The Massachusetts CIO controversy (short version: previous CIO shafted for trying to move Mass government away from Microsoft Office via a push for open document standards) appears to have resolved itself: Sloan (MBA 1990) grad Louis Gutierrez, currently chief technology strategist at the Commonwealth Medical division of the UMass med school, has been appointed the permanent CIO. The interesting thing is that he was the CIO of Massachusetts during the mid-90s, during the Weld and Celluci administrations, prior to stints at Harvard Pilgrim and other healthcare related organizations. In fact, he was the Commonwealth’s first CIO.
I predict that a lot of the noise around OpenDocument and the state will die down. With Gutierrez’s track record (the state, Harvard Pilgrim, the Federal Reserve, and UMass Medical School), I think he’ll be a little more seasoned in how he handles the issues.