Speaker announces business members of IT Task Force

Madison, Wis. - Eight private-sector members have been named to the Assembly Speaker's Task Force on Information Technology Failures, joining eight public-sector members who were named last week.

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and State Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Green Bay, announced the following appointments:

Tom Andreoli, CIO, Schreiber Foods, Green Bay; Tim Averbeck, senior IT manager, Business Objects, La Crosse; Steven Haroldson, former CIO, CUNA Mutual Group, Mount Horeb; Jim King, CEO, Skyward, Inc., Stevens Point; Steve Lipton, partner, grant-funded programs, WIPFLI, LLP, Madison; Tim Nuckles, owner, Nuckles Law Firm, Wausau; Kirk Strong, president, Smart Interactive Media, Cedarburg; John Vanderheyden, vice president, technology support, M&I Bank, Milwaukee.

The task force will explore a number of failed information technology projects in the state of Wisconsin, and look to successes in both the private and public sectors to find working solutions.

In addition to Montgomery, who will serve as chair of the task force, the public-sector appointees include the following members of the State Assembly: Sue Jeskewitz, R-Menomonee Falls; Don Pridemore, R-Hartford; Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon; Jeff Wood, R-Chippewa Falls; Louis Molepske, D-Stevens Point; Josh Zepnick, D-Milwaukee; and Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville. The formation of the task force follows the recent release of an audit into state information technology projects by the Legislative Audit Bureau. The bureau cited six IT projects that have experienced cost overruns and delays, including one that was terminated this year after more than five years and $23 million invested. The estimated cost of these troubled implementations is more than $170 million.

Huebsch said he is confident the task force will be able to “explain and correct the waste of more than $170 million in junked technology projects.”

Montgomery said the task force will look at ways the failures could have been prevented and work towards greater accountability.

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