Stuart McGuigan

Golden Gov: Executive of the Year

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Department had roughly 10% of its workforce teleworking. For CIO Stuart McGuigan, his proudest moment in 2020 came when, in response to the pandemic, the department was able to quickly scale that measure to 90%. “To hit 90% and have things be relatively quiet and people functioning in their jobs, that was quite a moment,” McGuigan said. Now, looking ahead to 2021, McGuigan said the department is focused on preserving that work. “Now, I think we have the ability to use the collaboration tools that people now are very used to using and bridge the distance in time and time zones and space that separate our far-flung workforce and be able to bring people to whatever problem we’re trying to solve, regardless of where they are currently living or what they’re doing and that is a huge change from what is otherwise a very much a face-to-face culture.”