May 1, 2022
DENVER – Winners of the 2022 StateScoop 50 Awards were announced at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Midyear Conference, and the State of Colorado was honored in two categories. Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) Deputy Chief Customer Officer Natriece Bryant won State Leadership of the Year and OIT’s Technology Accessibility Program, led by Solutions Architect of Accessibility Theresa Montano and Senior Solution Engineer of Accessibility Laurie Kubitz, won State IT Innovation of the Year.
Now in its ninth year, the StateScoop 50 Awards celebrate the innovative people and projects using technology to help transform government services and solutions. After receiving more than 1,000 nominations, StateScoop narrowed the list to approximately 180 finalists before opening voting to the public. More than 3.5 million votes were cast, with 50 winners selected from 23 states.
“These awards are a testament to the far-reaching impact our IT leaders and projects continue to make for the state and all Coloradans,” Chief Information Officer & Executive Director Anthony Neal-Graves said. “From accessibility to broadband and everything in between, I am proud of the work our teams are doing to make it easier for Colorado’s residents and businesses to engage with state services.”
Awards were presented at the annual NASCIO 2022 Midyear Conference in National Harbor, Maryland during a StateScoop reception held Sunday evening.
State Leadership of the Year
Natriece Bryant leads the IT Director team that supports OIT’s agency customers. Due to her keen understanding of how human-centered technology can address customers’ business needs, she was tapped by the Governor to help review and prioritize agency requests for Federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to modernize the state’s IT infrastructure and solutions. Even while on this temporary and massive assignment, her unwavering commitment to customer delivery meant that she continued to stay in touch with her team to ensure the momentum she created was not lost since joining OIT in Dec. 2020.
State IT Innovation of the Year
In Oct. 2021, the Technology Accessibility Program (TAP) was created within OIT to help agencies comply with recent legislation as the state works to create a Colorado for all. The program and herculean task is managed by a dynamic duo who are creating a framework and process for agencies to create IT Accessibility Adoption Plans, providing technical support to agencies and are a go-to resource for municipalities working on accessibility. The program provides a website with resources, a monthly newsletter and is growing a community of practice. Having accessible government services is the right thing to do but can be difficult to do correctly. TAP is making this happen in Colorado!