Vic premier's dept names new CIO

Victoria’s influential Department of Premier and Cabinet has poached Deakin University IT exec Lynn Warneke as its new chief information officer.

Warneke joined the department last week after a five-year stretch at Deakin, most recently as its deputy chief digital officer and executive director of channels and platforms.

She replaces the department’s former tech chief David Butler, who left in May to join the Department of Justice and Regulation as its Fines Victoria operations director.

Warneke has spent the past five years transforming Deakin’s customer experience with emerging technologies, including the AI-backed Genie virtual assistant and Scout IoT location-based service.

Deakin recently took out the top prize in this year’s iTnews Benchmarks for Genie, which is currently being rolled out to all 58,000-plus students at the university.

Warneke told iTnews she was looking forward to applying her experience from the tertiary education sector and private sector “in another ‘for purpose’ environment, contributing to the ongoing digitisation agenda of the Victorian public service”.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to design and implement a digital roadmap for the Department of Premier and Cabinet to deliver premium staff and citizen engagement and help enable our strategic priorities,” she said.

As the department’s new tech chief, Warneke will lead the CIO function and operational branch, covering IT, fleet management and freedom of information.

“I’m fortunate to have worked for a visionary CDO and Vice-Chancellor at Deakin University, and I’m now looking forward to the chance to work for Susan Middleditch, who greatly impressed me during the selection process,” she said.