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.
Bhatt, who was named CIO in March 2015 by Gov. Bruce Rauner, has pursued an aggressive overhaul of the state’s technology. As part of the transformation, Bhatt has led the state’s 45-in-4 initiative, which seeks to transform the last 45 years of state technology in four years.
As part of the state’s larger technology overhaul, Rauner established the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) in January 2016, which Bhatt now heads. In his role of CIO, Bhatt oversaw the state’s $1 billion portfolio of IT investments and an IT workforce of nearly 1,700 members.
Bhatt’s last day with the state will be Sept. 14.
Kirk Lonbom, the current state CISO, will step in as acting CIO. Lonbom has served as the DoIT CISO for more than 2 years.
