Earlier this year, Governor Benson appointed a former Cabletron manager to become New Hampshire's first Chief Information Officer.
As CIO, Robert Anderson will try to save the Granite State money by improving government efficiency with information technology.
But Anderson's salary and resume are raising some eyebrows.
NHPR correspondent Brian McWilliams has the story.
New Hampshire's highest-paid government official is not Governor Craig Benson.
It's Robert Anderson.
Governor Benson recently appointed Anderson to the newly created position of chief information officer.
As CIO, Anderson will make 150 thousand dollars annually to oversee the state's information systems.
Anderson's salary isn't just tops in New Hampshire's government. It's higher than that of any state CIO in the Northeast.
In fact, Anderson's 150k salary puts him ahead of information systems chiefs in 46 states.
THAT?S according to the latest data from the Council of State Governments.
He'll make more than his counterparts in California, New York and Michigan.
Anderson says his salary is low compared to what CIOs make in private industry.
And he says states that skimp on salaries for their computer czar may not get the best talent.
"It's hard to attract CIOs that can get the job done for the money that's being paid. And I think that's why the Governor felt he had to raise the bar in salary on the CIO to make sure he got the right person in."
But some of Anderson's peers in New England take a different approach.
The State of Vermont has just created a new chief information officer position.
Officials there think they can fill the spot with a quality candidate for between 85 and 100 thousand dollars a year.
Ryan Labbe is Vermont's acting CIO and a former manager for high-tech start-ups.
He says state governments can't compete with private sector salaries, and he says it's a political mistake to try.
"It's a state government job. This isn't Microsoft and it's not IBM. It's an appointed position. I don't understand from a political standpoint why someone would go out and put their neck on the line, knowing it was going to create the kind of ripples that it was going to."
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts pays its chief information officer 119,000 dollars.
CIO Peter Quinn says he took a pay cut when he left his position last fall with a big Boston financial services firm and accepted the Massachusetts CIO job.
But Quinn says money didn't really play a role in his decision.
"You could do some things here, and have an opportunity that only comes around every 25 years. And those were the very compelling parts for me to take the job. Do I wish it had the compensation? Absolutely. But it really wasn't around the compensation piece in this particular case."
Unlike Quinn, New Hampshire's CIO Bob Anderson has never held the CIO title before.
Prior to being picked by Governor Benson, Anderson was director of product support engineering at Avaya Communications in New Jersey.
Before that, Anderson spent 12 years at Cabletron, directing product support and marketing operations.
According to one expert, Anderson would have a hard time finding a job as a CIO in the private sector.
Beverly Lieberman is president of Halbrecht Lieberman Associates, a Connecticut-based executive search firm.
"Forget the money for a minute. The more puzzling thing is how this guy got hired, based on this resume, for the CIO job. Frankly, I wouldn't pick this person's resume to be included in the roster of candidates that I would interview."
Lieberman specializes in placing CIOs and other information technology executives in Fortune 500 companies.
She also writes a regular column for CIO Magazine's web site.
She notes that many CIOs have a master's degree, whereas Anderson only has a two-year associates degree from Keene State.
More important, Lieberman says, Anderson lacks experience in the kinds of big, strategic computer integration tasks he's being asked to do for New Hampshire.
Anderson admits he's short on credentials as an information executive.
But he says his so-called "soft" skills will serve him well as CIO.
"I think if anything it's the proven track record I have working with the Governor in the past that motivated him to bring me into state government. We worked together for a number of years at Cabletron, and throughout those years I was able to be a good leader, motivate people, build teams that could get traction and provide results."
Peter Quinn of Massachusetts says leadership skills are essential and can carry a CIO a long way.
But Beverly Lieberman says the market is full of CIO candidates with the complete package of skills.
"In today's market there are tremendously good people who are not working because they got laid off in information management roles. And they would have superior resumes to this person as potential candidates for that job. And frankly, for 150k, you could have your pick of the litter. I would pick better resumes for a 150k job."
In making the CIO the top-paying position in New Hampshire government,
Governor Benson has sent a clear message about his priorities.
Now, Bob Anderson will have to prove that information technology can make
the rest of New Hampshire's government run more economically.
For NHPR News, this is Brian McWilliams.
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo