JODIE BARE
DRIVING TOWARD THE FUTURE

Jodie Bare, Director of Intelligent Transportation Systems Technology (ITS) for Parsons Corporation and Chair of the CIO Tomorrow Conference, cites her curiosity as the catalyst and driving force for her career in IT. Her passion for using technology to support and transform companies and communities is also a key focus of the 2022 CIO Tomorrow Conference: “Technology in the Driver's Seat.”

Editor's note: Jodie Bare, Director of Intelligent Transportation Systems Technology (ITS) for Parsons Corporation and the 2022 CIO Tomorrow Committee Chair, was the featured leader at IT Martini Today on August 17th, 2022.

As a young executive administrator for the American Heart Association in Columbus, right when Microsoft Access entered the market, Bare worked on a project that involved an old system. She didn’t like doing data entry and wondered if Access could help her be more efficient. After reading more about Access, Bare created her own database that would serve as the donor management system the American Heart Association used in the region for many years to come. The director of IT saw she had talent, drive, and an interest in tech, so he took her under his wing to get her started on a career in IT. Bare called it an exciting time in tech - when email was just being integrated and dial-up and remote access became a thing.

“It was five years of the most amazing technical work that created this lifelong journey of natural curiosity of technology and innovation,” she said.

Bare has served in a variety of tech leadership roles in both the private (President and Owner of 4sight Management Solutions LLC for example) and public sectors and she attributes her current success to that diversity in experience. 

“The work I do now is consultative and strategic. I have many projects for different clients in government agencies. With my background in working in the public sector for the city of Los Vegas (Director of Data and Innovation), the city of Columbus (Deputy Program Manager, Smart City), and Columbus Airport (Chief Innovation Officer), I understand the challenges public agencies face from a technology standpoint and ITS, and how firms like Parsons can help those agencies through the transformation,” she said. “My work in the public sector has helped me be a better resource for our customers at Parsons. The fact that I worked in startups and I had my own business has also helped me because even though we are a large corporation, we operate in a very innovative and entrepreneurial way - [which] helps me embrace the work that I do at Parsons.”

Driving the Community Forward Through Tech

Bare was excited to share how Intelligent Transportation Systems creates a better future by helping people make smart travel decisions.

“Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is things like autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles, smart work zones, advanced parking (navigating people to their parking spaces)... It shows up in data science, in how data is used to mitigate traffic issues, so think like Waze and Apple Maps will give you references to congestion that might be happening up ahead and divert you, that’s a part of ITS. It’s taking the data that exists inside a traffic management center operations and serving up that data to create predictive analytics around transportation.”

“Another way that shows up is, when we think about how people move in a city, we try to get people to make choices that will get them out of their cars,” she said. “So, reducing the number of single occupancy vehicles and getting people to [use] public transit or other modes of mobility like shared ride services, micro-transit or maybe taking a scooter… all of those options are served up on a platform that is shaped by data to help travelers and commuters make decisions based on real-time data.”

Bare went on to explain how many tech pros miss the convergence of IT in transportation engineering and civil engineering. 

“That’s one of the reasons why I wanted the theme that I chose for CIO Tomorrow - “Technology in the Driver’s Seat.” It’s a play on the word driver, but there is also a convergence happening in the space of transportation that used to be pretty siloed in the past. Transportation engineers in the past were technical, but not from a traditional IT standpoint. Now what you’re seeing is a convergence of transportation engineers with IT people. Data science, AI, and machine learning are elements of IT that transportation is depending on to advance mobility in communities. 

As commuters, we see it show up on our maps or dynamic speeds on 670, or the opening or closing of High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes (HOV) lanes. Unknowing to the commuter, it’s happening because of data and that’s driving the systems to make the decisions.

 The Future of ITS

Asking Bare to gaze into her tech crystal ball revealed some pretty exciting glimpses into the future for both the ITS field and for tech leaders.

“In the next 10 years we will see more connected vehicles and autonomous vehicles,” Bare said. “We’re working toward a future state where data can be used to change the behaviors of drivers that will lead to safer and more efficient roads. And that happens by notifying drivers before something bad happens to change their behavior.”

“For example, the light you’re approaching is about to turn red, and you’re going too fast, and you're going to run through the light. In a future state, you're going to get a warning about that. Or, there are several cars ahead of you that are breaking hard - which normally you wouldn’t get a warning about - and it would lead to a collision. Through data, we can know what's happening and send warning messages to drivers to change their behavior so there isn’t an incident. Bottom line - we will see [fewer] traffic incidents in a future state because of the initiatives.”

The Future of Tech Leaders’ Roles 

“For IT Leaders in general, there's a transformation happening in our field and that is, it’s less about being technical and being the one that has all the answers and solutions to the technical problems. It’s more about thinking about how we sit at the table in organizations and enable organizational strategies, because technologies are a major part of digital transformation in an organization. We, as leaders in IT, need to shift our thinking to be more of a business partner and understand the direction of where an organization wants to move in. That’s a different role than coming up with the next platform for email. That’s a whole other mindset - and it’s one that’s needed,” Bare said. 

“A lot of people who have been in this role for some time…I’m seeing my peers having a really hard time making that shift. And it’s what organizations need and what communities need in order to be able to move the needle on this future state. 

CIO Tomorrow and events like it can help in that shift, Bare said. 

“Attending these kinds of events gets you outside your head. If you’re just sitting in your job, behind those four walls in your organization, you become institutionalized - and you're not really seeing the world outside and what’s happening. These events allow you to come up for air, see what people in your space are doing… and what problems they are solving in their organizations.”

Bare’s biggest recommendation for getting the most out of events like CIO Tomorrow and the CIO Tomorrow Pre-Party - IT Martini Today?

“Come with an open mind. Come ready to engage. I think too many times we get into our day and get our faces in our phone, then a phone call comes in, and then one thing leads to another and before we know it, half the event is over and we didn’t even engage. Come in with a present mindset. 

And I say this from experience, I [have] ended up leaving feeling so disappointed because I missed some really great conversations and opportunities to learn and get to know really great people. It’s one day, one evening. Let’s all put our phones down and allow ourselves this time, because this is what makes us stronger, smarter, and feel more connected. Columbus’ tech community is special, there’s nothing like it - strong, broad, and willing to help and support each other. I love our city and community. We’ve done IT really well and I’m proud of it.”