Atlanta mayor appoints new chief information officer

Gary Brantley, Chief Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools has been appointed Chief Information Officer for the City of Atlanta. CONTRIBUTED

Gary Brantley, Chief Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools has been appointed Chief Information Officer for the City of Atlanta. CONTRIBUTED

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the appointment of Gary Brantley as Chief Information Officer for the City of Atlanta, according to a press release. Brantley is currently the Chief Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools, a position he has held since 2011.

“Managing the city’s technology infrastructure effectively is not only critical to our ability to deliver quality customer service to residents and businesses but, as we learned first hand earlier this year, to our ability to run an efficient government,” commented Mayor Bottoms. “I was most impressed by Mr. Brantley’s efforts to extend technology into underserved communities, while also maximizing innovation within the workplace.”

“Thank you to Daphne Rackley, who as Interim Chief Information Officer, guided our City and our Administration through the aftermath of the cyber attack that occurred earlier this year. She worked diligently to get our systems back online and to identify the best path forward to full recovery,” added Mayor Bottoms.

As Chief Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools, Gary Brantley manages the day-to-day technology operations for 118,000 users over 147 sites as well as a $160 million annual budget. Prior to his position in DeKalb, Brantley was Vice President of Information Technology for the Ohio Department of Aging. Among other professional recognitions, he was named as one of the Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education in 2015, ComputerWorld’s Premier Top 100 CIO in the nation, and is a finalist for the 2018 Georgia CIO Leadership Association CIO of the Year award.

The search for Chief Information Officer was led by Claire “Yum” Arnold of Leapfrog Services and David Cummings of Atlanta Ventures.

Brantley’s appointment is effective October 8, 2018.