New Agency Assignments for Some Information Technology Directors

The enticement of the retirement lifestyle has lured Paul Sawyer to join its ranks. Friday, March 2, will be his last day with OIT. Paul has served as the AITD for the following agencies:

  • Professional and Financial Regulation (PFR)
  • Economic and Community Development (DECD)
  • Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
  • Maine Health Data Organization (MHDO)
  • several professional affiliated boards (such as the Board of Medicine)

CIO Dick Thompson elected to not fill the vacancy created by Paul’s departure. Instead, the above agencies will be distributed between two of Paul’s peers. Steve Campana will assume responsibility for PFR, DECD, and the professional affiliated boards. Dave Maxwell will add the PUC and MHDO to his existing responsibilities. At the request of the CIO, this plan was developed by the AITDs and endorsed by him in February.

Since OIT is still in a stage of infancy in terms of its existence in state government, it is appropriate for organizational tweaks to be made. For that matter, that should be the case in more mature agencies but that doesn’t always occur. Nonetheless, as positions become vacant, rather than simply filling them as they exist, many will be assessed for functional and resource need before a decision is made. To that end, the OIT Leadership Team has established a process whereby it meets regularly to discuss resource needs and utilization of vacant positions.

We wish Paul a lengthy and enjoyable retirement. Following is a brief synopsis of his varied career in Maine state government:

Paul started with Maine state government at the Maine Highway Commission as an engineering aide in April of 1969. In January of 1970 he went to work for the Maine Real Estate Commission as a field examiner, and two years later was promoted to director of the Maine Real Estate Commission. Paul served in that position until 1989. In 1990 Paul transferred to the position under the title of Director of Planning and Management Information Systems. In 2005, upon joining OIT, he became the Agency Information Technology Director for the above agencies.