Durkan Names New Seattle Chief Technology Officer

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle's Information Technology Department is getting a new permanent director after the last chief technology officer resigned in January 2018.

Saad Bashir, who was the chief information officer in Ottawa, was picked to replace former CTO Michael Mattmiller. Tracye Cantrell, the department's former chief of staff, had held the CTO role on an interim basis since last February.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced Bashir's appointment at a press conference Tuesday morning.

Mattmiller was appointed to lead the newly formed Seattle IT department in 2014 by former mayor Ed Murray. He left the job in the midst of apparent "chaos" inside the department.

The IT office oversees an array of technology services, from running the Seattle Channel to administering the city's surveillance ordinance. In October, Patch reported that the IT office may have improperly classified a new Seattle police surveillance tool called GrayKey.

Bashir took over the Ottawa information technology department in July 2016 after serving as the city's economic development director, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

The Ottawa IT department has about 300 employees and a budget of $55 million, according to the Ottawa Citizen. The Seattle department is much bigger, with 750 employees and a 2019 budget of over $277 million.

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