The friendly city: Kerrica Laake

Since she first arrived in Austin, Texas, Kerrica Laake has never wanted to leave.

"I came to Austin many years ago, in 1990, to go to the University of Texas," she remembers. "While I was there, summer was rolling around – I loved Austin and didn't want to go back to Grand Prairie, Texas.

"I thought ‘Oh, I need to get an internship or part-time job, something so I can stay in Austin over the summer.’"

So that was exactly what she did, successfully winning an internship at Austin Energy, within the City of Austin. "I was an intern for the COO at the time and learned a lot about the utility business," she says.

She stayed at the City after her graduation, working in a range of roles including marketing and corporate communications.

"At the time, the web was starting to become a big deal, and they wanted someone who could bridge the gap and use the web as a marketing tool," she says. "So I spent a lot of time learning how to communicate on the web, writing for the web and then getting into the technology that made that all work."

Her proficiency for this work resulted in working for more than two decades at the City of Austin, where she successfully climbed the ranks to her current position of Chief Information Officer (CIO).

"I learned all the components of a technology organization," she says. "I was getting a view of building a system from the ground up."

This experience crystalized to her the fundamental objective of a tech organization, and one that underpins her leadership. "Technology is nothing if it’s not serving your business, your community; that end user getting the value out of technology," she affirms. "That’s what supercharges me."

A city united

Since assuming the role of CIO in August 2023, Laake’s core focus has been on serving the people of Austin.

"It’s a role of partnership within our departments and with our community," she says. "You’re serving a community, you’re providing them essential or critical services. So what you do truly impacts lives in your community, whether it’s public safety technology or whether it’s something to help support public health.

"These services really matter and they have a true impact. We always have to keep it in mind that we’re serving people who depend on our services."

She speaks of the importance of all departments acting together as a united body; a goal that relies on effective communication.

"We need to make sure we’re serving as one City and not as individual departments," she says. "We all have our part of the mission on how we serve the community, but we have to be able to talk about how we do that.

"We have to be able to communicate and collaborate to enable the different departments of the City to serve the community in the appropriate way."

Empowering intelligence

Another key focus for Laake is empowering the talent lying within every department.

"We have initiatives upcoming to help focus us on the strategy and acting as partners together to serve our community," she says. "There’s technical expertise all over the City of Austin and I want it to flourish, but I want us to be making sure we all have access to similar tools with the capabilities that we need.

"We’re all in a time of digital transformation. We’ve put together a digital transformation portfolio looking at the technology innovation that we need throughout the City. This includes looking at how to most effectively upgrade older technology across all departments."

Part of this transformation is AI, which Laake is confident will have a positive impact on the City.

"AI is an enabler for our City. It’s not a replacement for people," she says. "It’s a tool that is a force multiplier that will have an impact on the scale that the web and social media had."

She wants to encourage her team to experiment with a variety of AI solutions, as she believes this will help create this positive upward spiral.

"We looked at some of our platforms and what AI and cognitive services were available, and we are setting up a stage-one, safe place to play so that people can explore," Laake says. "We know that it’s secure and we’ll learn lessons and likely discover more than we ever thought that we would."

Despite her enthusiasm for new technologies, Laake is remaining cognizant of the potential risks AI presents and is taking steps to mitigate them.

"We’ve created some standards around AI so that we have the guardrails in place," she says. "We wanted to make sure we are considering security, privacy, ethics and bias and we will consistently consider and revisit those things as AI begins to mature."

Culture of service

Laake’s attitude that technology is only as good as the benefit it brings to people’s lives is one that resonates across the team, illustrating a company dedicated to service.

"People are very excited here about technology; they’re excited about what AI will bring," she says. "It’s a culture of public service, enabled by technology."

Laake is unflinching in her praise for her team and its culture.

"I think I work for the best city in the world, and I have the best team in the world," she says. "When I made the move to this department, it just reinvigorated my passion for public service, and that’s what resonates with me in this department.

"Their passion for what they do for the community – it overwhelms me sometimes."

Again, this steadfast optimism does not mean that focus is lost on the bigger picture.

"But they are also very realistic of the operational impacts that happen when you bring on new technology," Laake says. "They want to have a whole discussion, not just about the shiny new thing, but about how we incorporate the shiny new thing so that it provides a service to our partners within the City."

Making a success of this generational shift in technology is the key focus for Laake. "Over the next year, our focus is on digital transformation, which is really key," she says. "We will make sure that our foundation is solid."

To achieve the organizational synergy that she sees as vital will require collaboration and a commitment from the core departments of the City.

"I’ve been at the City a long time. I’ve seen many different models come and go, and I want to create something that is functional and mature for the organization we are right now," she says.

The City also prides itself on working with partners that collaborate in serving the community.

"When partners come in for programs and projects it’s a learning experience, where we share the culture of Austin and align it with the best practices for the products or service," she says. "This is why it’s impactful for the City."

Strategic partners like GTS Technology, Workday, IBM Technology and many others are part of the City of Austin’s digital transformation journey.

The City’s ultimate goal is to make sure Austin continues to be a fantastic place to live, and continues to inspire people in the same way it did Laake when she was a college freshman.

"Austin is a great place to live, and we want to keep Austin as a livable and affordable city," she concludes. "We are there to help provide solutions for problems for the community. Our business is the community."