NYS CIO and Director of OFT Selected As Computerworld's Premier 100 Leaders for 2009

ALBANY, NY (12/08/2008)(readMedia)-- Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, New York State Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office For Technology (CIO/OFT) has been selected as one of Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2009.

The 2009 Premier 100 IT Leaders honors information technology (IT) executives for their exceptional technology leadership, the ability to foster ideas and creative work environments, envisioning innovative solutions to business challenges, and effectively managing and executing IT strategies. The 2009 honorees will be recognized at Computerworld's upcoming Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference to be held in March 2009.

"The 2009 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders, more so than ever before, are making a clean break with traditional IT strategies and roles and creating altogether new ones. The shell-shocked economy and changing forces in the technology environment are spurring these smart, agile IT leaders to seize new opportunities," said Scot Finnie, Editor-in-Chief, Computerworld. "We applaud them for their readiness to try on new roles, take charge of environmental initiatives and bring consumer-styled technologies into their organizations."

Dr. Mayberry-Stewart was selected from hundreds of nominees, who closely matched Computerworld's IT Leadership Index, a set of characteristics that describes executives who guide the effective use of IT in their organizations, and evaluated by the editors and by a panel of outside judges.

"I am extremely honored to accept this distinguished award, not simply as a personal honor, but as a testament to the exemplary work my entire agency has been involved in. This acknowledgement, in many respects, is a result of the strong partnerships we have formed with our state agencies and provider community," said Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office For Technology. "This recognition validates CIO/OFT's ability to deliver innovative, high-quality services to the people of New York State. I thank Computerworld for recognizing our team's accomplishments."

"Since becoming the New York State Chief Information Officer, Dr. Melodie Mayberry-Stewart has made significant strides advancing New York State as a leader in technological advancements, which are critically important to help build stronger local economies and benefit New York State's economy as a whole," said Sylvia Hamer, Deputy Secretary for Technology, Operations and Gaming. "CIO/OFT has benefited greatly from her expertise and vision. We are proud of her achievements and are confident she will continue to make even more innovative contributions in the future."

Dr. Mayberry-Stewart was named New York State Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office for Technology in May 2007. As the Governor's top information technology advisor and member of the Governor's cabinet, Dr. Mayberry-Stewart develops, implements and oversees IT investments for the State of New York, a $120 billion enterprise with over 190,000 employees serving a statewide population of 19 million. In addition, as the New York State Chief Information officer, her responsibilities include promoting the use of technology to drive economic development to help build stronger economies.

The complete list of the Premier 100 IT Leaders can be found in a Computerworld special report and online at www.computerworld.com.

About CIO/OFT

The State Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) provides statewide IT strategic direction and centralized IT services to the state and its governmental entities. CIO/OFT provides a number of IT services to support the missions of state agencies 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, over 90,000 telecom users, more than 50 statewide applications, a secure network of over 1,600 miles of owned and leased fibers, including mainframe operations, telecommunications, internet and intranet provisions, email, IT training, networking, and data storage and processing. In addition, the agency has a world renowned project management practice, assists with application development, and sets technology strategy and policies for the state enterprise.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide. Computerworld's award-winning Web site (www.computerworld.com), weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research from the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 awards, including Folio Magazine's 2006 Gold EDDIE Award for the best technology/computing magazine, the 2004 and 2006 Magazine of the Year Award, and 2006 Best Overall Web Publication from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE). In addition, in 2007 Computerworld's then editor in chief Don Tennant received the prestigious Timothy White Award from American Business Media. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 2 million unique, monthly visitors and a print audience of 1,222,000 readers each week (IntelliQuest CIMS Spring 2007).