Sarah Palin's CIO on Hunting for Bear and IT Staff

Annette Kreitzer inherited a rudderless IT department when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appointed her CIO and commissioner of the state's Department of Administration in January 2007.

Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), the approximately 50-person IT arm of the Department of Administration that provides technology infrastructure and support throughout state government, had lacked steady leadership before Kreitzer arrived. As a result, members of ETS focused on putting out fires, repeatedly missed implementation deadlines, and the heads of other departments that had to work with ETS found ways around them. Kreitzer's job as CIO is to build ETS's credibility by establishing a technology vision for state government, setting IT priorities and getting other state commissioners on board with her agenda.

"That's when a strong personality comes in handy," says Kreitzer, alluding to the tenacious, no-nonsense style she shares with her boss, Governor Palin. "I probably don't have a lot of fans within some departments that do IT."

[ See CIO.com's other Hiring Manager Interviews with Hertz CIO Joe Eckroth, Wyeth CIO Jeffrey Keisling and Starbucks CIO Stephen Gillett. ]

Improving ETS is just one of Kreitzer's many responsibilities. As commissioner of administration, she oversees a department with 1,029 employees across 11 divisions that together provide all administrative services for state government, including finance, retirement and benefits, facilities services, and of course IT. Kreitzer also negotiates the state's 11 union contracts on behalf of Governor Palin. As a top aide to Palin, Kreitzer was required to testify in Troopergate-the investigation into whether Governor Palin had abused her power in trying to get her former brother-in-law fired. (The Alaska Legislature concluded she did abuse her powers while a separate investigation conducted by the Alaska Personnel Board found that she did not, according to The New York Times.)

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