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Ascension is seeking a senior-level, hands-on Fractional Chief Information Officer (CIO) to provide short-term, strategic IT leadership for the St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD). This role exists to guide the execution of an already-developed IT Modernization Roadmap, not to rebuild strategy from scratch or perform hands-on system engineering.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned government IT leader who has served as a CIO, Deputy CIO, IT Director, or equivalent senior advisor in public sector or regulated environments, particularly healthcare, public health, or human services. This individual must be comfortable operating as a single accountable authority, providing clarity, governance, and executive-level judgment across IT modernization, cybersecurity, data governance, and operational improvement efforts.

This role is critical to the success of the engagement. The Fractional CIO will serve as the primary strategic advisor to SMCHD leadership, ensuring modernization activities remain aligned to governance best practices, cybersecurity standards, and realistic execution constraints within a local health department environment.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Fractional CIO will provide temporary, high-impact IT leadership to support SMCHD during a defined modernization execution window. Working closely with executive leadership, internal IT staff, a Data Engineer, and a Data Modernization Project Manager, the consultant will translate strategic intent into clear governance structures, prioritized workstreams, and actionable guidance.

The ideal candidate is:

• Strategic but pragmatic
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity with minimal supervision
• Decisive, organized, and outcomes-focused
• Skilled at anticipating risks and resolving barriers before they escalate

Rather than performing hands-on technical build activities, this role focuses on direction-setting, oversight, validation, and decision support. The consultant will rely on frameworks such as NIST, public-sector IT governance models, and health data regulatory requirements to guide recommendations.

Tools and environments used will include SMCHD’s Microsoft-based ecosystem, state-issued Google workspace access, documentation tools, and existing IT and cybersecurity artifacts.

Position Day-to-Day (and Periodic) Activities

The activities below reflect the fractional nature of the role and are performed based on project phase and cadence rather than daily repetition.

• Lead and participate in the on-site project kickoff and initial system review
• Review and validate the existing IT Modernization Roadmap and prior assessments
• Establish IT governance structures, decision-making processes, and intake workflows
• Advise executive leadership on IT prioritization, sequencing, and resource alignment
• Translate roadmap initiatives into actionable workstreams for SMCHD staff execution
• Provide oversight and guidance to staff implementing modernization initiatives
• Identify, document, and track IT and cybersecurity risks using a formal risk register
• Assess cybersecurity posture using NIST-aligned frameworks and best practices
• Review and provide recommendations for incident response, disaster recovery, and continuity planning
• Provide strategic guidance on IT architecture, system integration, hosting, and data flows
• Advise on data governance, data management, and analytics improvement efforts
• Prepare bi-weekly progress updates and monthly executive briefings
• Participate in leadership meetings and working sessions as requested
• Document lessons learned, outstanding needs, and transition recommendations at closeout