Civix Enriches Team of Government Experts with Additional Former Public Officials
Former Deputy Secretary of State and Senior Government Aide Join Government Division
ORLANDO, FL – As a leading provider of software and services to the public sector, Civix’s work is steeped in a deep understanding of its clients, namely government agencies. This expertise comes not only from decades of service as a trusted partner to governments, but from individual team members’ experiences as public officials.
Adding to its deep bench of subject matter experts, developers, and systems architects, Civix recently welcomed two government veterans to its team: Christy Wilson, an elections expert and former Deputy Secretary of State of Iowa, and Simon Tafoya, a policy expert and former senior aide to a Governor, U.S. Senators, and a U.S. Ambassador.
“To best serve governments, you have to have a deep understanding of their unique needs and challenges. And even more importantly, you must embrace their missions and commitment to public service,” said Mike Wons, the president of Civix Government who formerly served as the first statewide CTO for the State of Illinois. “Both Simon and Christy know government work inside-and-out, and they’re bringing their experience bear to help our clients overcome obstacles and to realize visions of what could be.”
“With these new team members, we’re not just increasing our knowledge base, we’re also bringing on innovators who have proven they can dramatically improve the way governments deliver on their missions,” he continued.
Tafoya brings to Civix broad experience from across various aspects of the public sector, having worked with government officials and stakeholders at federal, state, and local levels. He joins Civix after serving as Managing Director for a SaaS-based GovTech solutions company. There, he leveraged his deep understanding of government systems to drive rapid change and efficiency for clients. Prior to that, he was Senior Director of Policy and Federal Relations for Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Legislative Staff to U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Staff Assistant to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, among other roles. He holds a master’s degree from the Princeton University School of Public & International Affairs and a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College.
Wilson brings to Civix over 25 years of experience in the administration of elections. Just prior to joining Civix she worked with an elections company to develop impactful relationships with federal and state legislators and to educate hundreds of them on election policy. Before that she was Deputy Secretary of State of Iowa. In that role, she facilitated federal, state, and local elections conducted by all county election commissioners by maintaining voting equipment and software integrity, providing training for election administrators, and supporting the statewide voter registration database. She led a team of dedicated and passionate employees committed to accuracy, accessibility, and transparency in the elections process, including a team of IT professionals. Her experience also includes serving as Director of Operations for the Office of the Iowa Secretary of State and as a Senior Project Manager and Technical Adviser for an elections consulting firm, among other roles. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Bellevue University and has earned various professional appointments, including as chairperson of the Voter Registration Commission and a member of the National Association of State Election Directors.
These new hires are part of an ongoing wave of investment and improvement in Civix Government, which provides simple, modern, and secure software to state and local governments for elections, business services, and ethics administration, among other areas.
Since joining as president last year, Wons has been driving rapid and dramatic improvements to Civix Government, including recruiting the best and brightest. Vice President of DevOps Tod Ewasko joined shortly after Wons and is leading the team at a newly opened Center of Excellence focused on innovation in GovTech. Chief Information Security Officer Calvin Simmons also joined last year and built Civix’s new security program from the ground up. Thelma Van was promoted to Director of Products and is applying her expertise in Customer Experience to offer public officials and their constituents modern, frictionless, simple solutions.
“We’re investing in people and technologies to meet our mission to transform the public sector; and Christy and Simon are contributing greatly to that effort,” said Wons. “We’re thrilled to have them and to share their expertise with our clients.”