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DTMB Team Members Receive StateScoop Award Honors

Congratulations and thank you to StateScoop award winners Jack Harris, Andrew Belanger, and Chris DeRusha for their excellence in the fields of IT, digital media, and cybersecurity, and for their contributions to DTMB and the state of Michigan. The StateScoop 50 awards receive thousands of submissions annually and readers cast more than 2 million votes for their favorite nominations.

 

Jack Harris Photo

Jack Harris

State Leadership of the Year

Chief technology officer Jack Harris previously served as the state’s director of enterprise architecture and network strategies and has been active in many areas of information technology for Michigan since 1976. Over the years he has gained experience in business software design, database design and management, operating system management, transaction processing system design and management, network design and management and telecommunications management.

 

 

Andrew Belanger Photo

Andrew Belanger

State Up & Comer of the Year

As statewide social media director and digital content administrator for the State of Michigan, Andrew Belanger is currently supporting a statewide website content management system modernization project, helping agencies align under a unified brand, working to improve digital accessibility and promoting unified citizen experiences across digital properties. Over the last two years, Belanger worked to launch an internal digital experience site for staff, coordinating and aligning digital best practices to achieve Michigan’s citizen-centric government strategy. It has centralized resources for branding, content design and digital accessibility and supports staff who manage applications, websites and social media. Belanger’s work overseeing the state’s social media program recently received national recognition from the Government Social Media Organization’s 2020 Golden Post Award program for the state’s coordinated LinkedIn strategy.

 

Chris DeRusha Photo

Chris DeRusha

State Cybersecurity Leader of the Year

Chris DeRusha has been both an innovative leader in state cybersecurity as well as a fierce advocate for partnerships between Michigan state government and its localities. DeRusha has created or expanded programs that improve not only the protection of state agencies, but provide local governments with a resource for responding to cybersecurity incidents. DeRusha has also worked to drive decision making from state leaders through the use of metrics and dashboards designed to highlight the most pressing security concerns. The ambitious and pioneering programs DeRusha leads recently led him to represent Michigan’s cybersecurity community in front of the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

In June 2020 — in the middle of the voting period of the 2020 StateScoop 50 Awards — DeRusha left state government to become the chief information security officer on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

 

The annual StateScoop 50 Awards honor the best and the brightest who make state government more efficient and effective. The awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of the honorees and acknowledge their tireless efforts to make a positive impact in the government IT community and in public service.

To see the full list of 2020 award winners, visit StateScoop 50 Awards 2020 online.