Goverment CIO Outlook: Specials Magazine

When Chris Lee packed his bags for Texas in 1997, he was chasing a degree and a hunch. The degree was in business computer information systems at the University of North Texas. The hunch was that his enjoyment of business concepts and his fondness for computer games might somehow blend into a career worth pursuing. At the time, that seemed like a thin connection. What Lee could not have predicted was that the path would lead to a decades-long tenure with the City of Lewisville, culminating in his role as Chief Information Officer. Lee’s academic years revealed that his instincts were partly right. He did enjoy the business curriculum, but what truly captured his interest was the technical rigor that came with the STEM side of his degree. That combination of business acumen and technological curiosity would become the foundation for his professional life. In his senior year, opportunity came calling in the form of an internship with the City of Lewisville. Lee remembers being

Modern public safety runs on data. Whether responding to large-scale emergencies or routine incidents, agencies must be able to access and share accurate, real-time information across jurisdictions, roles, and systems. However, legacy platforms were not built for this level of coordination, leaving teams struggling with fragmented data, slow communication, and siloed operations that delay response and obscure critical details. What is needed is a solution designed for high-performance, real-time, multi-agency collaboration, with data sharing and interoperability at its core. This means giving every participant, from dispatchers to field officers to records staff, access to the same live information, in the same view, at the same time, regardless of agency boundaries. To fill this need, CrossWind Technologies created Valcour Cloud Public Safety™, a cloud-native SaaS solution purpose-built to support the unique demands of sworn and non-sworn safety agencies. Designed from the ground up and informed by firsthand experience working with law enforcement agencies, Valcour enables real-time collaboration, streamlines daily operations, and breaks down data silos. It also ensures that everyone, from dispatch to records to command staff, has access to the same live information, all in one place. Beyond improving operational efficiency, it delivers reporting tools that help agencies proactively identify trends, allocate resources, and strengthen overall public safety strategy. Guided by a mission to deliver simple, effective solutions using leading-edge technology, the company prioritizes open, standards-based systems that offer high performance, efficient integration, and a low cost of ownership. CrossWind’s development and business approach focuses on selecting technologies that are both practical and powerful to ensure its solutions evolve with the needs of those they serve. .

Agility Technologies has been at the forefront of federal digital transformation for over a decade, helping agencies modernize operations, improve efficiency, and align technology investments with mission outcomes. What distinguishes Agility in the competitive government IT landscape is its dual focus: enabling large-scale modernization while rescuing high-stakes, mission-critical projects that others have failed to deliver. With a proven track record of outcomes, Agility has earned a reputation as a go-to partner for reinvention and recovery. As a certified Salesforce Summit Partner, the highest tier in the ecosystem, Agility specializes exclusively in Salesforce, MuleSoft, and Tableau implementations. This focused expertise allows the company to achieve precision and impact that broader system integrators often cannot match. The firm’s team includes over 150 certified professionals holding more than 150 industry credentials, and Agility maintains a five-star rating on the Salesforce AppExchange. Its architects—spanning technical, application, and integration domains—bring deep public sector experience and possess the security clearances required for sensitive federal environments Agility’s customer-first philosophy has been foundational since its inception. The company works closely with federal agencies to understand their missions, co-develop tailored digital solutions, and ensure those solutions meet both technical requirements and operational objectives. For Agility, success is defined by delivering high-quality results on time and within budget, while creating scalable platforms that minimize technical debt and reduce long-term operations and maintenance costs..