Alex Pettit

Alex Pettit is an American public administration official who is the Chief Information Officer for the State of Oregon. As State CIO, Pettit works in the Department of Administrative Services and is responsible for all information and telecommunication systems for all state agencies. In March 2014, Pettit was appointed interim CIO for Cover Oregon, the agency responsible for the implementation of the Health Care Exchange in compliance of the Affordable Care Act. Previously, Pettit was the first CIO for the State of Oklahoma, serving from April 2010 until January 2014.
Pettit was appointed to his position by Governor John Kitzhaber on January 6, 2014.

Biography

Pettit earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside and received a Masters of Business Administration from Loyola University of Chicago. In 2014, he completed his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Information Sciences from the University of North Texas. Pettit is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society.

Pettit began his public career in 1998 in Denton, Texas as the first Chief Technology Officer for the city. He served in this capacity until October 2008. He then worked for Marsh McLennan in the areas of business continuity planning strategy and vision, disaster recovery and business resumption planning. He served in that position until 2009 when he became a consultant for Brown University where he served as project manager for planning and coordination of Brown's data center.

In 2010, Governor of Oklahoma Brad Henry appointed Pettit as the State's first Chief Information Officer. As State CIO, Pettit served as a member of the Oklahoma Governor's Cabinet and received an annual salary of $160,000. On January 6, 2011, Governor-elect Mary Fallin announced that she would retain Pettit as State CIO. Pettit left the State of Oklahoma in January, 2014 to assume the position of CIO for the State of Oregon, where he currently serves in the administration of Governor Kate Brown.