Two state technology programs were chosen as honorees from Tech Point Mira Awards

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Office of Technology’s (IOT) State Earn and Learn Information Technology (SEAL IT) program and the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity (IECC) were each nominated last week for a TechPoint Mira Award, the state’s largest and most prestigious technology award.

elite

TechPoint, the nonprofit, industry-led growth initiative for Indiana’s technology ecosystem, this week announced the nominees for its 23rd annual Mira Awards program that celebrates “The Best of Tech in Indiana.”

IOT’s SEAL Program is a nominee for the Talent Impact Award, which recognizes initiatives and programs that are influencing Indiana’s critical recruiting, attracting, and hiring talent pipelines as well as training and retaining efforts.

The IECC is a nominee for the Community Impact Award, honoring those individuals and organizations who have gone above and beyond to support the advancement of Indiana’s tech community.

In Fall 2019, the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) recognized an opportunity to augment the State’s IT workforce through skills-based training and hiring. Critical to this approach, IOT leveraged the Department of Workforce Development’s SEAL certification to become the first State agency to hire talented Hoosiers into a work-based learning program. This program reskills adults from other occupations – among them, warehouse workers, truck drivers, line cooks, and veterans – into IT business areas of high need, like cybersecurity and cloud operations.

IOT identifies candidates who are strongly motivated for a career change into public-sector IT. Once selected, candidates spend (on average) twelve months in the SEAL IT program, with standard weeks balanced between study and achievement of industry-valued certifications and actual hands-on, work-based learning within an IOT team. IOT emphasizes the importance of the EARN and LEARN components of this approach and has developed a flexible worksite model to provide SEAL associates with the appropriate onsite hours to accomplish both elements.

IOT hired and onboarded its first two SEAL IT associates in March 2020, and by Spring 2021, both were hired into full-performance State roles – one with the Deployment room – helping to build and deploy more than 6,000 PCs each year – and one into the Security Team. Since then, ten new individuals have been hired to support five functional teams across the agency.

“This program takes individuals who are hungry for entry-level opportunities, provides them with work-based learning, mentoring, coaching, and industry certifications to launch them on successful career paths across the State of Indiana,” IOT Chief Information Officer Tracy Barnes said. “Along with these individuals, IOT is hungry for new talent – and we are very pleased with the results of the program thus far.”

The Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity (IECC) is a cross-sector body of subject-matter experts required to form an understanding of Indiana’s cyber risk profile, identify priorities, establish a strategic framework of Indiana’s cybersecurity initiatives, and leverage the body of talent to stay on the forefront of the cyber risk environment.

Led by IOT, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana State Police, and the Indiana National Guard, the Council is comprised of government (local, state, and federal), private-sector, military, research, and academic stakeholders to collaboratively move Indiana’s cybersecurity to the Next Level. With 35 voting members and more than 250 advisory members, the Council completed its second comprehensive Cybersecurity Strategic Plan along with the first State of Cyber Report that highlights the accomplishments of the IECC and those organizations making strides in the cybersecurity community. Both the plan and report were delivered to Governor Holcomb in October 2021. The Council is continuing in its work in achieving the goals and deliverables of its plan; an achievement that has positioned Indiana as a leader in implementing a cybersecurity program that serves all Hoosiers. 

“This nomination was only made possible by the hard work of each and every one of our council members,” Cybersecurity Program Director Chetrice Mosely-Romero said. “The council has donated thousands of hours and millions of dollars’ worth in expertise and services to those who need it most, and we are a better state because of them.”

Nominees were selected by 52 independent judges who evaluated and ranked the applications. In early March, nominees will present their cases and be interviewed by judging panels, after which the judges will deliberate and select the winners. Judges include company founders, CEOs and presidents, CTOs, CIOs, and other community leaders and subject matter experts. A complete list of the nominees competing for the state’s top technology honors in the 2022 Mira Awards is available at techpoint.org/mira.

Following two years of virtual events, award winners will be announced during an in-person gala at the JW Marriott on Saturday, April 23, 2022.

About the Indiana Office of Technology | http://www.IN.gov/iot  

The Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) provides cost-effective, secure, consistent, reliable enterprise-technology services to state government so that they can better serve our mutual customer, the Hoosier taxpayer. Created in 2005, IOT offers more than 120 technology products maintained and serviced by expert staff with licenses or certifications in 62 technical areas.