Press Release

Oakland County Technology Success Featured at Harvard University Conference

PONTIAC, MI, March 11, 2005 -- Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Deputy County Executive/Chief Information Officer (CIO) Phil Bertolini were among an elite group of government officials from around the world to participate in a two-day technology conference March 8th & 9th at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Patterson and Bertolini were invited to attend the conference because of Oakland County's growing notoriety as a world-class leader in the technology arena.

During the Best Practices session of the "Leadership for a Networked World" workshop, Patterson talked about leveraging his position as the CEO of one of America's most progressive counties to help facilitate the development and implementation of cutting edge technology programs. He also discussed technology solutions like GIS and CLEMIS which Oakland County has used to build strong relationships across government boundary lines.

In the second session, which focused on economic development, Patterson outlined in detail innovative initiatives such as Automation Alley, Emerging Sectors and Wireless Oakland that the County has established to attract a skilled workforce and visionary companies.

"After Brooks left the conference, he received rave reviews," said Bertolini. "The CIO's who participated were very impressed that Brooks would use his status as an elected official to aggressively do everything in his power to make Oakland County succeed technologically."

Bertolini added that many of the CIO's expressed an interest in following Patterson's lead by bringing in their top officials to future sessions.

Among the conference participants were government representatives from Singapore, India and Canada. Also in attendance were the CIO of NASA and Teri Takai, Michigan's CIO, who discussed technology and economic development from a state perspective.

For further information, please contact Bob Dustman, Media & Communications Officer, at (248) 858-1048.