Emanuel is chief information officer for Montgomery County, responsible for overseeing the government’s computer network. Not to be rude, but what do you do exactly?
In a nutshell, my responsibility is to ensure the county has the appropriate technical solutions to respond in a timely and accurate manner.
Thank you for the dumbed-down version. Do you find it difficult to explain to most people what you do?
I cater it to my audience. As long as I know who my audience is, I’d say about 85 percent understand.
How did you get involved in such a specialized field?
It’s really kind of a fluke. I provided business support in the insurance industry. I had a gift for metrics. I was essentially able to beat the computer in determining how to rate insurance. I thought I would be much more of a technical person, a network architect. But I was drawn to finding those solutions.
What is the biggest challenge in maintaining the county’s IT network?
The fiscal difficulty has been a struggle. IT has to pay for the support value of the previous three years. It’s like buying a big diesel truck and finding out you can’t afford the fuel. But Montgomery County has a superior IT staff. If I lose those people, it could be a problem.
To put this delicately, the IT guy is always portrayed as …
The geek. I know. Hey, as that geek, I’m the head propeller head. By the way, I was on “Bozo the Clown” as an 8-year-old. But the world needs geeks like the world needs wizards. It’s kind of freeing. You float on your own, so to speak.
How would you rate the computer savvy of county residents?
Well, I’ll put it this way. 83.6 percent of county residents have access to broadband. And so do 47 percent of seniors. This area is far ahead of most.
– Brian Hughes
