The National Association of State Chief Information Officers recognized the N.C. Department of Information Technology with three national awards at its annual conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Oct. 10. In addition, the association elected NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jim Weaver to serve as its president for the coming year after serving as vice president this year.
"These projects demonstrate how NCDIT is delivering innovative digital solutions to meet the needs of people and businesses throughout our state, and it is exciting to see the teams who developed them receive national recognition for their efforts,” said Weaver. “I look forward to leading NASCIO and working with the talented and dedicated state CIOs across the country.”
Susan Kellogg, State Technology Innovator Award
The NASCIO Executive Committee honored Susan Kellogg, chief deputy state CIO, with a State Technology Innovator Award, an award established to recognize outstanding individual contributions to advance state technology through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery. Kellogg was one of three recipients of this award, with the committee noting that Kellogg’s leadership in North Carolina is a shining example. Kellogg joined NCDIT in March 2020 and has spearheaded digital transformation initiatives in North Carolina to modernize service delivery and improve access to state services and information.
NC eLink, State IT Award, Cross-Boundary Collaboration & Partnerships Category
NC eLink, a data utility developed by the N.C. Government Data Analytics Center, allows state agencies to crossmatch a person’s data across data systems without revealing individual identities. It helps ensure the public has access to all the services they are eligible for and that those services are effectively meeting their needs. State agencies, including the N.C. departments of Health and Human Services, Public Instruction, Public Safety and Commerce have also used it in criminal justice, fraud detection and education.
“NC eLink offers countless opportunities for state agencies to collaborate, share and integrate data sources,” Nitya Ganapathy, GDAC analytics director, said. “It’s really expanding and improving over a period of time and helping state agencies here to do data integration in a seamless way.”
View this video to learn more about NC eLink.
Advanced Television Standards Committee 3.0 in Public Safety Communications, State IT Award, Information Communications Technology Innovations Category
NCDIT’s FirstTech team and its public and private partners – PBS North Carolina, Device Solutions, Wireless Research Center of North Carolina and Triveni Digital – have developed an emergency paging system using PBS North Carolina’s next-generation digital television broadcasting. The innovative system sends emergency notifications to first responders faster, over greater distance and with better coverage than older methods.
“We looked at how to alert first responders, and we were looking at the same technology that had been used for 50 years,” FirstTech Director Red Grasso said. “When we looked at NextGen TV, we realized that this may be an opportunity to serve public safety by delivering quicker messages.”
“Digital paging is pretty revolutionary,” Charles Laird, FirstTech technology specialist, said. “The work that we’re doing here in North Carolina is setting a national model.”
View this video to learn more about the emergency digital paging system.
NASCIO also named NCDIT as a finalist in the State CIO Office Special Recognition category for efforts to map broadband access and adoption across North Carolina by NCDIT’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, the N.C. Center for Geographic Information and Analysis and the N.C. Geographic Information Coordinating Council.
For more information about NASCIO and its awards, visit nascio.org.
