North Dakota Chief Information Officer Shawn Riley today announced Kevin Parker as chief reinvention officer (CRO). Parker, a native of Illinois, brings more than 15 years of experience in various leadership positions overseeing innovation, data, technology, and training initiatives.
Parker’s most recent role was as Group Chief Information Officer for the Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology, where he was responsible for coordinating technology strategy across multiple agencies, directing the Illinois “Smart State” program, coordinating academic outreach with a focus on cybersecurity, and developing the State’s Government Innovation Academy training program. Parker also served as the Director of Government Innovation for the State of Rhode Island, Office of Innovation where he led public entrepreneurship initiatives through digital services and data strategy teams. Parker held similar technology related roles in city governments in Massachusetts, Alabama, and Nevada. He is a guest speaker at the Rhode Island School of Design and also serves on the Advisory Board for the Taubman Center for State & Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He holds a Master in Business Administration from Boston University with an emphasis on organizational transformation. He also received a Master in Public Administration with an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Illinois.
“Kevin’s breadth and diversity of experience will help continue to elevate our ability to serve our citizens,” said Riley. “From his track record building partnerships, to his involvement in data-driven efforts that drive value for agencies and citizens, we are excited to welcome him to the team.”
“This is an exciting opportunity to help drive statewide efforts to enhance the citizen experience and find new ways to build capacity through knowledge sharing, innovation, training, and technology, and I look forward to getting engaged with the many initiatives already underway,” said Parker.
The Chief Reinvention Officer position, previously held by Julie Cabinaw, is responsible for driving statewide strategic initiatives around reinvention through technology, training, digital engagement and enhancing the user experience for citizens and stakeholders. Accomplishments of the Office of Reinvention team over the past year include:
- Implementation of Business Process Improvement Training for state employees as a foundational element to create greater efficiencies across government. More than 400 team members have been trained in process improvement basics.
- Expansion of a standardized state website platform, helping reduce costs and enhance consistency of citizen experience, with 39 agencies now live or in staging. This single effort has resulted in nearly $1 million in cost avoidance thanks to limited up-front development and customization costs.
- Implementation of user experience processes and consulting for the state to ensure websites and applications provide the highest quality experience.
- Growing awareness of North Dakota’s efforts and building a ‘growth mindset’ culture through participation in local, regional and national events, conferences and webinars.
- Implementation of Ideas.nd.gov, a proactive, transparent way to solicit and share ideas for improving state government and agencies from team members, citizens and other stakeholders. The online ideation ‘crowdsourcing’ platform will allow contributors to submit unique ideas, participate in targeted idea challenges and collaborate with others through voting and commenting. A Team ND rollout is slated for later this fall.