Tracy Barnes has been promoted to chief information officer for the state of Indiana. He has served as chief of staff for Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch since 2017.

According to a news report, Barnes, who’s also held deputy auditor of operations and IT director roles with the state and spent 11 years as chief executive of the IT services and consulting firm Entap, will take over as statewide chief information officer on March 30. He replaces Robert Paglia, an interim replacement to former Indiana CIO Dewand Neely, who announced his resignation in October after 15 years working for the state, including four years heading the Indiana Office of Technology.

As CIO, Barnes will head an office responsible for managing more than $700 million in information technology projects, says the news report. 

Barnes has been recognized as Inc. Magazine's 9th Fastest Growing Black Entrepreneur and has received accolades from Top 50 Indiana Companies to Watch, the TechPoint MIRA awards and the IBE Governor's Award for Achievement in Technology. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Butler University and a certificate from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.