NEW YORK, May 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Rachel S. Haot, Chief Digital Officer and Deputy Secretary for Technology at the State of New York, was named the 2014 Chief Digital Officer of the Year by the CDO Club.
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140506/84649
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140506/84648
The award was given to Haot after her keynote presentation, "Improving Government and Public Engagement through Digital Innovation," at the Chief Digital Officer Summit on April 22, 2014, at Time Warner in New York City.
Haot was hired by the State of New York in January 2014 after serving as the Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York from January 2011 to December 2013.
As CDO for the city, she gained prominence by establishing the first urban Digital Roadmap in the country in 2011. Less than three years later, in October 2013, the city had achieved 100% of all digital objectives in the Roadmap.
Major milestones included:
- Overhauling the official New York City website (nyc.gov)
- Tripling New York City's social media audience
- Growing the city's tech sector to over 1,000 Made in NY technology companies (wearemadeinny.com)
- Enabling 300,000 low-income residents to access the Internet
- Launching over 40 digital learning programs that have served more than 1,000,000 New Yorkers
- Expanding the city's OpenData platform from 350 public data sets offered at launch to over 2,000
CDO Club founder David Mathison noted that Haot also took the second spot in the CDO Club's listing of Top Ten Chief Digital Officers on Twitter, and was named third most influential Chief Digital Officer by Klout score.
You can follow Haot (@rachelhaot) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo and @NYLovesTech) on Twitter.
Before taking on her role with the city, Haot served as founder and CEO of GroundReport, a pioneering platform for global citizen journalism. She also launched and ran Upward, a digital strategy consultancy, taught at Columbia University Business School as an adjunct professor, and worked in business development for the consumer Web industry. Further, Haot is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a digital advisory board member for Women@NBCU. She has been named a "40 Under 40" leader by Crain's, Forbes and Fortune.
Mathison said of Haot, "Rachel is equal parts inspirational leader, loyal staff member, responsible and accountable colleague and dedicated public servant. She can easily simplify complex topics, and accomplish challenging tasks, all with alacrity and her signature style and grace. We are fortunate that Rachel chose to put her incredible talent and energy towards public service, and improving engagement and innovation between the government and its citizens."
This is the second year that the Chief Digital Officer of the Year award has been given. The winner of the inaugural CDO of the Year award in 2013 was Teddy Goff, who served as Digital Director at Obama for America in 2008 and 2012.
ABOUT THE CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER SUMMIT
The Chief Digital Officer Summit is the premier event for digital leaders and executives. The Summit offers intimate access to the digital elite. "These executives are fast becoming our society's leaders and CEOs," said Mathison.
The next CDO Summit is scheduled for October 29, 2014 in London, England at the BBC. For more information, visit: http://CDOSummit.co.uk or http://CDOSummit.com.
ABOUT THE CDO CLUB
The CDO Club is the world's largest network of Chief Digital Officers. Its goal is to provide its members with breaking news, original research, career development support, networking opportunities, and inspirational events such as the Chief Digital Officer Summit.
For more information, visit: http://CDOClub.com.