{"id":55614,"date":"2023-04-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=55614"},"modified":"2023-04-04T19:35:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T23:35:18","slug":"bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Wyoming Chief Information Officer Bill Vajda last week started in a new role as director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute<\/a>, a continuing education and workforce development initiative at Northern Michigan University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with StateScoop, Vajda shared which projects he was most proud of from his nearly 12 months<\/a> with the Wyoming state government and how a health scare in February provided a fresh perspective that made the new director role seem more appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following a career that included serving as the state CIO of Alaska and CIO of the U.S. Interior Department, Vajda said he wanted to stay with his family in Michigan, in a role where he could \u201cgive back.\u201d He said he was also attracted to working for a university where many family members had attended and where his father worked 35 years as a professor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think people are the key to everything we do in technology, and so I\u2019ve long been focused on workforce, on academics, on how all these things pull together,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when this opportunity came up, it kind of tied together a lot of personal and professional priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its launch in 2019, the cyber institute has provided technical certification courses and led workforce development programs. Today it offers training and exercises for students attending about 80 K-12 schools. Vajda said the university\u2019s status as one of the National Security Agency\u2019s National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity<\/a> means it meets requirements for collaboration and curriculum offerings that make it well equipped to boost the region\u2019s cybersecurity workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe UPCI is kind of the hub linking into the school of business, the ROTC program, the K-12 outreach with school of labor, school of education,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really ties together a lot of different facets of information assurance, academic development, workforce development, regional cooperation, a lot of things you need to be successful, not just as a program, but that you need to make communities successful in the cyber age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Starting to get traction\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Vajda said he\u2019s not surprised to no longer find himself in Wyoming<\/a>. State CIOs have a notoriously short tenure \u2014 averaging around two years \u2014 and he said it\u2019s the kind of job one takes with the expectation that a resignation is around the corner. He stepped down in January<\/a> after Cheyenne lawmakers folded his office into the Department of Administration and Information<\/a> as part of a broader effort to consolidate the state\u2019s agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an email last Nov. 1 to Gov. Mark Gordon’s then-chief of staff, Buck McVeigh, Vajda indicated his willingness to continue as CIO in the governor\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to continue as the CIO after the election,” he wrote. “I think we are starting to get traction, both in Wyoming as well as nationally. We\u2019ve built a good team, and have many efforts that I would like to bring to fruition.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gordon was re-elected in a landslide Nov. 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked by StateScoop about which efforts he was referencing, Vajda pointed to the creation of his department\u2019s leadership team and \u201ca pretty substantial cybersecurity capability.\u201d He said the state had also signed a workforce development agreement with the University of Wyoming to offer mid-career and executive leadership training that may start this spring. He said his team had also discussed offering vocational and mid-career training through the state\u2019s community colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of my first year there, I had gotten the basic framework of a lot of new capabilities in place and I was looking forward to seeing how well they performed before I could declare success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the restructuring was \u201cnot what I signed up for,\u201d Vajda said. \u201cIt kind of was a fundamental change to what I agreed to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Test and practice\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his federal and state experience, Vadja said he also once served as city manager for the City of Marquette, in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula. This and much of his other professional experience, he said, will be useful at the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a fair view of what some of our local and regional challenges are and needs are in terms of local governments, county governments, tribal governments, what some of the concerns are for small businesses that operate in the cyber domain, what kind of training they need, what kind of support and help they need,\u201d he said. \u201cWith academia, you\u2019re allowed not only to come up with ideas and hypotheses, but put them to the test and practice them. Higher education environments are a great place to rally all those interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vajda said academia can be \u201cleveraged for much greater effect for building resiliency in those environments\u201d than if they go it alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m very excited about this,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause it brings together many things that hopefully improve my personal work-life balance, but it\u2019s still a place where I know for these big issues I can still make a difference and that\u2019s very satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":54009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_grayscale_images":true,"grayscale_contrast":0,"sponsored_content":false,"display_author_bio":false,"story_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4677,20646],"tags":[735,3009,5270,17935,24014],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4696],"class_list":["post-55614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","category-cybersecurity","tag-wyoming","tag-bill-vajda","tag-workforce","tag-chief-information-officer","tag-northern-michigan-university","author-colin-wood"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-05T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3318\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Colin Wood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@State_Scoop\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/\",\"name\":\"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-05T12:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg\",\"width\":3318,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"Bill Vajda chats with vendors between sessions at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers' annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 10, 2022. (Colin Wood \/ Scoop News Group)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"description\":\"Latest news and events in state and local government technology\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png\",\"width\":1470,\"height\":186,\"caption\":\"StateScoop\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop","description":"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop","og_description":"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.","og_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","og_site_name":"StateScoop","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","article_published_time":"2023-04-05T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3318,"height":2000,"url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Colin Wood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@State_Scoop","twitter_site":"@State_Scoop","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","name":"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute | StateScoop","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-05T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Bill Vajda, the former CIO of Alaska and Wyoming, is now the director of the Upper Peninsula Cybersecurity Institute at Northern Michigan University.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg","width":3318,"height":2000,"caption":"Bill Vajda chats with vendors between sessions at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers' annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 10, 2022. (Colin Wood \/ Scoop News Group)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","name":"StateScoop","description":"Latest news and events in state and local government technology","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#organization","name":"StateScoop","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/StateScoop-Black.png","width":1470,"height":186,"caption":"StateScoop"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StateScoop\/","https:\/\/x.com\/State_Scoop","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/statescoop\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@StateScoop"]}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute","url":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/statescoop.com\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg"},"articleSection":"State","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Colin Wood","url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/author\/colin-wood\/"}],"creator":["Colin Wood"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"StateScoop","logo":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/cropped-ss_favicon.png"},"keywords":["bill vajda","chief information officer","northern michigan university","workforce","wyoming"],"dateCreated":"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z","datePublished":"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z","dateModified":"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Former Wyoming CIO Bill Vajda named director of Michigan cyber institute\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/bill-vajda-northern-michigan-university-upper-peninsula-cybersecurity-institute\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/2022-10-10_1.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/2022-10-10_1.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"State\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Colin Wood\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/author\\\/colin-wood\\\/\"}],\"creator\":[\"Colin Wood\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"StateScoop\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/statescoop.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/cropped-ss_favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"bill vajda\",\"chief information officer\",\"northern michigan university\",\"workforce\",\"wyoming\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-05T12:00:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/statescoop.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/01\/2022-10-10_1.jpg","distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"StateScoop","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/statescoop.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55614"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55630,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55614\/revisions\/55630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55614"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=55614"},{"taxonomy":"special-report","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/special-report?post=55614"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=55614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}