Four CDCR technology staff receive CIO awards

April 23, 2025

The Enterprise Information Services team at the awards.

The CIO Academy Awards ceremony recognized outstanding achievements with four CDCR technology staff receiving leadership awards.

The 2025 California Public Sector CIO Academy was held on April 15-16 at SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento. The event also marked its 20th anniversary.

This annual, invitation-only conference serves as a premier forum for current and emerging senior-level technology leaders in California’s public sector. Along with their industry partners, they engage in discussions centered on innovative leadership and organizational transformation.

Three people with CIO Academy awards. — Craig Eastman, Sara Coppenger, and Jonathan Mortensen.

CIO Academy Leadership Awards

Bradley Griffin, Information Technology Specialist III

(Not pictured). As the leader of CDCR’s Cloud Strategy, Griffin is laying the foundation for leveraging cloud and emerging technologies to drive efficiencies and innovation. He is also at the forefront of leading the technical aspects of CDCR’s Generative AI strategies, ensuring the department stays ahead in adopting cutting-edge solutions. Additionally, his expertise is regularly called upon to resolve some of CDCR’s most complex and critical technical challenges. Griffin’s visionary leadership and ability to navigate high-stakes IT initiatives make him a truly deserving recipient of this award.

Craig Eastman, Information Technology Specialist II

Eastman has been a cornerstone of the Incarcerated Persons and Community Solutions (IPCS) team. He’s deeply involved in CDCR’s continuing efforts to provide state-wide connectivity for students in education and rehabilitative programs in institutions and fire camps. He has been with the state for 19 years and IPCS since 2021.

Serving at RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego before coming to IPCS gives him a unique view of the intricacies and particularities when installing Wi-Fi in a correctional environment. The Wi-Fi offers incarcerated persons the opportunity to gain education and rehabilitative degrees and certificates. This aligns with CDCR’s rehabilitative mission. He is sharing his experience and knowledge with the rest of the IPCS team.

Jonathan Mortensen, Information Technology Manager

Over the past year, Mortensen has demonstrated exceptional leadership, customer service, and public stewardship while overseeing critical IT support for the successful headquarters relocation and reorganization efforts of over 7,800 staff members across 67 programs. His unwavering commitment to his team and the organization has been evident in every phase of the project. His contributions have been invaluable in leading his team through one of the most challenging tasks the organization has faced. Under his direction, the IT team not only met but exceeded the demands of supporting such a large-scale move, coordinating and implementing innovative technological solutions to streamline operations and enhance staff productivity.

By solving complex logistical problems and implementing technology solutions to enhance productivity and communication, Mortensen played a key role in reducing downtime, ensuring minimal disruption to program activities, and ultimately ensuring constituents continued to receive the services they depend on.

Sara Coppenger, Information Technology Manager

Since joining the CDCR Office of Information Security Officer, Coppenger has been an exemplary model of leadership within the Information Security Program within the Division of Enterprise Information Services. She has been instrumental in creating an empowered, motivated, and self-driven information and cyber-security aware workforce while setting a strong example as to how IT leaders provide service to the state of California. As the consummate professional, Coppenger fosters a culture of collaboration, trust, and integrity in pursuit of accomplishing CDCR’s mission. Her value to the organization is immeasurable and as her manager, I am proud to nominate her for the CIO Academy IT Leadership Award.

CIO Academy Team Leadership Awards

Business Intelligence Team at the CIO Awards. — EDS Business Intelligence team.

EDS Business Intelligence Team

The team has implemented several advanced data analytics projects:

Restricted Housing Units (RHUs). This initiative, launched in response to Governor Newsom’s directive, aimed to limit RHU use to only the most critical safety situations while increasing access to rehabilitative programming, improving efficiency, decision-making, and compliance monitoring across all levels of the Division of Adult Institutions.
Body Worn Camera – Dashboard is an analytical tool designed to track and report on camera usage and compliance within CDCR’s Armstrong institutions. It consolidates data on total recording time, shift activity, and compliance with the 6.5-hour per post recording requirement. Users can filter data to analyze trends and ensure adherence to policies. The dashboard provides visual insights through graphs and tables, allowing staff to monitor performance and make data-driven decisions effectively.
Yard Programming hours: provides real-time insights into scheduled and completed yard activities across CDCR institutions. This tool allows staff to track yard availability, exceptions to yard times, utilization trends, and compliance with programming requirements at a glance.

By enabling real-time, actionable insights into the operations of CDCR, we are ensuring compliance with the Governor’s directives while also improving the living conditions and rehabilitative opportunities for incarcerated individuals. These tools have significantly improved productivity, introduced innovative practices with far-reaching impacts, and achieved substantial cost savings while enhancing functionality. The high adoption rate of these tools across CDCR institutions further underscores the project’s success and its deservingness of the recognition in the California CIO Academy TEAM Leadership Award.

Office of the Information Security Officer (OISO) leadership team

(Not pictured.) Over the last year, the OISO leadership team has had many accomplishments. In the current budget climate, this team has successfully implemented multiple new initiatives, taken on more work from areas where positions were being reduced, and established a strong collaborative culture within the security section. The group has successfully implemented a revamped risk management program, improved remediation times of critical vulnerabilities, established a statewide security coordination framework spanning 35 different areas. The OISO leadership team added new responsibilities in the areas of litigation and public records coordination for the EIS division, managed a security incident report volume increase of over 300 percent, and continue to tackle the thousands of security alerts on a weekly basis. This group is well deserved for recognition for their dedication, effort, and leadership.

Submitted by Enterprise Information Services

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