John Snyder, Kevin Steele to steer new information tech-focused panel prioritized by House Speaker

Images via Florida House.

Republicans John Snyder and Kevin Steele, two House members with backgrounds in tech entrepreneurship, will have a strong hand in guiding Florida’s future investments in information technology (IT), a major focus of House Speaker Daniel Perez.

Perez just named Snyder and Steele as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the chamber’s new Information Technology Budget and Policy Subcommittee. They’ll lead a diverse group of 16 fellow lawmakers in hearing from and dictating in-state strategies for the IT industry, including how and where to spend state dollars in the fast-growing market.

Both are suitable choices. Snyder, a Stuart-based U.S. Marine Corps veteran, owns and operates ESI Works, a tech-reliant recruitment and payroll company that specializes in health care and education staffing.

Steele, meanwhile, is the founder and principal of DataLink, a health care technology company offering clients real-time data aggregation, electronic health record connectivity, and dynamic dashboards and reporting.

Other committee members with tech expertise include Mike Giallombardo of Cape Coral and Monique Miller of Palm Bay, both Republicans.

Giallombardo, a U.S. Army veteran, is the founder of the Total Intelligence Group cybersecurity company and co-creator of the IRIS Tech platform, which law enforcement agencies use nationwide.

Miller boasts decades of experience in IT and cybersecurity, from working as an account executive for cloud computing company Citrix System to her current job as state and local director of Merlin Cyber.

Other Republican committee members include businessman Fabián Basabe, firefighter Omar Blanco, nonprofit development director Demi Busatta Cabrera, business owner Karen Gonzalez Pittman, agribusinessman J.J. Grow, consultant Vicki Lopez, U.S. Navy reservist Fiona McFarland, physician Joel Rudman and education professional John Temple.

Democrats on the panel include attorney LaVon Bracy Davis, environmental scientist Lindsay Cross, public relations and civic engagement strategist Johanna López, higher education director Angie Nixon and nonprofit director Debra Tendrich.

That conglomeration of perspectives is expected to help Florida to better spend hundreds of millions of dollars in IT investments, which Perez said have been misspent because lawmakers have had “no clear information technology policy strategy.”

He added that the panel, which falls under the House’s much larger Budget Committee, will directly influence the annual budgeting process. It will evaluate all tech projects proposed for the state budget while seeking “synergies and strategic alignments” with state agencies.

“Our response to the repeated failure to execute IT projects has been to create, dissolve, and recreate a technology agency. Technology policy in the Legislature either happens informally through behind-the-scenes conversations or appears as language buried in budget proviso,” Perez said.

“As policymakers and stewards of taxpayer dollars, we must do a better job.”