Ron Puccinelli
Antioch,CA
Summary
Global, multidimensional Information Technology Executive with a proven track record of driving catalytic change, leading organization transformations, and executing IT turnarounds to deliver growth, reduce costs, mitigate risk, and improve processes. Business-centric leader with strong expertise in cybersecurity, large-scale project management, and contract negotiations across various industries including public and private organizations, government, pharmaceutical/biotech, media, and high tech verticals like Apple Inc. Optimizes operational efficiencies and productivity through technology excellence, strategic planning, business acumen, and effective people leadership. Respected for keen ability to unify large, disparate teams while executing on strategy and aligning IT with the business. Experienced [Desired Position] with expertise in driving technological innovation and strategic IT management. Successfully led multiple large-scale projects that streamlined operations and enhanced data security. Demonstrated expertise in team leadership and problem-solving, ensuring seamless integration of systems. IT executive with experience in implementing cutting-edge technologies that drive organizational success. Known for fostering strong collaborative environments and delivering impactful results. Possesses a strategic vision and adaptability to navigate evolving business landscapes.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
City of Menifee
03.2021 - Current
- Selected as the City's first Chief Information Officer/ Information Technology Director for the fifth fastest growing City in California
- Built department and transitioned from a private sector managed service provider to delivering all technology support with internal staff complying with California Department of Justice requirements for supporting law enforcement
- Built cybersecurity functions from scratch including policy framework, training staff, compliance with NIST, HIPAA, PCI, and CLETS requirements
- Updated cloud services contracts to include cybersecurity requirement and third-party risk management components
- Developed the City's first Continuity of Operation (COOP) plan
- Conducted formal tabletop exercises in cyber-incident response
- Initiated formal penetration testing program as required by NIST, HIPAA, and other security standards
- Established formal employee cybersecurity awareness training reducing risk
- In coordination with Risk Management and Emergency Management, successfully integrated cyber-incident response with formal Emergency Management plans including unified incident management facilitating record keeping compliance for reimbursement of eligible expenses and incident escalation for additional resources if necessary
- Built Geographic Information (GIS) team and capabilities
- Integrated GIS with land management permitting system (Accela) ensuring parcel data accuracy and consistency
- Initiated Digital Twin capabilities in GIS through remote sensing (drone) implementation, accelerated parcel data updates from authoritative sources
- Implementing 3-D point cloud imaging of select development projects and areas of interest across the City
- Remedied and streamlined law enforcement computer aided dispatch (CAD) system address and street map update processes ensuring responders are able to reach new developments in case of emergency
- GIS team assisted fire department with four-minute response time analysis assisting in identifying new fire station locations
- Built and launched Government television broadcast system broadcasting agency content on all three cable TV incumbents in high-definition and standard definition
- Broadcast of live public meetings, special events, and original content
- Complying with all relevant regulations regarding closed-captioning and multiple language support
- Programming won three SCAN/NATOA STAR AWARD Honorable Mentions and one STAR AWARD First Place for single item news broadcast in first year of operation
- Lead Information Technology Department through development and implementation of Strategic Plan, Disaster Recovery & Continuity of Operation plans and table top exercises
- Lead development of first formal Risk Assessment of the technology environment
- Established a culture of continuous improvement within the IT department through regular performance evaluations and skill development opportunities.
- Developed high-performing teams through effective recruitment, training, and performance management strategies.
- Championed change management efforts to drive successful implementation of new technologies or processes throughout the organization.
- Bolstered network infrastructure resilience with redundant systems design, ensuring seamless uptime for mission-critical applications.
- Enhanced cybersecurity measures by conducting risk assessments and implementing security protocols.
- Devised and wrote corporate technology procedures, modifying security policies for each worker level.
- Ensured regulatory compliance by staying current on industry standards and implementing necessary controls within IT infrastructure.
- Implemented comprehensive disaster recovery plans to ensure business continuity during critical incidents.
- Evaluated emerging technologies to identify potential competitive advantages for adoption within the company''s strategic roadmap.
- Polled department heads to assess current and projected IT needs.
- Designed internal dashboard for at-a-glance system and project status reporting.
- Created long-range IT plan to support projected growth and requirements for added capacity.
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
City of Fairfield
05.2018 - 03.2021
- Brought in to improve the Information Technology function's ability to deliver prioritized projects, ensure Cybersecurity, and initiate the digital transformation of the City's business processes
- Launched ITIL based transition to Service Desk from Help Desk
- Implementing NIST Cybersecurity Framework
- Facilitated City's response to State-wide Shelter-at-Home orders and mobilizing the City's workforce to work from home while maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and available of the City's business systems
- Led refresh of entire IT organization's job specifications to provide current job specifications that align with the City's strategic direction for the IT organization
- Leading IT organization through customer service improvements based on the ITIL service management standard adapted to meet the City's culture
- Improved the City Cybersecurity posture by adopting best practices, replacing outdated equipment, and providing mentoring and formal training to staff
- Developed the City's first 10-Year Information technology operating budget plan and technology replacement plan
- These 10-Year financial plans provide the City with data-driven projections regarding the financial needs of the existing technology portfolio
- Developed and received Chief Executive approval of a formal Technology Replacement Policy providing the Executive Leadership Team with the tools to manage the organization's technology portfolio
- Leading the IT organization through a project governance and project management transformation
- Results to date include delivering over 40 projects, up from zero in the year prior to my arrival
- I also developed and received Chief Executive approval of a project governance policy providing the Senior Executive leadership team with the information necessary to setting and guiding the technology capital budget based on the organization's strategic objectives
- Leading Public Safety radio system replacement project involving four different agencies and Motorola
- Leading complete update of City's network infrastructure to replace end-of-life equipment with current equipment capable of meeting the business needs of the City as well as defending against the ever evolving threat environment
- Leading City through its first ever Enterprise Resource Planning system selection and implementation
Consulting Chief Information Security Office (CISO)
Maze & Associates.
01.2018 - 05.2018
- Company Overview: Government focused CPA / Auditing firm
- Brought in to assist Maze & Associates develop Cybersecurity practice
- Assisted Information Technology team with developing services, selecting tools, and assisting clients with Cybersecurity reviews and audits
- Government focused CPA / Auditing firm
GLOBAL SECURITY – PROJECTS DIRECTOR
Apple Inc.
10.2016 - 12.2017
- Company Overview: American technology company, $229B+ in revenue, 123,000 employees
- Brought in to establish PMO and provide project management leadership, ensuring multiple large-scale project delivery
- Provide strategic planning, direction, resource management and key stakeholder communications for multiple teams comprised of Apple employees, business partners (ASSA ABLOY, HID Global, Lenel Systems International) and contractors
- Lead projects in cybersecurity, physical security, video surveillance, and integrations of all operations in Global/Regional Security Operations Centers (GSOC/RSOCs)
- Managing 15 projects with budgets ranging up to and over $90M with project teams of 190+ people in multiple countries
- Operations Excellence: Provide support of delivered projects within Apple corporate infrastructure
- Turned iPhone and iWatch into secure HID credential for door access and deployed globally – slashed cost of employee badge from $10 each to $0.10 each – delivering massive savings, while also opening new product and markets for Apple
- Process Improvement Gains: Partnering with Apple leadership and external business partners to improve business processes and explore new market and relationship opportunities
- Reduced time to resolve employee issues by 25% and improved process efficiency by 60%
- Global Security: Redesigned global security access control process, improving global access records update and forwarding for deep machine learning by 800%
- Machine Learning: Led project team that expanded access control pattern learning from USA to entire global Apple employee/facility base
- Utilized to ensure physical security of Apple premises worldwide
- American technology company, $229B+ in revenue, 123,000 employees
DIRECTOR – MAJOR ACCOUNTS
Quorum Technologies
01.2016 - 10.2017
- Company Overview: Customer-focused IT firm
- Tapped to help Quorum expand deeper into Government sector
- Provide Technology and Management Consulting services in Healthcare, Government Agency, and Private Sector on Information Assurance/Security, Large-Scale Project Implementations, and Assessments of entire IT environment, including Security, Compliance, Business Value, Continuity of Operation, Staffing and Strategic Planning
- Manage projects up to $2M
- Customer Service-as-a-Service: Designed Customer Service-as-a-Service model for Quorum
- Provide complete IT function assessments, develop IT strategic plans, contract reviews, technical advisory, cybersecurity improvements, and numerous CIO/CTO services to City executive teams and Policy Makers
- Technology Transformation: Overhauled customer service for a Northern CA city, designing/implementing citywide network backbone and cybersecurity across all city systems, including Public Safety and Utility Billing
- IT Advisory: Conducted IT organization review for Bay Area county – advised Executive Management/Board of Supervisors on organization, staffing, business process and systems, and cybersecurity
- IT Service Catalog: Designed/implemented comprehensive IT Service Catalog Assignment with Bay Area city, based on organization's strategic plans and dialogue with key executives and stakeholders
- Customer-focused IT firm
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Port of Oakland
01.2013 - 01.2015
- Company Overview: Major airport, commercial real estate, and containership facility, on U.S
- Pacific Coast
- Recruited to unify IT function from multiple technology groups into one department
- Provided leadership for IT Division, focusing on integration and performance of Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and technology solutions
- Managed 12 direct reports along with ERP, application development, web services, network infrastructure design/maintenance, security and telephony, including land and cell lines, voicemail and radios
- Leadership Gains: Created staffing plan and initiated formal training for technical staff to attain high levels of quality and efficiency – improving system availability by 25% and reduced support costs by 60%
- Communications Wins: Overhauled website and launched 7X24 Stakeholder Communications Portal – increasing Trucker satisfaction by 40%, Terminal Operator satisfaction by 33%, beneficial cargo owner (BCO) satisfaction by 100%, while reducing routine information requests by 50% through on-demand availability
- Surveillance Expert: Received Governing Body Approval of Enterprise Video Surveillance Policy, enabling port to stand up 24X7 video surveillance function with trained staff, reducing risk of inappropriate use claims
- Technology Excellence: Completed critical technical infrastructure initiative in first 12 months, preserving business continuity
- Replaced enterprise network infrastructure – increasing stability/performance by 200%
- Created cybersecurity function and implemented next generation Firewalls, eliminating multiple threat vectors
- Conducted Table-top cybersecurity exercises with FBI and Coast Guard personnel on-site
- Led design/implementation of dual-homed Internet gateway, eliminating points of failure, increasing Internet service bandwidth by 100%, and raising Internet uptime from nearly 75% to 99.999%
- Vendor Contract Negotiations: Slashed costs through vendor negotiations – consolidated multiple Microsoft contracts into one – cutting costs by 40%
- Also cut costs by 50% and equipment count by two-thirds
- Cybersecurity: Spearheaded cybersecurity – increasing security awareness from 0%, as previously ignored
- Communication Management: Implemented Governing Body meeting management system, including agenda preparation/tracking, meeting management, Internet streaming and VOD of past meetings
- Major airport, commercial real estate, and containership facility, on U.S
- Pacific Coast
DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
City of Concord
01.2001 - 01.2013
- Company Overview: Eighth largest city in San Francisco Bay Area
- Tapped to execute a complete IT turnaround
- Directed $6M+ operational budget and $10M+ capital budget to support all City departments, with 30 City employees (union/civil service) and contract staff
- IT Transformation: Led IT Department through major technology, staffing and organizational transformation, enhanced service delivery, expanded operational/project capacity and improved financial sustainability
- Closed $4M annual budget shortfall, delivered 99.999% system availability, up from nearly 66%
- Increased project delivery from 2 projects annually to 15+ by reskilling, training and strategic hiring
- Cost Savings: Conceived/completed formal review of all City business processes, identifying $2.5M in annual cost savings – helping the City close a $5M structural deficit, $750K in the first six months
- Implementation Gains: Implemented ERP system to support Finance, HR, Procurement, Warehouse and Inventory Control, and Budgeting – reduced $1M in contract negotiations, while enabling new ERP interfacing with core systems, slashing support costs 33% over old system and reducing errors
- System Execution: Replaced Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system supporting Police Department – reducing costs 25% – serving two cities/140,718 population, including 911 calls, closest/best unit recommendations, silent dispatch, mobile-in-vehicle computer support, turn-by-turn directions, and near real-time GPS mapping
- Payment System: Installed unified cash register system across all (17) City locations and integrated with ERP to provide secure/auditable payment handling – eliminating manual reconciliations, increasing revenue by 10% in first year, and meeting PCI compliance requirements
- System Upgrade: Updated Land Use/Permitting system, reducing costs 20%, while supporting constituent interactions, generating incremental revenue and finding $1M in lost funds
- Communication System: Participated in establishing Joint Powers Authority for the East Bay Regional Radio Communications System (EBRCS), a first-responder voice radio communications system
- Eliminated need for multiple radios, improved radio performance to 95%, and returned $1M to General Fund
- Thought Leadership: Designated as City's representative on East Bay Broad Band Consortium Technical Committee, a three-county joint powers authority to identify and develop high-speed broadband initiatives
- Architecture Leader: Established technical architecture/standards, improving reliability and reducing TCO by 50% through streamlining – all accomplished within department's 10-Year Budget Plan
- Eighth largest city in San Francisco Bay Area
DIRECTOR, ONLINE OPERATIONS, UNITED ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
United Business Media (UBM)
01.2000 - 01.2001
- Company Overview: Market-leading B2B events across the globe
- Promoted from Manager of Networks, Operations and Telecommunications role within a short time for rapid successes, to support online operations, including website, ecommerce, business exchange and content syndication, managing 150 employees and $20M budget
- Aligned technology with business objectives
- Organization Builder: Created customer-focused team from disparate technology groups – delivering tangible value and creating environment that attracted/retained top talent and reduced turnover 15%
- Architecture Leader: Developed comprehensive, integrated, stable and scalable systems architecture to deliver 50% increase in system availability and reduce operating costs by $1M annually
- Business Process Gains: Led comprehensive business process documentation/review, seeking opportunities to make significant improvements and reduce costs
- Identified $1M in savings in first fiscal year alone
- Skilled Vendor Negotiator: Managed vendor negotiations – yielding $500K+ savings in first four months
- Market-leading B2B events across the globe
Education
B. S. Business Manageent - Business Management
University of Phoenix
Walnut Creek, CA01.1999
Masters of Information Technology & Cybersecurity - Cybersecurity
University of Phoenix
Smart City Certification -
Pepperdine University
On-LineSkills
- Global Executive Leadership
- Technology Transformations
- IT and Business Turnarounds
- Strategic Planning
- Execution
- Cybersecurity
- HIPAA
- NIST
- PCI
- Artificial Intelligence
- Project Management
- Program Management
- Risk Management
- IT Operations
- Continuity
- Portfolio Management
- Public Safety P25 Radio System
- Contract Negotiations
- Systems Architecture
- Customer Service
- Service Delivery
- Cross-functional Leadership
- Agency TV Channel Operation
Affiliations
- InfraGuard – DHS Critical Infrastructure Protection
- US-Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT)
- Municipal Information Systems Association of California, Southern Chapter
Awards
Top 10 Government CIOs Award Recipient, 01/01/24, https://city-govt-cio.govciooutlook.com/awards/top-10-city-govt-cios-2024/ron-puccinelli/
Presentations
- Pannel Moderator, 2018 CIO Agenda Conference, Cybersecurity panel
- Panel Moderator, Spring AAPA Cybersecurity Conference, 2015
- Presenter, Spring AAPA Cybersecurity Conference, NIST Cybersecurity Framework, 2014
- Presenter, Municipal Information Systems Association of California Conference, New Normal Requires New IT, 2012
- Presenter, Municipal Information Systems Association of California Conference, 2012
- Multiple Session presenter, Municipal Information Systems Association of California Conference, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Panelist, Cyber-Insurance, 2022
Gov CIO Outlook 2024 Top 10 City Government CIOs
Awarded in December 2024
Timeline
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
City of Menifee
03.2021 - Current
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
City of Fairfield
05.2018 - 03.2021
Consulting Chief Information Security Office (CISO)
Maze & Associates.
01.2018 - 05.2018
GLOBAL SECURITY – PROJECTS DIRECTOR
Apple Inc.
10.2016 - 12.2017
DIRECTOR – MAJOR ACCOUNTS
Quorum Technologies
01.2016 - 10.2017
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Port of Oakland
01.2013 - 01.2015
DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
City of Concord
01.2001 - 01.2013
DIRECTOR, ONLINE OPERATIONS, UNITED ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA
United Business Media (UBM)
01.2000 - 01.2001
B. S. Business Manageent - Business Management
University of Phoenix
Masters of Information Technology & Cybersecurity - Cybersecurity
University of Phoenix
Smart City Certification -
Pepperdine University