August 16, 2006

Lansing, MI -  Kenneth D. Theis has been named Senior Chief Deputy Director for the State of Michigan ’s Department of Information Technology (MDIT) in Lansing, Michigan.  In this role, Mr. Theis will be a key member of the MDIT Director’s Executive Council and will have direct responsibility for the formulation and implementation of the department’s mission, vision, and strategic plans.  Mr. Theis will guide and direct all activities of the agency in the delivery of services to each of the state’s nineteen agencies and 55,000 employees.  

Mr. Theis came to the State of Michigan from the General Motors Corporation where he held several key business and technology leadership positions.  He has extensive background in business processes, technology and developing successful teams to tackle the most complex projects.  While at General Motors, his accomplishments included leading the reorganization and reengineering of Oldsmobile Division Systems and IT implementation.  Mr. Theis also led the Systems Reengineering & Information Technology implementation for the reorganization of six General Motors marketing divisions into one centralized sales and marketing organization.  In 1998, Mr. Theis received the General Motors Chairman’s Honors Award and he was also the recipient of the General Motors CIO Award in 1999.

In recent years with the State of Michigan, Mr. Theis has served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Michigan Family Independence Agency (now known as the Department of Human Services), where he successfully implemented a statewide Child Support Enforcement System enabling the State to recover substantial federal penalties.  Mr. Theis has been a senior executive with MDIT since the creation of the department over four years ago.

Mr. Theis holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Northwood University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Automotive and Heavy Equipment Management from Ferris State University.  He resides in St. Johns with his wife, Mary Jo, and his three children, Joshua, Zachary and Rachel.