{"id":74223,"date":"2025-12-19T15:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T20:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/?p=74223"},"modified":"2025-12-22T14:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T19:26:38","slug":"michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan CIO quietly resigns, governor names acting replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday announced that Eric Swanson, a shared solutions director at the state\u2019s technology department, has been named as Michigan\u2019s acting chief information officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michigan Chief Security Officer Laura Clark (State of Michigan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The final sentence of a press release from the governor\u2019s office notes that Laura Clark, who served as state CIO the last five years, \u201cresigned to pursue an opportunity outside state government,\u201d but offers no additional details. Clark worked in technology roles inside the Michigan state government for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting more information. Clark could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(On Monday, after this article’s publication, Laura Wotruba, communications director at the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget said that Clark has accepted a position at Michigan State University. She said Clark’s departure was amicable but did not provide further details. When asked why an employee who’d been with the state so long was barely mentioned in recent press materials, Wotruba said Michigan’s emphasis has been on “continuity of operations.”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn our changing world, it\u2019s more important than ever to protect Michigan\u2019s people and state government from cyber threats,\u201d Whitmer said in the press release, adding that Swanson was among those who helped improve the state\u2019s cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As acting CIO, Swanson will continue to serve as director of the Center for Shared Solutions at the technology bureau. According to the release, Swanson helped develop the center, which provides technology services common to many state agencies, after joining the Michigan state government as a student intern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark, who on Friday was still listed<\/a> on Michigan\u2019s website as the statewide CIO, built a career in Michigan that stretches back almost 20 years. According to her LinkedIn<\/a> profile, she started as a geo-framework services manager in 2006. She held various other technology roles, including chief technology officer, deputy chief security officer and chief security officer, before Whitmer in 2021 added CIO<\/a> to her responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This publication\u2019s readership last year voted Clark as a GoldenGov state executive of the year<\/a>, honoring her \u201chands-on, adaptable approach to leadership\u201d and her work developing the Michigan Secure mobile app, which provides alerts to users who connect to unsecured Wi-Fi networks or encounter other potential online threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, the announcement of a new Michigan CIO follows Whitmer on Thursday signing an executive order restructuring some of the state government\u2019s boards, councils and commissions. The changes affect at least 10 executive agencies, including the state technology department, which houses the state archives. The Department of Technology, Management & Budget will now oversee the Michigan State Historical Records Advisory Board. According to a press release, this will \u201cstreamline the records retention work the board supports.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan Chief Information Officer Laura Clark has quietly resigned after nearly 20 years with the state government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":74225,"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":true,"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],"tags":[17935,25132,5128,14703,160,26074,25131],"people":[],"special-report":[],"authors":[4696],"class_list":["post-74223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state","tag-chief-information-officer","tag-government-news","tag-gretchen-whitmer","tag-laura-clark","tag-michigan","tag-state-cio","tag-technology-news","author-colin-wood"],"yoast_head":"\nMichigan CIO quietly resigns, governor names acting replacement | StateScoop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michigan Chief Information Officer Laura Clark has quietly resigned after nearly 20 years with the state government.\" \/>\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\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michigan CIO quietly resigns, governor names acting replacement | StateScoop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michigan Chief Information Officer Laura Clark has quietly resigned after nearly 20 years with the state government.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-19T20:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T19:26:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2209369104.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"867\" \/>\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\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/\",\"name\":\"Michigan CIO quietly resigns, governor names acting replacement | StateScoop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2209369104.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T20:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-22T19:26:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Michigan Chief Information Officer Laura Clark has quietly resigned after nearly 20 years with the state government.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/michigan-cio-laura-clark-quietly-resigns\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2209369104.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2209369104.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":867,\"caption\":\"Michigan Gov. 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