It's not unheard of for a career IT professional to shift from one industry to another. But for someone to make the move from the private sector to the government sector -- well, that's a bit more rare. But, that was the career change that Thomas Jarrett made when he moved from a long career at Verizon to his current job as Secretary of the Department of Technology and Information and CIO for the State of Delaware. What made the opportunity irresistable? The opportunity to establish an IT organization that functioned like a business within a government environment.

In this interview, Jarrett shares some of the lessons he's learned from that move -- there's a big difference between budget requests for IT within a company and budget requests for IT within state government, for example. But if some things were very different, a lot remained the same -- he still grapples with security and privacy concerns and with controlling costs. And, he's convinced: No matter if it's a corporation or state government, it's still all about IT aligning with the business.

Bio

Thomas Jarrett is Secretary of the Department of Technology and Information and CIO for the State of Delaware. In this capacity, Jarrett oversees all of the state’s information technology needs. Prior to his current position, Sec. Jarrett worked for Verizon Delaware, formerly Bell Atlantic-Delaware and Bell Delaware, for more than 30 years in several capacities. Jarrett has spent many years contributing to the development and implementation of technology in the classroom. He was responsible for the broadband strategy including video dial tone, distance learning, education and other future technologies as Verizon’s New Technology division manager. As manager of Outside Facilities Engineering, Jarrett oversaw a staff of over 40 involved with engineering, planning and design of telecommunications in Delaware. Jarrett began his career as an engineer-designer for General Electric’s Light Military Electronics Division in New York.

Resources

From Private to  Public

Production Credits

Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom  Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development  Manager
Scott Ebner, Web Developer