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G O V E R N M E N T L LAURA FUCCI CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER CITY OF HENDERSON aura Fucci's greatest accomplishment thus far in 2013? "I survived, how's that?" she suggests. "I'm battling breast cancer right now, so my priorities are all different than everybody else's. I think it's all about living." Fucci assumed her post around Thanksgiving time last year, coming over from Clark County. For her, it was a homecoming. "I moved to the city of Henderson when I was probably 2 years old," she recalls. "I would call myself a native; I wasn't born here, but pretty darn close. I love Henderson, and was excited to accept the opportunity to serve in my hometown. When they came a knockin' I ran over here." Fucci's focus has been on engaging with "the business" – the various departments of the City of Hender- son – "bringing more alignment between IT and that business side of Henderson." The mission is more about process improvement, IT governance; in short "making sure there is conversation between IT and the business. It's making sure we understand what the priorities are with the business, and that we are not just doing what we want to do but what the business wants done. That we are prioritizing our work according to the business's priorities." Until now, she explains, projects "really haven't been moving forward. The things the city wants to get done haven't been getting done. There has been a large backlog." With the improved engagement and clearer communication, she reports, "things are moving along." Fucci and her team have set up an IT governance model comprised of three tiers. The first consists of her and her management team making sure the proper IT architecture and standards are in place. "What servers and desktop we're going to get, that kind of stuff." Next came the setting up of several Communities of Interest, or COI's, basically groups of departments that deliver related services. "There is a justice and public safety COI, for example," she explains. "We get all the departments that deliver those types of services – Police, Fire, Alternative Sentencing, lawyers and more – all in a room. They talk about the application needs of their community; not just their departments, but how they can use those applications across the community." The third tier is the IT executive steering committee, which includes the city manager, assistant city managers, Fucci herself and the chairs of each COI. This is where prioritization and funding of projects occurs. Put it all together, Fucci says, and "it's kind of fun." — By Howard Riell 20 13 TOP TECH EXEC AWARDS | VEGASINC | 9A 2-12_VINC102813_TOPTECH.indd 9 10/23/13 12:17 PM