Nick Lucios spent his entire career in government service. He has put his skills as a lawyer and a data world to work in several roles with Chicago. It was last year Emphasized as Cio in the cityHe heads the newly formed technology and innovation department.
“I am proud of what we are doing in Chicago … saving large sums of money by being more efficient,” I told Lucius Week. “We have already provided $ 6 million in 2025, an important part of our budget. But (we did) so without decrease in providing services to humans.”
He talks about how to build his career and how he aims to increase efficiency and access to services to Chicago.
Law and computer science
Lucius plays guitar and piano. His early professional ambitions focused on music but turned into politics and government. During the first university years at Ohio State University, he worked in Ohio.
“I was really interested in the power of the judicial system and how a lawyer can really happen in it,” Lucius participates.
This interest led him to the Faculty of Law. He joined the University of Depaul, a choice that was driven by his location. “Chicago, I chose the city. I love the city completely,” he remembers.
Lucius has joint degrees in law and computer science. His original intention was to follow the patent law with interest in technology issues.
Nick Lucius
While his career has taken a different path, his skills in computer science and his law served him well. He says: “If you learn anything in the law, the presence of a person was explained as a defender on behalf of the reason for what could do a lot to move towards progress,” he says.
Armed with the ability to form a narration and a hero of a cause, Lucius saw how technology can breathe life in those visions.
He says: “On the technological side, I can then build and say,” Well, we will now implement a system … We will create something. We will put something that was not present before moving forward in this case. ”
A government profession
Lucius had these plans for patent law, but he graduated soon from the great recession that started in 2007. The law firms were not employed. However, as it turned out, it was the city of Chicago. He obtained his beginning as an assistant advisor to the institution in the Ministry of Law in the city, with a focus on the imprisonment of the mortgage and the abandoned buildings.
“Once I started doing this, I forgot everything I went to school for him, and I spent about 10 years to litigate in an attempt to help the Chicago people,” he says.
After all those years of litigation, Luusius's interest in technology began to appear. “I also noticed that in my legal situations, I had to do a lot of digging in the city data systems and city technology systems in order to get my illusion,” he recall.
He saw how to update the city's systems and linking these regulations through departments can make a big difference in the lives of the population. This spark brought him back to its technological roots. He started facing community projects and volunteer coding chapters to hone his skills.
This stimulates interest in technology to roles as a data scientist in the city, then the chief data employee and CTO with the mayor's office.
New section leadership
With Lucius moved through both of these roles and now in his position as Cio, he increased the leadership responsibilities.
“I am creative in nature. So I always like to show my arms and enter a problem,” says Lucius. “I find myself in the role now often … people (look at me) for me to inspire … leadership and vision.”
As the head of the Technology and Innovation Department, Lucius and his team bear responsibilities for a wide range of systems that support the third most populated city in the country.
“We are doing a lot: everything from drinking water supply, pumping billions of gallons to Chicago not only but 125 cities in the next area of Michigan Lake. Two main airports, international airports, and 250 square miles of roads and sewers,” notes Lucius. “What we do is very enormous, and one of the first work orders when we started, we have a lot to keep support and support.”
Lucius leads a team of 75 people, which is scheduled to grow to 150 by the end of the year. In addition, it works with a large network of sellers and consultants who support the city's information technology systems.
The team is organized in different groups: planning, delivery, support and cybersecurity. “When someone comes and says,” hey, I need some help. I need a new website. I need a new application. I need you to solve this problem for me. “We will plan for it.
Lucius spends a typical day, up to 75 % of it, in cooperation spaces. He speaks to the team members, attends events, and works to think. He spends the rest of his day thinking about the future.
“What is happening with artificial intelligence? Where are we going with quantum computing here in Chicago? What is our innovation now?” He asks.
As any CIO managers know, not every day is typical. Systems decrease. Fires should be extinguished. Lucius was only a few months in the role of CIO when Crowdstrike Global IT It hit last year, affecting Windows machines throughout the city.
“These types of days, when you come … it can be the only thing I have done from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep,” says Lucius.
While such days are inevitable, Lucius and his team still have more image and goals on the horizon. The higher the time it takes to reach interest, the more difficult for people who need this benefit more than others. He hopes to use technology to increase shares and easy access to government services.
“I want to see a decrease in the difficulty that requires someone who suffers from a disability to apply for everything from a disability label so that they can stand near his home, or apply for social benefits programs, whether it is financial assistance or help with something in their home or something necessary for their lives,” provides an example.
Challenges in the government
CIO shares industries in many responsibilities and challenges themselves, but there are accurate differences for the sector. Lucius notes the amount of scrutiny faced by information services managers in the public sector compared to their peers in the private sector.
“Even organizations circulating publicly do not have the amount of scrutiny and attention that a major government institution receives,” he claims.
There is a reason for this pressure. Transparency is important. Providing government services to citizens is necessary. This responsibility is one of the biggest concerns in Lucius' mind.
Main government technology projects often get a lot of time and money, however they may fail. “You don't have to look far to see examples,” says Lucius. “When healthcare.gov was launched, it didn't work.”
He believes it is not enough to have a great idea, get it, and release it. He sees the need to constantly evaluate projects to ensure their success.
“Success is when something works better for Chicago and something that works better for a person on the other side, and they get this benefit,” and stresses.
How should young people with technology and government aspirations think about these challenges, especially during such a turbulent time? Lucius still wants to see people chasing their dreams, but he warns that they need something to be held accountable in this high -pressure field.
“You may have (you have) a family or (you have) a personal experience as what we are doing here or perhaps … I have just seen the benefit you play for human beings in the world,” says Lucius. “If you can stick to this, this is something you need to get some of these experiments.”
A re -perceived future
Lucius sees people in government technology at a crossroads. They face great pressure from community and financial disorders today and promises to fulfill new technology, such as artificial intelligence.
“All these things … have the ability to make things faster and more efficient, but then bring the risk of expanding inequality and creating divisions in society,” says Lucius. ))
Lucius wants to provide services and benefits to the Chicago people more efficiently without reducing these services. “We are talking a lot about government competence these days,” he says. “I think Chicago is a great example.”
