San Francisco Digital Service Officer Carrie Bishop to Depart
Five years after being named director of digital experience enhancement for residents, businesses, and visitors, one of California’s most important local government technologists is stepping down.
In a tweet on Monday night, Carrie Bishop, who was named San Francisco’s first chief digital services officer nearly five years ago, announced her resignation.
“After five exciting years with the city and district of SF as the first Chief Digital Services Officer, I will move on in March. It’s been a roller coaster ride and I’m so proud of what the team has achieved. Stay tuned because they’re just getting started, ”Bishop said on Twitter. Her last day in San Francisco will be March 4th, Techwire emailed us
“There are few teams with such talent, and we achieved some important things – during COVID-19, we led the city’s digital response, helping thousands of people book tests, get vaccinated, and get critical information “Said Bishop, noting the team enabled more than 2,500 companies to get the grants and permits they needed to keep their doors open during the pandemic. She said she has “something planned for the summer that I will share publicly in due course,” but she will be “taking a few months off to recover from a few hectic years!”
Bishop’s public sector career began in the London City Council in the Borough of Barnet and continued as the founder of FutureGov, which has developed solutions to help UK local governments improve online services. Government Digital Service was one of their UK clients. As a panelist at events like the California Public Sector CIO Academy 2020, her comments on govtech have appeared in Techwire. San Francisco announced her appointment on February 17, 2017 and the creation of the position – Bishop’s first US position – as “Part of San Francisco’s Recently Adopted Digital Services Strategy,” added: “Ms. Bishop’s focus will be on improving the experience of San Francisco residents, businesses and visitors when they access the city council for information and services. “
Her friends and former colleagues offered congratulations on social media. “A great and impressive run! You have built a great team in SF. Look forward to seeing what you do next, ”said Michael Wilkening, senior advisor on technology and deployment to the US Department of Health ¯ and former special advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom on innovation and digital services ¯ on Twitter. “Thank you for all of your contributions, not just for SF but for the movement,” tweeted Luke Norris, vice president of platform strategy and digital transformation at Granicus and former senior vice president of government relations and growth at OpenCities.
“Impressive !!! This is news. I’m really excited to hear where we’re headed and what the team has in store,” said Angelica “Angie” Quirarte, federal director of partnerships for the Tech Talent Project and former assistant program director for the California office for digital innovation, on Twitter. The two met in 2019, she told Techwire, just before Quirarte – then assistant secretary for digital engagement for the California Government Operations Agency – and her group in the state began work on the Alpha project.
“I think that as a leader in this area you have to learn to say no, and she’s been really good at focusing the team on projects that are reinventing services,” Quirarte said. She brought her colleagues to meet Bishop’s team, she said, “and they were able to provide coaching and advice on their experience creating and leading a digital services team in the context of a city government.” Named after alpha.ca.gov, the initiative focused on redesigning the state’s website. Quirarte stayed in contact with Bishop to offer support and to have a sounding board on Alpha, but also on government work on permits and cannabis licenses.
“It was great to build a relationship with Carrie and her team and cheer each other on while we worked on our projects,” she added.
Theo Douglas is Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Techwire.net and prior to that at Government Technology. His reporting experience includes reporting on local, county, and state governments, business, and breaking news. He holds a BA in Newspaper Journalism and a Masters in History, both from California State University at Long Beach.
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