Gail Zaucha is the CIO for the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office (SPD). After joining the SPD in 1999, she spent much of her time planning and overseeing the effort to integrate, consolidate, and improve over 40 separate case and financial management system databases. Implementation of the resulting system, known as eOPD, allowed the SPD to garner a reputation as a fast and reliable source of statewide information on justice-related issues. The Wisconsin Forward organization recognized the importance of eOPD in its 2002 agency assessment, which culminated in the SPD’s mastery level Wisconsin Forward Award. As a part of eOPD, Gail conceived and oversaw the creation of an on-line billing system, which currently allows private bar attorneys who represent SPD clients to submit case closing and billing information via a secured website. On-line billing has been identified as a key reason the SPD was able to handle a 17% increase in caseload since FY01 without associated increased administrative costs.
Gail received her undergraduate degree in geology in 1984, completed additional graduate studies in hydrogeology in 1987, and subsequently worked for eleven years in private industry as a consulting hydrogeologist managing hundreds of groundwater contamination projects. She is particularly interested in the intersection of business and technology and has championed the use of innovative solutions in both consulting and IT.
Gail is a member of the SPD Administrative Leadership Team (ALT), a 13-member group responsible for managing and leading the agency, including its policies, strategies and tactics. She has served in various capacities on the executive committee of the Wisconsin’s IT Directors’ Counsel (ITDC) currently serving as the outgoing Chairperson. During 2008 the ITDC executive committee created and the Department of Administration later adopted new enterprise-wide policies and procedures for managing high-profile application development projects for the State of Wisconsin, which include the performance of periodic independent verification and validation (IV&V) reviews. Gail was also instrumental in an ITDC-led effort to review and ultimately revise the contract used to procure IT contractors for the State of Wisconsin. This effort is ongoing and expected to be completed in 2009.
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