Massachusetts appoints acting CIO

Computerworld - Massachusetts has appointed an acting CIO as it seeks a permanent replacement for Peter Quinn, who spearheaded the state's initiative to move away from proprietary formats for storing government documents (see "Massachusetts plans to abandon Microsoft Office").

Bethann Pepoli, who worked closely with Quinn as chief operating officer for the state's IT division, will assume the reins as acting CIO, according to Eric Fehrnstrom, communications director for Gov. Mitt Romney.

Quinn late last month disclosed plans to resign as the state's CIO, effective next week, in an internal memo to staff at the state's IT division. Citing "very difficult and tumultuous times" in recent months, Quinn pointed to disruptions to his personal life as well as concerns that his presence might detract from the IT division's "good work."

Since the state announced its plans, Quinn increasingly found himself in the hot seat, defending the OpenDocument decision in the face of a steady stream of challenges from politicians, government officials and special interest groups. Out-of-state trips Quinn undertook to speak on the subject at technology conferences became the focus of a front-page story in The Boston Globe. The Globe later reported that a Romney administration review showed Quinn did not violate conflict-of-interests standards or other rules when he took the trips.

Fehrnstrom said the state remains on track for a January 2007 implementation of its "Open Document rules," which call for agencies in the state's executive department to save documents in the "Open Document Format for Office Applications."

That format was made a standard earlier this year by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.

The state's decision to adopt the OpenDocument format was a blow to Microsoft Corp., which supplies software to the state but does not support the OpenDocument format. Microsoft in November announced that it would submit its Office Open XML file format to the Ecma International standards body.

Thomas Trimarco, Romney's secretary of administration and finance, said the state was pleased to see Microsoft's progress in creating an open document format. "If Microsoft follows through as planned, we are optimistic that Office Open XML will meet our new standards for acceptable open formats," he said in a statement.

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