The City of Boston has a new interim chief information officer (CIO), after Boston Mayor Michelle Wu named Alex Lawrence – who had previously been Chief of Staff for the city’s Department of Innovation and Technology – to the post beginning Nov. 29, Lawrence announced on Twitter.
Lawrence will take over from David Elges who stepped down recently as the city’s CIO to “make way for a new leadership team,” Elges announced on LinkedIn.
“I’m honored and humbled to have this opportunity. Mayor Wu and her team deeply appreciate the role technology plays in building communities and delivering change for Boston,” Lawrence said in the thread. “Technology is how we work toward a more equitable Boston. The internet in today’s world is as essential as other utilities, and all Bostonians deserve high-quality connectivity.”
Lawrence returns to working for the city of Boston, after spending the rest of calendar year 2021 working as head of growth and operations for the woman-owned digital services company Bloom Works. Prior to that brief foray into the private sector, Lawrence had spent nearly seven years working in Boston’s Department of Innovation and Technology.
Lawrence worked her way up in the department, beginning as a permitting project manager at the department from 2014-16. From there, she was promoted to director of special projects and served in that role from spring 2016 until fall 2018. In October 2018, Lawrence was named chief of staff at the department, putting her in charge of oversight of day-to-day operations for the City’s IT department, where she worked closely with Elges, who was CIO at the time. She held that position until January 2021.
“Technology is how we take lofty policy goals and bring them to life,” Lawrence tweeted. “It’s how we deliver services to residents, from filling potholes to finding housing for families in need. It is how we engage the public and communicate information on topics from the urgent to the mundane. … It’s how we leverage data to make thoughtful, informed decisions. I can’t wait to join this team, alongside Mayor Wu to hit the ground running.”
