Gov. Perdue Appoints Jonathan Womer as Chief Information Officer

Gov. Bev Perdue today named Jonathan Womer as Chief Information Officer for North Carolina.

Womer, currently deputy director for management in the Office of State Budget and Management, replaces Gerald L. “Jerry” Fralick, who has spent more than 30 years as an IT professional for the federal and state governments.

"Jonathan will bring to this new role the same quick intellect and incisive analysis that have made him indispensable to the managing of North Carolina’s finances," Gov. Perdue said. "And I want to commend Jerry for helping steer us through some of the most difficult days and some of the fastest technological changes in the state’s history."

Womer has spent the last seven years with OSBM, most recently overseeing the areas of revenue projections, regulatory analysis, strategic planning, audit, program evaluation and IT management. He led the staff of Governor Perdue’s Budget Reform and Accountability Commission and directed the Governor’s NC OpenBook initiative, which provided transparency to state contracts and spending. He previously worked in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  At OMB Jonathan helped lead the implementation of citizen facing projects including IRS FreeFile, Recreation.gov, and USA.gov.

Womer received his master’s degrees from the Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Information at the University of Michigan.  He completed his undergraduate work at Duke University.

"This is both an honor and a terrific opportunity to expand on North Carolina’s innovations in information technology," Womer said, "and to increase state government’s efficiency and improve how we respond to the people we serve."

Fralick was named CIO in September 2009. He has led the Governor’s initiative on consolidating IT operations to increase efficiency and has successfully trimmed his agency’s budget in order to reduce the rates charged to other state agencies for IT services.

"After several years of much success in continuing consolidation, reducing ITS expenditures, and working with the vendor community, I am moving on to pursue other opportunities," Fralick said.

Before taking the CIO post, Fralick was president and owner of JFCS, Inc., a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business that provided marketing services to IT companies.   Prior to JFCS, Fralick was CIO of the Office of Justice Programs for the U.S. Department of Justice and has more than 30 years experience working for the federal government in Washington, D.C.  He was also the first elected chairperson for the Federal Grants Executive Board, overseeing efforts of grants consolidation within the federal government.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in economics from LeMoyne College in New York and his Master’s degree in computers and management of information technology from American University in Washington, D.C.