Technology - USA (2021-03)

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CITY OF MEMPHIS

THE CITY, THE CIO,

COVID AND

COLLABORATION

The City of Memphis reeled

under the impact of the

pandemic, its newly appointed

CIO Kimberly Bailey an unknown

quantity: we asked her how her

team responded.

WRITTEN BY:

JOHN O'HANLON

PRODUCED BY:

MIKE SADR

Y

ou might have thought that Kimberly

Bailey had a lot to prove after Memphis'

Mayor Jim Strickland appointed her as

the City's first female African American CIO

in January 2020. A native Memphian, after

university she shifted to Atlanta, Georgia in

1996, gaining experience with General Motors

and IBM before returning to her home town in

2003 to work with the Memphis Grizzlies NBA

team, helping them move into their new home,

the $250m FedExForum. In 2018 she came

back into the City government as IT lead in the

HR department, getting to know the directors

of every department and gaining intimate

knowledge of what they do.

When the search for a new CIO started late

in 2019 she was asked to assume the role of

Deputy CIO to help in the search, so she drew

up an outline of the qualities and experience

she thought would be needed. By December

the search was concluded – and she was

informed by the Mayor's department that as

she was clearly the best person to execute

those plan, would she please accept the job. “It

has been a fantastic journey. My first internship

after graduation in 1995 was at the City of

Memphis in the then CIO's department so it's

an amazing feeling to now occupy this seat!”

Technology in partnership

Between 1995 and now the perception of IT

has changed, but she knew that much more

change would be needed. “I wanted to change

how the organization looked at the IT division

• not just as a glorified emergency service
  but as a strategic partner. Just before the
  pandemic closed us down we did a roadshow,
  invited all the department directors and their
  deputies, and asked them what they needed,
  what challenges they'd faced in dealing with
  our division, and how they thought we should
  move forward.” This dialogue altered the
  relationship radically, and also made it easier
  for the CIO's department to implement its
  own programs. As an example, she identified
  a large corpus of shadow IT where departments