Strategic Advisory Council Members

Carolyn Purcell

Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)
Cisco Systems
State and Local Government Director

Carolyn Purcell is a director in the State and Local Government (SLG) sub-vertical consulting practice within a global Public Sector industry vertical. The SLG team works with the top thought leaders in state and local government to develop business solutions that improve service delivery to constituents and employees. Carolyn and the SLG team are responsible for the success of state and local government process improvement projects throughout the United States. Typical project success metrics are based on cost takeout from government operations, productivity improvement to enable municipalities and states to do more with fewer resources.

Ms. Purcell served nine years as Texas Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Executive Officer of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), the IT corporate headquarters for Texas state government. The state of Texas spends over $1.5 billion on IT annually and employs over 9,000 IT workers.
While Texas CIO, Ms. Purcell reduced DIRs reliance on general revenue through innovative funding strategies and operational efficiencies. Enterprise projects saved the state money, and in some cases, e.g. TexasOnline.com, generated revenue. In fact, in 2002, these and other initiatives resulted in a return on investment of 550%.

Ms. Purcell has extensive experience successfully creating and managing cross boundary projects and operations using multiparty funding and shared resources. Such projects include Texas shared data center, statewide telecommunications operations, the Y2K project and TexasOnline.com.
Immediately prior to joining Cisco Systems, Carolyn was CEO of Purcell Ventures LLC, an IT management consulting firm. She also has experience in manufacturing and health care.