News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 1, 1999
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke praises Kolodney for 'outstanding leadership' at DIS

OLYMPIA — Gov. Gary Locke today praised Steve Kolodney, director of the Department of Information Services, for "outstanding leadership that has put our state on the cutting edge of information technology."

Kolodney announced that he is leaving the director's job after four years to take a job in the private sector in Sacramento, where he has a home.

"Steve will be hard to replace," Locke said, "but I know how much he wants to be close to his family in Sacramento. Steve brought a wonderful balance of advocacy for using information technology to improve state government, tempered by a caution to invest in technology wisely."

Kolodney's department created Access Washington, the state government's homepage. In April, it received the Business On The Internet award as the best public service site in the country at Internet World '99.

Washington has won the prestigious Digital State Award two years in a row, beating out the other 49 states, for using information technology to serve taxpayers and deliver government services.

Also, in February of this year, Washington was the only state to receive an "A" grade for information technology in a study by Syracuse University that named Washington one of the four best-managed states in the nation.

Locke also cited Kolodney's leadership in building a high-capacity K-20 education telecommunications network so classrooms can access the Internet for educational purposes.

Kolodney's resignation is effective June 30. A search for his successor will begin immediately.

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