Rudy Montoya accepting award from Jeff Mateer

Rudy Montoya, the chief information officer in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, has been named Texas Public Sector Chief Information Officer of the Year by the Texas CIO Academy. The award recognizes individuals for exemplary leadership, strategic vision, innovation and collaboration.

“Rudy leads an outstanding team of dedicated and talented technology professionals who work tirelessly to assure that our agency’s systems are stable and secure, and that our 4,200 employees have the tools they need to serve the citizens of Texas,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I am thankful to Rudy for his outstanding service to our office, and I am pleased that he has been recognized by his peers for this top award.”

Montoya has spent his entire career in the attorney general’s office, starting in 1988 as an intern while he was attending Texas A&M University. He held a variety of IT positions of increasing responsibility prior to becoming the agency’s CIO in 2012. Montoya oversees the IT systems for the child support, administrative and legal divisions of the attorney general’s office.

An Austin native, Montoya is the immediate past president of the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications and has also been active in his community, serving 11 years on the Austin ISD School Board. In 2015 he was named Austin IT Public Sector CIO of the Year.

Montoya received his latest award on October 24 at the Texas CIO Academy’s annual leadership event in Austin. He was selected for the honor by a panel of judges comprised of previous award winners. Montoya will be featured in an upcoming issue of Public CIO Magazine.