Anthony Neal-Graves
Chief Information Officer & Executive Director
Appointed Chief Information Officer and Executive Director in November 2020, Anthony (Tony) Neal-Graves leads nearly 1,000 employees and oversees the $380 million annual budget for the Governor's Office of Information Technology. An ardent collaborator, Tony is committed to working within OIT and across agencies to provide secure technology solutions that improve Coloradan’s interactions with state government and maintain Colorado’s position as an innovation leader.
After retiring from the private sector, Tony was tapped by Governor Hickenlooper in 2017 to serve as the first-ever Executive Director of the Colorado Broadband Office, which is responsible for ensuring all households have access to affordable internet. Tony established key partnerships in the Colorado General Assembly that enabled the successful bipartisan legislation in 2018 to fund the Broadband Grant Program with over $115 million. In October 2019, Tony took on the additional role of Chief Operations Officer, overseeing OIT's finance, human resources and legislative teams.
Tony’s extensive experience in the private sector includes 16 years in leadership roles at Intel Corporation. Starting as the Director of Strategy, Communications & Infrastructure Group, Tony rapidly moved up the ranks, holding numerous global positions leading multi-million dollar revenue streams, developing new products and markets, and creating new business strategies. His distinguished work includes leading the definition, development, and launch of a new product for high performance computing, the Xeon Phi™ processor, which was awarded the Intel Achievement Award, the highest corporate honor.
Tony lived in Shanghai and Shenzhen China for three years as Vice President and General Manager of Intel China and Vice President and General Manager of the PC Client Group, respectively. As the Intel China leader, he developed and grew a 2,000+ employee systems development organization across three cities, and led the recruitment and leadership development across all of Intel’s major product lines and business groups. As the head of the PC Client Group, Tony recruited an entrepreneurial team in Shenzhen to develop innovative, low-cost personal computers for global consumption, delivering the first products to market in less than six months, and established a new development center in Shenzhen for smart devices.
Tony retired from Intel in 2017 after his three-year service as Vice President and General Manager of Industrial and Energy Solutions at Intel Corporation. He defined the company’s strategy for entering the Industrial Internet of Things market. With his proven ability to define new strategies and more importantly, develop executable plans for sustainable business growth, Tony also created a new division with industry specific expertise through recruitment from Fortune 100 companies in the manufacturing and energy sectors.
Prior to his tenure at Intel, Tony held numerous leadership positions in the communications industry having worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, AT&T Corporation, and Lucent Technologies Corporation.
Throughout his career, Tony has been a leader in diversity and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) volunteer efforts. He has served on the board for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. Tony is a founding financial sponsor and a current board member of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) whose mission is to increase the participation of girls and women in computing. He was a co-founder of the Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists (CABPES) Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) that has resulted in thousands of students achieving undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and science disciplines. Tony was named Black Engineer of the Year at the 25th BEYA STEM Global Competitiveness Conference. He currently teaches computer science at CSU Global.
Tony is a summa cum laude graduate of Polytechnic Institute of New York in Electrical Engineering. He obtained his Master of Science from the University of Southern California in Computer Science. Tony is a graduate of the Congressional Fellow Program at the Brookings Institute and a past participant in the executive leadership program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Parker, Colorado.
Laura Calder
Chief Financial Officer
Laura Calder was appointed in October 2022 as OIT’s first ever Chief Revenue Officer to operationalize our new revenue-based business model. Within the Chief Revenue Office she leads the Financial Services Office and the new Service Management Office, which was formed as a direct result of the IT Transformation Real-time Billing project that is focused on driving revenue and aligning our revenue-related services across the organization.
Laura joined OIT in February 2016 as Deputy Chief Financial Officer (CFO), managing the daily activities of the Financial Services team that includes accounting, budgeting, procurement, and contracts functions. Under her oversight, Laura led the team to automate and improve many processes within the financial services unit and strengthened internal controls, leading to more efficient and effective processes.
In October 2019 she was selected as CFO during her tenure she was instrumental in driving OIT’s financial transformation efforts, including implementation of Real-time Billing to eliminate billing lag time while improving transparency and customer service. She serves as the chair of the Rates & Services Board, which enables agencies to participate in developing fixed rates for the services they receive. Because of her leadership, customers now have better visibility into their IT consumption, making IT planning and budgeting easier.
A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting with honors and a Master of Business Administration.
William Chumley
Chief Customer Officer
William Chumley, who joined OIT in 2011, is a veteran of technology team management with numerous customer relationship accomplishments in both public and private sectors. His 23 years prior to OIT service included work in small and large profit and not-for-profit organizations, and corporate and personal business environments. In his initial role at OIT as the Deputy IT Director supporting the Department of Revenue, he helped improve overall service delivery to the department while implementing project management and intake processes in collaboration with agency partners.
In a subsequent appointment as Deputy Director of Enterprise Applications, William established an entirely new organizational structure and process flow for that team while emphasizing improved customer delivery on application support and enhancement. He also served as the business portfolio director within the OIT Customer Office before becoming Chief Customer Officer (CCO) in 2014 and as interim Chief Information Security Officer in 2022, leading security directors and the OIS team through assessment and evolution of service catalog, operating model, role clarification and process engineering to increase efficiency of delivery and to reduce silos across the organization.
Having started his career as an assembly language programmer for United Airlines, William quickly became an influential leader and moved to Sabre/Travelocity. At Sabre, William established application development centers in a variety of international locations while supervising and leading a matrixed team of developers, business analysts, infrastructure teams, architects, and managers. William is adept at transitioning teams from current state into innovative and successful new approaches.
As CCO at OIT, William has transformed the role of the IT director into a true strategic partnership with our customer agencies to advance strategy through collaboration, balance business priorities and enterprise technology goals, secure funding, and ensure operational consistency. William and his team leverage resources and equip OIT to extend values, vision, and mission throughout the organization. They respond in real time to fast-changing customer preferences and ever-changing IT alternatives, expedite strategy, system and process modernization to improve process efficiency, and boost operational performance. He also partnered with the OIT executive team on the initial IT roadmaps, helping the Colorado General Assembly provide us with technology advancement and emergency funds. These roadmaps led to the work OIT achieved securing technology debt modernization funds in 2022.
William’s passion is analyzing the goals and objectives of an organization, determining reality, and then establishing a plan to connect reality to the ultimate vision. One of his core strengths is discovering the key talents of individuals and teams and leveraging those strengths to meet business objectives, while also managing personal growth and development of every employee and each team.
William brings a calm, centered, clear, collaborative, and comfortable approach to his job. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and a master’s degree in Business Administration. William balances his work life with significant participation with local marching bands, color guards, and dance teams, serving as a consultant and judge for numerous events. William loves living in Colorado and shares his life with his wife, Lisa.
Bob Nogueira
Chief People Officer
Bob Nogueira joined OIT in July 2019 as Chief People Officer, bringing over 30 years of experience leading organizations in internet start-ups, nonprofits, and international corporations. Bob’s leadership encompasses call centers, human resources, employee communications, leadership development, and nonprofit boards of directors. Bob is an adjunct faculty member in the Communication Management and Organizational Leadership graduate programs at the University of Denver.
Bob’s past senior leadership positions include roles with Comcast, Kaiser Permanente, Qwest Communications, and Merrill Lynch. He founded Nogueira Consulting & Coaching LLC in 2018 and has become a sought-after executive coach, public speaker, and consultant. Bob was a gubernatorial appointee to the Colorado Workforce Development Council for three years. As a community influencer, Bob chaired the board of directors for Colorado Health Network and was a board member for Spark the Change Colorado. As co-chair of the Career Services Board, Bob was one of five mayoral appointees to oversee the City and County of Denver’s Office of Human Resources. He holds accreditation in human resources, executive coaching, change management, and several individual development and team effectiveness tools and methodologies. With a passion for inspiring others to confidently engage and discover "what’s next", Bob’s infectious energy and curiosity amplifies the development and work of individuals and teams.
Bob earned his undergraduate degree in Communications from Kean University of New Jersey and his graduate degree in Communication Management & Organizational Leadership from the University of Denver. Born and raised in New York City, Bob has called Colorado home since 1992. He and his partner, Russ, live in Denver with their rescue dog, Cooper. Bob enjoys collecting memorable experiences through volunteering, travel, theater, music, learning, and teaching. As a (perhaps) too loyal Colorado Rockies fan, Bob considers Coors Field an aspirational second home.
Alex Pettit
Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Alex Pettit joined OIT in January 2020. As Chief Technology Officer, Alex keeps all systems operating, information flowing, applications advancing, and technology transforming. He guides further enhancements of our world-class IT infrastructure, the use of cloud services, and applications of modern technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI).
Before joining the State of Colorado, Alex served as the Chief Information Officer for the states of Oregon and Oklahoma, and most recently served as the Chief Architect for the Oregon Secretary of State. As a state CIO, Dr. Pettit was responsible for information and telecommunication systems for all state agencies for both Oklahoma and Oregon.
Dr. Pettit began his public career in 1998 in Denton, Texas as the first Chief Technology Officer for the city. He served in this capacity until October of 2008. He then worked for Marsh McLennan in the areas of business continuity planning strategy and vision, disaster recovery and business resumption planning. He served in that position until 2009 when he became a consultant for Brown University where he served as project manager for planning and coordination of Brown's data center upgrade.
In 2010, Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry appointed Dr. Pettit as the State's first Chief Information Officer. As State CIO, Pettit served as a member of the Oklahoma Governor's Cabinet and participated in all state policy discussions and decisions. On January 6, 2011, Governor-elect Mary Fallin announced that she would retain Pettit as State CIO and as a member of her cabinet. Dr. Pettit sponsored the extended planning of the Oklahoma DHS modernization project (MOSAIC) and authored the unification of all IT services in the executive branch. Dr. Pettit left the State of Oklahoma in January, 2014 to assume the position of CIO for the State of Oregon, where he served at the pleasure of the Governor. In March of 2014, Dr. Pettit was appointed interim CIO for Cover Oregon, the agency responsible for the implementation of the Health Insurance Exchange in compliance with the Affordable Care Act. In his capacity with the state, he led the migration of the Oregon elections systems to Amazon Web Services.
Dr. Pettit earned his bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside and received a Masters of Business Administration from Loyola University of Chicago. In 2014, he completed his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Information Sciences from the University of North Texas. Dr. Pettit is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society.
Brandy Reitter
Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director
Brandy Reitter joined the Colorado Broadband Office (CBO) in 2022 and is responsible for providing oversight and management of the office's programs and statewide strategy for broadband deployment. Her work includes educating community and industry leaders, supporting regional collaborations, fostering relationships with partners, and mobilizing resources to improve the access and affordability of high speed internet. She works to assist with policy and legislative development, serves on various broadband boards and supports the work of the office.
Her professional experience includes 15 years in local government management in cities and towns across the state of Colorado. As a former Town Manager, she built broadband programs in rural communities and has leveraged resources to deploy broadband in her communities. Her local government experience includes managing towns in Weld, Chaffee, Saguache and Eagle Counties. She has served in roles in public utilities, economic development and government operations in the City of Longmont, City and County of Denver and the Government of the District of Columbia. She has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs. In 2020, Brandy won the City Manager of the Year by the Colorado City County Managers Association and has been appointed to boards for several civic organizations.
Brandy is originally from Colorado and grew up in the Front Range. She moved to the high country 10 years ago and has lived in Summit, Chaffee and Eagle Counties. She calls the Town of Eagle her home and has spent most of her career in rural Colorado. In her free time, Brandy enjoys skiing, camping, running, mountain/dirt biking and rafting the Colorado and Arkansas Rivers. She enjoys these activities with her husband Chris and dog Tink.
Julia Richman
Deputy Executive Director
Julia Richman joined OIT in February 2020 as the Chief Strategy Officer and was appointed Deputy Executive Director in December 2020 to have oversee OIT's business operations. Julia excels at large-scale public sector transformations, and her wide range of experience from the public and private sectors is instrumental in bringing together strategy, product management, business architecture and communications for enhanced stakeholder alignment.
Prior to joining OIT, Julia was the Chief Innovation and Technology Officer for the City of Boulder. She joined the city in 2017 as the Chief Innovation and Analytics Officer and in 2018 assumed leadership of the city’s enterprise technology function as well. Under Julia’s combined leadership, an integrated innovation and technology function was created and overall organizational capacity improved. She worked to achieve city goals through programs and initiatives, focusing on high performance government, data driven decision making, operational effectiveness and efficiency, disruptive technology, a culture of innovation, Our Community as Resource, and enterprise technology.
Prior to working for the City of Boulder, Julia spent a decade at Deloitte Consulting leading projects that advanced service and business operations strategies for her public sector clients. She worked with more than 30 states, universities, non-profits, and the federal government on large scale, enterprise-wide transformation efforts including restructuring, cost reduction, business processes improvement, operations improvement, enterprise governance, portfolio management, innovation, and organizational design.
Julia was born and raised in Colorado and is a local community leader. She was a 2022 Denver Business Journal Outstanding Women in Business winner. She is a Colorado Governor's Fellow, as well as a graduate of Leadership Denver and the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training. She chairs the City of Denver Citizen Oversight Board, providing independent oversight and accountability for the city's public safety agencies. She also serves on the boards for her neighborhood organization, the Colfax Marathon and Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. Julia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College with a double major in Government and English modified with Art History. She earned a Masters of Public Policy and certificate in applied analytics from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. An avid endurance athlete, she and her husband make many loony back-country adventures with their young daughter and dog in tow.
Brandi Wildfang Simmons
Chief Communications Officer & Public Information Officer
Brandi Wildfang Simmons is a creative and energetic leader with more than 20 years of experience producing impactful internal and external marketing communications strategies that elevate brands and eloquently inform stakeholders. She passionately practices the art and science of marketing communications and is equipped with a broad spectrum of experience from both the public and private sectors. Brandi is truly honored to serve the State of Colorado and its residents.
As Chief Communications Officer & Public Information Officer (PIO), Brandi oversees the accurate and effective delivery of OIT communication to its employees, agency customers, state leaders, the Governor’s Office and Coloradans. An OIT brand champion, she is the first point of contact for media inquiries, is OIT's chief storyteller, and directs all crisis communication. Brandi also leads marketing efforts for the innovative myColoradoTM mobile app and Colorado Digital IDTM.
Brandi joined OIT in March 2014 and has served in multiple capacities. She developed OIT's first-ever brand strategy that highlighted the organization's value to its stakeholders and boosted employee engagement. Fun fact: OIT’s “Serving people serving Colorado” tagline came directly from Brandi. She later moved into communications management positions supporting the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) and Program Eligibility & Application Kit (PEAK). Brandi had a hand in CBMS crisis communication efforts and was instrumental in improving PEAK readability and usability. She also spearheaded the state’s PEAK customer usability study in 2017 and worked with the Lt. Governor’s Office and partner agencies to identify enhancements that dramatically improved the online customer experience.
Prior to joining the public sector, Brandi was Director of Brand Marketing at Regis University where she helped build a centralized marketing department from the ground up while simultaneously leading the school's inaugural university-wide brand study. While at Regis, Brandi oversaw the university's in-house marketing team and directed the strategy and rollout of highly successful brand campaigns in the Denver metro area, resulting in exponential social media growth and advertising awareness rates that exceeded top Colorado research institutions.
Brandi had the pleasure of working in other marketing roles at Regis University, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Gonzaga University. During her tenure at Gonzaga, she single-handedly redesigned the undergraduate admissions website, leading to its ranking of #7 out of more than 3,000 postsecondary institutions according to the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA) Enrollment Power Index® (EPI) in 2007.
In 2020, Brandi was recognized by Denver Business Journal as a 40 Under 40 winner. This honor is awarded to influential young professionals who demonstrate significant contributions to company success, civic engagement and community involvement, career achievements, and innovations. Brandi was also among the top 50 most influential young professionals honored by ColoradoBiz Magazine for their 2021 GenXYZ Awards.
Brandi holds bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration and marketing from Gonzaga University. Go Zags! She grew up in Washington state, studied abroad for a year in Florence, Italy, and migrated to the sunny beaches of San Diego before moving to Colorado in 2008. Brandi will always call the Pacific Northwest home, but she loves everything that Colorado has to offer! Brandi is a sports nut, enjoys traveling and spends any moment she can with her two kiddos.
Ray Yepes
Chief Information Security Officer
Ray Yepes is an experienced cybersecurity practitioner with strong business acumen, technical knowledge and proven leadership skills in information security and IT privacy, risk and compliance. He sits on the National Cybersecurity Center's board of directors and previously served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Prior to that work, Yepes co-founded and was the director of a full-service cybersecurity company.
A strategic thinker, Ray has focused on building strong business relationships while delivering customer-centric solutions throughout his career. He believes that while cybersecurity tools are indispensable for any organization, embedding analytics into manual processes is a must in order to close security gaps.
Ray holds a Master of Science in criminal justice and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Sam Houston State University, as well as associate of science and associate of arts degrees from North Harris Montgomery Community College. He also holds a myriad of certifications including InfoSec’s Evaluation Methodology (IEM) and Assessment Methodology (IAM), EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), among others.
Ray enjoys volunteering in his spare time and has co-founded various nonprofit groups including environmental and animal rescue organizations. Ray sees education as a key element for teaching people to care for our planet. He is a nature lover and enjoys hiking regularly.