City of Gold Coast lands ACT gov digital exec as CIO

ACT government digital executive and former Department of Parliamentary Services chief information officer Anthony Stinziani has been appointed the City of Gold Coast’s new tech chief.

Anthony Stinziani

Stinziani joined the council last month after almost 18 months as the ACT government’s executive group manager for digital, data and technology solutions under chief digital officer Bettina Konti.

He replaces Cath Drinkwater, who spent more than two years in the top job before becoming chief risk and compliance officer in June after a brief stint as manager, office of the CEO.

Specialist government recruitment and HR firm Leading Roles said in a LinkedIn post last week that Stinziani had won out over 146 professionals to take the “much coveted” CIO role.

It went looking for a CIO to “provide executive leadership to all facets of the organisation's ICT function” in February 2022.

Stinziani will be responsible for leading the business innovation and technology services team at the City of Gold Coast – Australia second largest local government after Brisbane City Council.

One of his first tasks will be a critical review of the council’s enterprise architecture, and the development and delivery of a new IT strategy.

“As the CIO you will join the organisation at a pivotal moment, managing substantial investments for the community,” the job ad states.

“The CIO will have a critical role in the development and delivery of the ICT strategy that supports the council’s vision for the future.”

Prior to joining the ACT’s Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate (CMTEDD) in 2021, Stinziani spent more than three years as CIO at the Department of Parliamentary Services.

During this time, he witnessed first-hand the state-sponsored cyber attack against Parliament House in 2019, in which a limited amount of “non-confidential data” was stolen.

Since then, DPS has rolled out a number of upgrades, including domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance (DMARC).

Stinziani also previously worked as Geoscience Australia’s CIO for more than seven years.