Cleveland chooses education CIO to lead city’s IT team

Stephanie Wernet will lead Cleveland’s IT department after being named as the city’s new Chief Innovation and Technology Officer (CITO).

Wernet will manage the development, execution and coordination of technology with the goal of transforming the user experience for both municipal functions and in everyday interactions with residents.

She comes to the city with decades of experience in a variety of environments including public, private, non-profit, tech start-ups, education, manufacturing, and healthcare organisations.

“I applied for the position rather casually, but then as part of my research I decided to attend a Town Hall,” she told Cities Today. “I was impressed when I saw Mayor Bibb working one-on-one with Cleveland residents: his passion for helping Clevelanders came through clearly. After that, I focused my job search solely on the Cleveland CITO position.”

Wernet joins the city’s IT team only three months after a ransomware attack in early June. She said that hardening and securing networks and systems will be top of mind.

“Next, we will be launching the new and improved 311 call centre to help residents with their non-emergency issues,” she added. “After that, modernising technology is always an ongoing priority for any IT department.”

Wernet joins the city following eight years as CIO at Breakthrough Schools. In that role, she transformed the IT department to be more secure, responsive and efficient and led the transition to 100 percent online learning for 4,000 scholars and 500 staff members at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to that, she spent more than seven years at Goodyear, serving as Vice President of eCommerce and VP of Information Technology, and has held senior roles at Reynolds & Reynolds, McKinsey & Company and IBM.

“The complexity of supporting Goodyear’s world-wide operations will be helpful in dealing with city functions as diverse as garbage pickup, recreation centres, and an airport,” she said. “I am excited to take this work to the next level and deliver on Mayor Bibb’s commitment to enhance city services and make data-driven decisions though better technology.”

The mayor, Justin Bibb, said Wernet was chosen because she is a forward-thinking leader with the right blend of experience to drive digital transformation for Cleveland.

“[Wernet has] a deep skill set in a wide range of IT disciplines, from e-commerce and business development to education and cybersecurity, and I am confident that Chief Wernet will help us innovate and expand the role of technology to better serve residents.”

Image: City of Cleveland