Dive Brief:
- New York City Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño announced Tuesday he is leaving his position in the city to work on civic tech initiatives "outside the government," according to Technical.ly Brooklyn and others.
- Gamiño, who was appointed in October 2016, prioritized equitable innovation in New York and was highly active in the city's municipal tech engagement program, NYCx.
- He is expected to stay in his role for a number of weeks while he ties up projects. A successor has not yet been announced by the Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer.
Dive Insight:
The news of Gamiño's departure comes as a bit of a surprise, considering he represented New York City on a SXSW panel this week regarding the city's technology advancements.
In Austin, come by the #NYCHouse @FourSeasons! We’re talking tech + how to #MakeTechWorkforPeople #SXSW pic.twitter.com/vZckoHTqrg
— NYC Mayor's Office of the Chief Technology Officer (@NYC_CTO) March 12, 2018
Gamiño's LinkedIn profile currently describes him as, "Civic technologist and thought leader, working hard to leave the camp better than I found it." And though his departure from the public sector is a loss for New York, Gamiño was able to deliver on his goal of leaving the city better than he found it in 2016. Gamiño oversaw successful initiatives through the NYCx challenge, helped to develop a Technology Leadership Advisory Council and actively worked with Mayor Bill de Blasio on combating federal measures regarding net neutrality.
"I think New York has always probably been a tech powerhouse, [and] it’s now becoming more substantial and also more recognized for its role in the global tech community," Gamiño said in a recent interview. "Here, tech is not just an industry of its own, but it’s a major contributor to the progress made in all of the existing industries that are here."
Leadership changes are consistent in the public sector, particularly in technology and innovation roles. In January, Archana Vemulapalli left her role as CTO in DC — to be filled by the city's CDO on an interim basis — and just this week, St. Louis hired its first CTO, Robert Gaskill-Clemons. As long as cities prioritize internal communication and collaboration, leadership changes should be perceived confidently as an opportunity for the city to advance.
