," NASCIO said in bestowing the award last week. "From driving SaaS [software as a solution] solutions and a single statewide email solution to serving as an ambassador both at home and across the country, Chris has been instrumental to California’s continued success."
Cruz told Techwire he was honored and gratified by the recognition.
“Obviously, I’m very pleased to get the State Innovator Award,” Cruz told Techwire. “It shows how important it is to California for us to enable innovative change that aligns with our businesswide propositions.”
Cruz received the 2015 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers award from Government Technology magazine, Techwire's sister publication; the 2013 Best of California Demonstrated Leadership in Management of IT Award; the 2011 Outstanding CIO Leader Award; the 2010 Innovation and Vision Award; and the Center for Digital Government’s* 2009 Outstanding CIO Leader of the Year Award.
In his dual role as CDT’s chief deputy director and deputy state CIO, Cruz provides co-executive leadership, along with state CIO and CDT Director Amy Tong, for nearly 1,000 staff; oversees 134 CIOs within the executive branch; helps manage an operating budget of $300 million and has co-statutory responsibility for California’s $3 billion IT project portfolio.
He is a leading advocate within state government for several principles of IT governance: organizational change management, agile development, recruiting and retention of personnel, and aligning state agencies' IT needs with their business missions.
Before his appointment to his current CDT position, Cruz had served as CIO for the Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Food and Agriculture.
In his current role, he is a frequent speaker at industry events, along with Tong.
Along with Cruz, NASCIO also honored Colorado Chief Technology Officer David McCurdy and state of New York CTO Rajiv Rao.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Techwire's parent company.
