When the Land of Lincoln needed a new CIO this fall, Illinois-native Kirk Lonbom couldn’t have been a more obvious choice. With two years as CISO and more than 15 years of experience with the state government, Lonbom had the right credentials for the job. So, it was no surprise when Gov. Bruce Rauner tapped Lonbom to head the Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology as state CIO.

Every year the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) releases its State CIO Top 10 Priorities. While the recently released 2018 list has a few predictable entries, it comes with a few surprises, too. 

Hardik Bhatt is stepping down from his role as Illinois’ CIO to move to the private sector–joining Amazon in a public sector-facing role. To fill Bhatt’s shoes, current state CISO Kirk Lonbom is stepping up as interim CIO. Lonbom has worked in Illinois state government for more than a decade, and became state CISO in 2015.

Illinois CIO Hardik Bhatt announced that he is leaving the public sector for a new role at Amazon. While he didn’t discuss specifics of his new role, Bhatt said he would be joining a new public sector-facing team primarily focused on  the Internet of Things (IoT), transportation, and smart cities.

Three years ago the state of Illinois ranked in the last quartile of states when it came to using IT efficiently. After two years on the job Hardik Bhatt, the state’s CIO, has transformed Illinois.

The University of Illinois’ supercomputer program is working to secure state-collected data and organize information in order to find solutions to state problems.