City of Kalamazoo

Tim Dubois has served as the chief information officer for the City of Kalamazoo since 2017. He drives digital transformation, cybersecurity and community connectivity initiatives through the city’s IT department. With more than two decades of technology leadership experience, Dubois focuses on building collaborative partnerships that help city IT departments use technology to improve public services and operational performance.

Building IT as a Strategic Partner

When I became CIO, my vision was to position IT as a trusted strategic partner that helps every department better serve the public.

That journey started with getting the fundamentals right. We focused on delivering dependable technology support, strengthening our service desk, modernizing outdated systems and ensuring employees had reliable tools to do their jobs.

From there, cybersecurity naturally became our next priority. Reliable technology means little if your systems are vulnerable. We invested in protecting our infrastructure while also improving how we manage data, because secure, well-managed information is essential to delivering quality public services.

Our role extends well beyond technical support. We work alongside departments to help them achieve their goals by making smarter use of technology. Sometimes that means introducing new solutions, while other times it simply means helping teams maximize capabilities they already have, such as getting greater value from their existing Microsoft suite.

That collaborative approach has fundamentally changed how IT is viewed. We are involved early in departmental initiatives and regularly meet with city teams to explore opportunities. We also continue to maintain strong service desk performance.

Creating One Unified Technology Organization

Before the city’s IT organization was unified, departments often purchased technology independently. It resulted in duplicate systems, inconsistent processes and unnecessary costs.

When I stepped into the CIO role, I brought everything together. Instead of separate technology teams working independently, we now have one citywide IT department serving more than 700 employees with a common vision.

Today, we evaluate emerging technologies, establish consistent standards and work collaboratively with departments to solve larger organizational challenges.

This unified structure has also strengthened our ability to pursue smart city initiatives because we are no longer thinking department by department. We are thinking about technology as a citywide capability that supports better government.

Using Smart Technology to Improve Everyday Life

Some of the smart city initiatives I’m most proud of aren’t necessarily the most technologically complex.

One example is Kalamazoo’s Youth Mobility Fund, which allowed public high school students to ride the city’s transit system free using their school identification and library card. The program removed transportation barriers that often prevented students from participating in after-school activities, employment opportunities and other important aspects of community life.

We’ve also implemented environmental sensors throughout the city that benefit both residents and city operations. Road sensors monitor pavement and asphalt conditions and air temperatures, allowing crews to determine when road salt will be most effective during winter.

Air quality sensors have also helped us better understand and track environmental concerns, including identifying toxic odor patterns in one part of the city. The sensor readings can also be seen by the public, providing greater transparency.

Aligning Technology Investments with City Priorities

Technology investments should never exist independently from the city’s broader strategic goals.

“ Technology investments should never exist independently from the city’s broader strategic goals. The real conversation is about identifying where technology can improve government services. “

Our planning begins with the city’s long-term master plan and ongoing conversations with departments to understand where technology can create meaningful value. We choose not to introduce technology because it is new or popular; we ask where IT can help departments accomplish their objectives more effectively.

Artificial intelligence is a good example. Like many organizations, we are evaluating AI use cases while carefully considering governance and long-term value and discussing ways to fund AI adoption.

The real conversation, however, is about identifying where technology can improve government services, including more advanced AI and eventually quantum computing. What excites me most is AI’s potential to eliminate repetitive administrative work, allowing employees to focus on higher-value activities that improve public service.

Building a More Proactive Cybersecurity Strategy

Cybersecurity success is often measured by what never happens, which makes it one of the more difficult areas to quantify.

Our approach has been to systematically identify gaps using CIS assessments and build a long-term zero trust mentality that prioritizes protecting email, networks, file access and remote connectivity. We evaluate each opportunity against our long-term strategy. If it strengthens our zero-trust program and our security stance, then it becomes part of the roadmap. If not, it waits.

After several years of focused investment, we’ve addressed many of the foundational security requirements. Our attention is now on becoming increasingly proactive.

Security awareness training for end users helps them recognize threats before they become incidents. Regular tabletop exercises improve organizational preparedness. Instead of focusing solely on preventing attacks, we’re increasingly working to detect potential risks earlier and strengthen overall organizational resilience.

Leading Through Collaboration and People Development

A high-performing IT organization is built by strong one-to-one working relationships with people, and not just by technology. I believe leadership is fundamentally collaborative. It means building trust, understanding individual strengths and creating opportunities for people to succeed.

Every member of our team brings different skills. Some excel technically, while others have strengths in communication, project management or leadership. Our responsibility is to position people where they can succeed. At the same time, we will continue to help them develop new capabilities through technical and soft skills training, leadership development and professional growth opportunities.

When individuals succeed, the team becomes stronger, and the organization delivers better outcomes for the community. We achieve this by maximizing our staff strengths.

Preparing Government for the Next Generation of Technology

One of the biggest opportunities—and challenges—is that technologies like AI are now available to virtually everyone.

That kind of democratization means staff can access powerful AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot independently. This raises new questions around governance, security and enterprise adoption. City organizations must determine how to responsibly embrace these technologies while maintaining appropriate oversight.

Ultimately, my advice to aspiring CIOs is to focus on people before technology.

Technology is often viewed as the answer, but it is not always the right answer. If you consistently develop people first, your technology expertise will naturally create lasting impact for your organization, your employees and the communities you serve.