Working for government can be a particularly thankless job.
You've likely heard the cliches: "State workers are lazy!" or "We pay your salary."
Never mind that many state jobs are high-stress and low pay. So we're happy when we can commend individuals and agencies within the state workforce for a job well done.
Missouri was awarded five State Scoop 50 Awards, the most of any state. They honor the outstanding achievements of states to make a positive impact in the government information technology community and public service.
Commissioner Sarah Steelman was named a recipient of the GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year award, which recognizes "visionary state executives leading state government into a new technology landscape with innovative ideas and by inspiring others to get on board." This was due in part to Steelman's leadership to start a Cabinet IT Governance Council to develop the state's comprehensive IT strategic portfolio.
Missouri Department of Revenue Director Ken Zellers won the GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year award for his leadership and dedication to customer service and developing a new teamwork approach. Under his leadership, the Department of Revenue developed an IT roadmap to improve customer experience, technologies, strategies and IT programs.
OA Project Management Office Director Paula Peters was awarded the State Up and Comer award for her exceptional work in IT during the past year and in previous years. Peters developed a new project management office to support strategic IT needs-based solution delivery and cross-departmental project management training to ensure successful IT project completion.
Chief Information Security Officer Stephen Meyer won the State Cybersecurity Leader of the Year award for "demonstrating a passion and focus on keeping systems secure and thinking about security in the big picture of state IT."
The MoCareers program won the State IT Innovation of the Year. This award is presented to "The innovative state IT approach to cross-agency or intra-agency technology that may have been unfathomable until recently." It presents the state's first common brand and replaced over 50 different application processes, many of which were antiquated, paper-based processes. At its core is innovative customer experience design and mobile-friendly technology. For the first time, job applicants can now search and apply for all jobs across the state of Missouri on a single platform.
We congratulate the winners of these awards for a job well done. They, along with many others in state government, often go unheralded as they work hard day in and day out. We appreciate their good service.
News Tribune