A Mumbai-educated Indian-American has been appointed as the city’s chief
information and innovation officer. Mayor Michael R Bloomberg made the announcement appointing Rahul N Merchant to the post, which also includes respnsibilities to the departments of Information, Technology and Telecommunications.
As the chief information and innovation officer, Merchant will report directly to the Mayor and will oversee the information technology development and management across all city agencies. He will create a new Center of Excellence to standardise the business processes for the implementation of large technology projects and institute a system of vendor evaluation to hold contractors accountable for meeting project milestones. Mr Merchant has been a leader in innovation in the financial services sector, with more than 25 years of experience as an Information Technology executive and will succeed Carole Post.
”Rahul is a seasoned executive who has proven himself time and again as a leader and an innovator
in the industry. He is going to do an outstanding job as New York City’s first Chief Information and Innovation Officer and we are excited to add him to our talented team” the Mayor said. Merchant expressed excitement at his appointment. ”I jumped at the opportunity to work for Mayor Bloomberg, who has been a leader in technology and innovation for more than 30 years,” said Merchant.
“The Mayor has charged me with continuing the customer-service revolution that his administration
has brought to New York City – leveraging technology to give New Yorkers unprecedented access to City
services and transparency to government operations,” expressed Merchant.
”As a first generation immigrant from India, I landed in New York 32 years ago in search of education
and opportunity and I found them both. It is an honor to be given the chance to give back to the city where
it all began for me,” Merchant said further.
Merchant earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Bombay University, a master’s in
Computer Science from Memphis State University and an MBA from Temple University. He and his wife, who have two sons in college, currently reside in New Jersey, and will be moving to New York City shortly.
–UNI