Michigan Digital Summit Connects Government Technology Leaders

LANSING -- Technology leaders from state, county, city and township government convened at the Lansing Center on Nov. 2 and 3 for the ninth annual Michigan Digital Government Summit.  The conference serves as a strategic tool for managers, executives and policy makers in government technology.

"This event sets the tone and direction for the emerging role of technology in the push for better government," said David Behen, CIO for the state of Michigan. "No other event provides this level of information or this climate for interaction across the various levels of government."

As part of the summit, special recognition was given to Leo LaPorte, head of IT Finance within the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.  LaPorte, a Delhi Township resident, was recognized for his work on finance and billing for the state's technology operations, a role LaPorte took on in 2001 when a centralized technology department was created within state government.

"Leo is quite frankly one of our unsung heroes we rely on day in and day out," said Behen. "There was no manual or blueprint for how this would work when technology was consolidated into one department -- no instructions on how to handle centralized IT budgets, accounting, cost recovery or billing.  Thankfully, we had an ace in the hole with Leo, who from scratch created account structures and methods for budgeting, tracking, and billing costs to agencies."

Today, Michigan is recognized as having one of the most mature and solid centralized IT billing structures in the country.  Since 2003, LaPorte and his team have managed the billing of over $4 billion in IT costs to state agencies.