KEVIN SUNDERLAND
CIO at the City of Lake Wales
Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself
I’m the Chief Information Officer for the City of Lake Wales, a municipal government in central Florida. The city offers a wide array of public services such as: Police, Fire, Utilities, Development, Library and Recreation. I am responsible for operation and strategic vision of the underlying Information System which supports these departments.
What has your journey to your position been like? What path have you taken?
I grew up in a small town in central Maine. The tough climate instilled a strong work ethic that I attribute to most of my success in life. I’ve been intrigued by technology all of my life, but found my calling while attending computer repair courses in high school. I found that I excelled in this discipline, so much so that my instructor recommended me for an internship with a local community bank. As my internship came to an end the bank offered me a full-time job as their Help Desk Technician. While working at the bank, I attended college at night, and completed an Associate’s degree in Computer Science. I spent seven years with the bank and held several different positions. About ten years ago, changes in my personal life led me to move to Florida. Shortly after arriving in Florida, I was hired by the City of Lake Wales as the Network Administrator. I’ve held the positions of Network Administrator, IT Manager and Chief Information Officer at the city. Some of my major milestones include: earning a Bachelor’s degree and an MBA in Information Technology Management, completing the LEAD (Leading Educating And Developing) program at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, certified Green Belt Lean Six Sigma and completed the Certified Government Chief Information Officer certification hosted by The Florida Institute of Government at Florida State University.
Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?
No. In fact, as a young man, I had aspired to be a Network Administrator. Once I reached my goal of becoming a Network Administrator, I found myself wanting to do more and learned I was capable of contributing at a higher level. As I matured, I naturally grew into my leadership role.
Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey? (If you feel comfortable, please share their name and how they helped you)
Yes, I’ve had several mentors in my life. My father was the first and he taught me the values of hard work, dedication and respect. He always encouraged me to give my best effort and supported me throughout my life with sage wisdom only a father could provide. Second, while at the bank my supervisor Ray Charest (Network Administrator). Ray “took me under his wing” and taught me a lot of technical things. He would allow me to observe what he was doing and thoroughly explained concepts like networking, security, virtualization etc. and how they are all related. It really allowed me to understand the relationship between major components of an Information System. Finally at the city, our City Manager James Slaton. James has provided me with support, knowledge and advice throughout the years and has helped shape my career in many ways. James helped me transition from a technical role into a leadership role at the city by encouraging me to pursue education and leadership training. I am truly grateful to these men for everything they’ve done for me, I certainly wouldn’t be the same individual without their inspiration.
How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?
In my opinion, the role of technology leaders in five years will be even more critical than it is today. The world is becoming more digital by the second and tech leaders will need to be flexible and embrace new technology more quickly than ever before. I think things like AI will be useful tools to help tech leaders get an edge on keeping pace with emerging technology and should embrace it.
What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?
The main skill that comes to mind for leaders now and in the future is critical thinking. With all the technical advancements life has become easy and it can be fairly easy to fall into a kind of “auto-pilot” way of thinking i.e. Google everything! Information being accessible is great, but we also need to be able to think critically about the information we’re presented with and use it to make good decisions that will yield the results we desire.
How do you keep current with new skills, technologies and personal development?
I’m always curious about emerging tech so I read a lot about it. I’m also part of several peer groups that share knowledge and ideas frequently, which is a great way to keep up on things. I also like to attend conferences; I find the information shared in that setting to be valuable. I utilize formal training resources to sharpen my skills and knowledge of emerging tech.
What do you see as the next leap in technology that will impact your business or industry in particular?
I think the next leap will likely come into play when we’re able to stabilize and implement quantum computing into everyday life. Quantum technology exists today in only a handful of laboratories and has already demonstrated some very impressive results. Our ability to process massive amounts of data in milliseconds will undoubtedly have major impacts on all industries.
"Embrace collaborative thinking and lead with integrity."
If you were mentoring a leader of the future, what advice or guidance would you give to help them on their way?
My advice would be to become an active listener, embrace collaborative thinking and lead with integrity.
Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?
At the moment nothing comes to mind. However, it is always my goal to make positive impacts on people’s lives and I will always look for ways to do so.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
I would like to see people become more accepting of one another; we are all human after all!
A big thank you to Kevin Sunderland from the City of Lake Wales for sharing his journey to date.
If you would like to gain more perspective from Tech Leaders and CIOs you can read some of our other interviews here.
