On February 7, 2018, at 10am PST, Meeting of the Minds hosted a live webinar featuring Maria MacGunigal and Louis Stewart from the City of Sacramento.

Watch archive recording Download slides

Program

The last two years have been particularly transformational for Sacramento as redevelopment of the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods has catalyzed new investment and economic development. The City of Sacramento recently announced a $100M partnership with Verizon making Sacramento the first city in the country with commercially available 5G. The move will provide robust broadband infrastructure for a host of new smart city technologies and strategies to be deployed. New policies supporting tech, job growth, downtown revitalization, public art, entrepreneurship, marijuana delivery, and the largest downtown core redevelopment in the country (244 acres) at the Railyards on the riverfront are only some of the recent changes. Along with these opportunities come challenges such as homelessness, gentrification, congestion, attracting businesses back to downtown and the historic district, connections to West Sacramento, and more. Hear from two of the City’s leading voices – Maria MacGunigal and Louis Stewart – as they share their strategies for embedding innovation in the city and how the region is positioning itself as an innovation hub.

Presenters

Maria MacGunigal

Chief Information Officer
City of Sacramento

Chief Information Officer for the City of Sacramento. An accomplished leader with 20+ years of extensive experience in public and private sector IT. A proven track record of leading transformative digital programs, strategy development, Cloud strategy, analytics and business intelligence, ERP, business process management, governance, technology planning, execution, and implementing organizational change.

A dynamic, high performing leader successful in implementing ‘game-changing’ innovative technology solutions across organizations. Known for building strong partnerships with executives, operational business units, and the community. A long history of public service and local government experience and has led many important transformational initiatives. Recent achievements include a 150 million dollar Public Private Partnership, positioned Sacramento to be the first City in the nation to deliver 5G, national award winning accountability and transparency Initiatives, enterprise Digital Strategy development and execution.

Louis Stewart

Chief Innovation Officer
City of Sacramento

Louis Stewart currently serves as the City of Sacramento’s first Chief Innovation Officer within the Mayor’s Office for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Mr. Stewart is responsible for the development of a broad citywide portfolio of programs and initiatives that support, drive, influence and build upon the City of Sacramento’s economic inclusion philosophy, business development strategies, goals, customer relationships and business results. He spent the last seven years serving as California’s Deputy Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). In that capacity he oversaw the coordination and promotion of innovative programs, activities, and emerging technologies throughout California for the last seven years. He managed a robust statewide innovation-based economic development support network of regional innovation clusters called the California Innovation Hubs (iHubs). Mr. Stewart has served in the public sector for 10 years including as the Deputy Director of the Census for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, the Assistant Deputy Director of the Field Operations Division for the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Information Technology Director for Californians for Schwarzenegger. His professional experience also includes 17 years in the private sector in sales, marketing, and information technology.

While Mr. Stewart’s experience is vast, his greatest expertise and focus includes:

• Smart and Connected Cities
• Bio Technology
• Tech Equity
• Development of Innovation Ecosystems

Mr. Stewart is a service based leader who embodies the belief that he cannot be a success without helping others be successful.

Mr. Stewart grew up in France and Italy, and played professional basketball in Peru and Belgium until he landed back in Sacramento. Mr. Stewart received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Santa Clara University.