Va. IT Investment Board taps Newstrom as chair

The newly formed Virginia Information Technology Investment Board has selected Virginia Secretary of Technology George Newstrom to serve as its chairman, the secretary of technology's office announced Tuesday.

The board, which was established as a result of IT reform measures enacted this year by the Virginia General Assembly, is composed of gubernatorial and legislative appointees charged with reviewing and prioritizing enterprisewide technology initiatives across state government.

The new initiatives will be directed by a new agency, the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, or VITA. The board has also established a search committee to hire a chief information officer who will serve as the VITA's chief administrative officer.

Warner's board appointments include Christopher Caine, IBM Corp.; John Lee IV, Lee Technologies Inc.; James Hazel, Angler Companies; and Mary Guy Miller, Interactive Design and Development Inc.

The General Assembly's appointments are Hiram Johnson, Dominion Resources Inc.; James McGuirk II, Siebel Systems Inc.; Scott Pattison, National Association of State Budget Officers; and Leonard Pomata, Webmethods Inc.

Newstrom is a voting, ex officio member. The state's auditor of public accounts is a nonvoting ex officio member.

The new legislation mandates the consolidation of IT services for 94 executive branch agencies within the state. The consolidation is expected to save tens of millions of dollars each year in the management of IT projects and purchase of IT products, according to state officials.

The IT reform legislation calls for agencies to integrate into VITA by size with small agencies under 100 employees by Jan. 1, medium size agencies of 100 to 400 by July 1, 2004, and large agencies of more than 400 employees by Jan. 1, 2005. Small agency integration is underway.

Other IT reforms in place as of July 1 include procurement reform to renegotiate existing state contracts and use the purchasing power of the state and its higher education institutions.