CapitolBeatOK Staff Report

Published: 05-Jan-2011

Governor-elect Mary Fallin today announced she would retain Alex Pettit as the chief information officer for Oklahoma.

Pettit was named the state’s first chief information officer in 2010. The cabinet-level position was created by the Oklahoma Legislature the previous year.

“Making government more efficient is the right thing to do to ensure our tax dollars are used wisely, especially as we face serious budget cuts and fallout from the national recession,” Fallin said. “As chief information officer, Alex Pettit already has helped streamline some state operations leading to cost savings. I’m happy to have him on my team and look forward to working with him to find more ways to eliminate inefficiencies.”

Before being named chief information officer of Oklahoma, Pettit served as a consultant and project manager for the renovation of Brown University’s data center.  He also served as vice president of Marsh Risk Consulting.  Pettit served as chief technology officer for the city of Denton, Texas, and was a senior manager of information security services for the southwest region for the accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP.

“Governor-elect Fallin has made it clear she’s serious when it comes to finding cost savings and efficiencies in how our government uses technology. I look forward to working with her to achieve this goal and am honored to serve in her cabinet,” Pettit said.

Pettit holds a bachelor’s degree in science from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Loyola University in Chicago and is working toward his doctorate in interdisciplinary information services at the University of North Texas.

He has received numerous honors and awards including the 2006 Information Technology Executive of the Year from the Society for Information Management, the Best of Texas IT Leadership Award in 2005 and was a Digital Cities Award winner in 2004.