Olson steps down as Texas CTO

Texas CTO Larry Olson, the architect of several major IT initiatives in the Lone Star State, announced that he will resign from his post effective Dec. 31.

In a letter of resignation to the Department of Information Resources Board (DIR), Olson cited what he considers to be among his key accomplishments, including setting up a new shared services strategy for statewide IT enterprise, renegotiating the Texas portal partnership and completing a statewide data center consolidation agreement.

The board subsequently appointed Brian Rawson, director of service delivery for the agency, an interim CTO. Rawson comes to the position with more than 20 years' experience in IT and management positions with Texas state government.

Olson served as Texas CTO and DIR executive director since April 2004. His initiatives have generated overall savings to Texas of more than $270 million, DIR said.

In his resignation letter, Olson said that Texas DIR is now "a team working together as an enterprise, focused on customer service and execution."