INDIANA – Voting is now open for the 2022 StateScoop 50 Awards, with Chief Information Officer Tracy Barnes and IOT’s SEAL program named nominees.
The StateScoop 50 awards honor the best and the brightest who make state government more efficient and effective. These awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of our peers and acknowledge their tireless efforts to make a positive impact in the government IT community and in public service.
Tracy Barnes is a nominee for the Golden Gov – a category for a visionary state executive leading state government into a new technology landscape with innovative ideas and inspiring others to get on board.
“I am once again honored to be recognized for this nomination for the StateScoop 50 awards,” Barnes said. “I am humbled to work alongside my team at IOT and am proud to have seen their dedication to their work not only through the pandemic but each day since. This is truly an award celebrating them.”
IOT’s SEAL program is a nominee for the State IT Innovation of the Year – a category for a cutting-edge state IT approach to cross-agency or intra-agency technology that embraces innovation.
In 2019, IOT was certified by the Department of Workforce Development as the first agency to use a State Earn & Learn designation to engage new hires in a program of work-based learning.
The SEAL program provides its associates, who come from all walks of life, with practical skills and certifications that will support public-sector IT, while putting Hoosiers to work in a highly needed, highly meaningful area of growing economic value.
In the midst of the pandemic and losing IT talent, Jon Rogers, the program director, says the state really forged its own path with a solution that has provided talented adults with unique workplace opportunities.
“IOT is taking an innovative approach to developing IT talent for the agency and the State of Indiana,” he said. “I am incredibly proud of our associates and their commitment toward making a career shift into critically needed skill areas.”
IOT onboarded its first two SEAL associates in March 2020, and both of these individuals successfully converted to IOT staff positions in 2021. Since that time, IOT has added twelve new SEALs to support five teams across the agency.
You can vote for both Tracy Barnes and the SEAL program through April 15.
