The Seattle City Council today unanimously voted to confirm Saad Bashir as Director and Chief Technology Officer of the Seattle Information Technology (IT) Department for a term through January 1, 2023.
“Mr. Bashir has a strong reputation for his leadership qualities, focused strategies, and cultivating a positive workplace culture that promotes continuous learning,” said Council President Bruce Harrell, Chair of the Governance, Equity, and Technology Committee. “We are excited to have Mr. Bashir lead our Seattle IT department. During the committee’s comprehensive confirmation process, we appreciated his openness and thorough approach to meeting with over a 150 employees and clients to fully understand the current challenges but also laying out a clear vision to be the ‘best-in-class digital service delivery team.’”
Prior to Seattle, Bashir has served in executive leadership roles for the City of Ottawa since 2010, serving as the Chief Information Officer for the past two and half years. As the CIO for Ottawa, Bashir managed Ottawa’s $100 million IT budget and led a team of 350 IT professionals delivering services to its user base of 19,000. Bashir brings a balance of public and private-sector experience and offers practical change management expertise.
The Seattle Information Technology Department manages the City’s information technology resources which include telecommunications, data, and supporting physical infrastructure; applications and application infrastructure; computer engineering and operations; data centers, servers, storage, and backup equipment; desktop, mobile, and printing devices; cloud services; digital engagement services; and the technical support and services to maintain reliability with almost no downtime.
The Chief Technology Officer will manage a $277 million Seattle IT budget, leading a department of 680 full-time employees and overseeing the delivery of all technology services to the City.
Bashir earned a degree in Computer Engineering from Queen’s University and served as board member for Oxfam Canada, a leading international development organization.
The Governance, Equity, and Technology committee conducted outreach with the Community Technology Advisory Board, Innovation Advisory Council, and Seattle IT’s Race and Social Justice Initiative Change Team. The committee conducted confirmation review meetings on February 5th and March 7th. The Council also presented several written questions to Bashir, to which responses were provided prior to the committee vote. Additionally, a letter of expectations has been placed in Appointment File 01252 to provide a basis for evaluation, accountability, and expectations to Council.