Joan McCalla, corporate chief strategist with Ontario’s Management Board Secretariat, has a wide range of experience in the public sector. She started her career with the province as a transportation planner in 1977. In the late 1980s, she directed the Ministry of Transportation’s telecommunications strategy. She went on to join the Management Board Secretariat in the early 1990s to help develop Ontario’s IT strategy.
The Management Board Secretariat puts into action orders from the Management Board of Cabinet, which manages the government’s financial, human and technology resources.
McCalla oversees provincial e-government initiatives, including policy and planning for digital endeavours, IT security and privacy issues, as well as advising the Management Board of Cabinet on decisions involving technology.
McCalla said e-government presents challenges, particularly “the challenge of developing a common language to communicate across functional and organizational lines – and not to be viewed as ‘technology seeking a solution.'”
Still, McCalla seemed to think her organization is prepared to deal with such challenges, and to reap the benefits of finding solutions.
“I am convinced we are in the midst of a fundamental transformation of government enabled, and indeed in some cases driven, by information technology,” she said.