MaSSSoftech

C2 Information Technology Advisors, LLC president, Clifford Clarke, has contributed to a newly released book - "CIO Leadership for Cities & Counties: Emerging Trends & Practices" and in doing so joins other esteemed IT professionals, academics, and civil servants in addressing Information Technology in local government.

CIO Leadership for Cities and Counties contains 30 chapters that address the transformation of the Chief Information Officer role; CIO as innovator, IT governance, managing expectations, security and much more. It is available online at Amazon.com.

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CLIFFORD M. CLARKE, MBA, PMP, CISM, CGEIT
President and CEO
C2 IT Advisors LLC, Fort Wayne, IN
An independent Information Technology Advisor firm


Clifford M. Clarke is the former Chief Information Officer / Chief Technology Officer for the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana’s second largest city. A strong promoter of a strategy, innovative Information Technology environment led Mr. Clarke to create C2 IT Advisors, LLC.

During his tenure with the city he was able to develop and implement a workable and living approach to Information Technology strategies and standards versus the typical strategic plan that generally become shelf-ware shortly after being published. This approach has translated into millions of dollars of cost savings and or cost avoidance. He brought business best in class practices, applications, and infrastructure to Fort Wayne city government further improving efficiencies and customer satisfaction.

An advocate for clear open communications Mr. Clarke opened new and or improved older channels of communication to all audiences. As a certified project management professional and student of Six Sigma Clarke introduced and promoted the creation of baselines, the use of metrics, business intelligence, dashboards, and project performance reviews to avoid the “set it and forget it” approach in project implementation what he calls the Ronco method.

Often referred to as the City’s Chief Innovation Officer / Chief Transformational Officer Clarke promoted and demonstrated the city’s technical prowess on the national stage returning with several awards for innovation. This national spotlight will undoubtedly return long term economic benefits to Northeast Indiana. His performance in this area is due to his ability to foster strong working relationships in a highly embedded environment, whether across party lines, jurisdictions, or divisions within the enterprise.

Mr. Clarke led the completion of several key project implementations including:

• One Call to City Hall a Citizen Customer Relationship Management 311 system
• Storage area network migration and transition to Exchange
• IT infrastructure design and implementation at the Public Safety Academy Northeast Indiana
• Host of the nation’s first Killer Application for Broadband Conference
• IT outsourcing RFP and selection of the new IT partners

Currently Clarke is providing consulting services in the areas of strategic planning, project management, policy development, broadband deployment, and transitional CIO services on a short and long term basis throughout North America. A seasoned public speaker Clarke educates various audiences on leadership, project management, and a host of information technology topics.

Before joining the City of Fort Wayne, Clarke was Assistant Vice President at Lincoln Financial Group, serving in the Technology Services Group. In that role, he was responsible for aligning strategic business technology decisions with current and emerging technologies. He also managed the relationship of several business areas and Lincoln’s technology vendors.

Prior to Lincoln Financial Group, he worked with K&K Insurance, SLE Worldwide, an AON company and General Motors Corporation where he developed applications with EDS.