Rebecca Cai has been named to the critical role of chief data officer for the State of Hawai’i Office of Enterprise Technology Services.
Cai is the first chief data officer for the state and will be critical in supporting evidence-based policymaking for the green administration.
The position supports the state chief information officer in overseeing a comprehensive state strategy to manage data capture, storage, maintenance, visualization, analysis, sharing, integration and access that will promote transparency and customer satisfaction for the public.
“My administration has seen evidence-based decision-making as critical to setting good policy in many key areas, including housing, health care and, previously, our response to the Covid pandemic,” said Governor Josh Green, MD “Having Ms. Cai on board is a great step forward in making decisions using the best available data.”
Cai most recently served as Chief Data Officer for New York State’s Office of Information Technology Services and has 24 years of experience in digital, data, analytics and decision intelligence in the private sector. She has a master’s in business administration from
University of South Carolina.
“In New York, I was able to transform the role of CDO from Open Data to include only all data-related functions, including data management, master data management, open data, geospatial data services, data analytics and visualization, and AI,” Cai said. “We created a data strategy as well as a user-centric and impact-driven approach and created AI guidelines.
“In Hawaii, I plan to do more of the same. I’m really excited about the responsible use of Generative AI and data/AI governance, especially the value we can bring to the public with Data and AI together,” Cai added.
The Chief Data Officer will work proactively with government organizations and external stakeholders to define priority business data needs and implement best practices that meet defined policies and standards.
“We are very pleased to welcome Rebecca to Hawai’i and to the ETS team,” said Doug Murdock, Hawai’i’s Chief Information Officer. “Her experience and knowledge of the tools, techniques and best practices will greatly assist us in improving the delivery of data services and products to both government agencies and to our residents.”
