Executive Director & Chief Information Officer, State of Texas
Amanda Crawford is the Executive Director of DIR and serves as the Chief Information Officer for the State of Texas. In this role, she is responsible for the overall leadership, direction, and daily operations of DIR, an agency with an annual fiscal profile of approximately $5 billion per year. DIR's responsibilities include protecting the state's data and critical technology infrastructure, managing a multi-billion-dollar cooperative contracts program, and providing strategic technology leadership, solutions, and innovation to all levels of Texas government. Under Mandy’s leadership, DIR led the state’s successful response to the 2019 ransomware attack that affected over 20 local government entities in Texas and secured the transition to the next-generation suite of managed IT services offered through DIR’s Shared Technology Services program.
Prior to leading the team at DIR, Mandy served at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas (OAG) for more than 17 years. She held various positions at the OAG, including ultimately serving for two and a half years as the Deputy Attorney General for Administration and General Counsel. Mandy is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and earned her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.
The BBQ Showdown - North Carolina vs. Texas
Mandy Crawford and Kevin Gilbertson talk about the importance of building relationships with legislators to advocate for funding and support for technology initiatives. They emphasize the need to understand legislators' interests and pri