When then-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was wooing former tech entrepreneur Bryan Sivak to become his state’s new ideas guy, he asked what title Sivak thought he should have.
“Chief innovation officer,” suggested Sivak, who had just finished a stint as the District of Columbia’s chief technology officer. Initially O’Malley balked, Sivak said, because it “sounded kind of flaky.” But O’Malley, a Democrat and disciple of data-driven management, soon relented, and in 2011 Sivak became the first chief innovation officer of any state and possibly any U.S. city.
