Bismarck — North Dakota CIO Shawn Riley is leaving in December for an executive role at a crypto mining company. Doug Bergum, Wednesday, October. 12.
Burgum appointed Riley to the top job in the state’s information technology department in March 2017, making him one of the longest-serving cabinet members. The Republican governor said Riley was a “transformational leader” who facilitated the work-from-home shift during the COVID-19 pandemic and guided the state’s advancements in technology and cybersecurity.
Riley, who worked remotely for part of his term in Minnesota, touted his department’s accomplishments in his resignation letter, calling North Dakota the “undisputed national leader” in cybersecurity.
“I’m in awe of what our team has accomplished,” Riley said. “We shattered the stereotype of what a ‘state worker’ could do, and shattered expectations of government technology.”
The Information Technology Department (ITD) is responsible for meeting the technology needs of the state government. The agency’s two-year budget is about $275 million.
Last month, the department was hit after the Tribune News Service revealed that agency officials waited months to hire an outside firm to help recover the deleted emails of former attorney general Wayne Stenehjem. criticize.
In his new job, Riley will serve as CEO of the U.S. operations of Bitzero International, a crypto mining company that earlier this year agreed to relocate a pyramid-shaped former missile base in Nekoma, North Dakota Developed into a high-performance data center.
Greg Hoffman, ITD’s deputy chief information officer, will serve as interim head of the division while the role is sought. Hoffman has been with ITD since 2005.