Governor's pick Robert Osmond tells Senate panel he will push enterprise IT, redundancy and AI tools if confirmed as Delaware CIO

Robert Osmond, the governor's nominee for Delaware Chief Information Officer, told the Senate Executive Committee that his priorities would include enterprise solutions to avoid duplicated builds, stronger controls to segregate and audit access to sensitive data, and steps to strengthen network resiliency.

Osmond, who introduced himself as "Bob" and described roughly 30 years of technology leadership including service as Virginia CIO, said his office focused on scaling networks, upgrading cybersecurity and building cloud infrastructure. He said his Virginia team "built out 4 cloud data centers" and developed early state-level policies for artificial intelligence and an AI registry.

The nominee told senators he had led efforts to eliminate so-called "zombie assets" to save money and to apply shared services for common functions such as licensing. "We don't need 30 different platforms that all do licensing," Osmond said, arguing that a single flexible platform could be adapted across agencies and free funds for higher priorities.

Committee members pressed him on several operational details. Chair President Pro Tem Sikola asked whether Osmond's prior work had served both executive and legislative branches; Osmond said his Virginia role served the executive branch and that the legislature there had separate teams. He said a chief task of a state CIO is prioritizing requests when multiple branches or agencies make competing demands.

Senator Elizabeth Lachman asked whether Delaware's agencies could support the kind of integrated projects lawmakers envision. Osmond said states often repeat the same mistakes and that shared services and solution architecture help avoid costly duplication. He also emphasized the importance of clear data dictionaries and formal data-sharing agreements when combining agency data for cross-cutting programs.

Senator Brian Pettyjohn focused on resiliency and auditing. Osmond described zero-trust controls, detailed logging of who accesses systems, and tactics used in Virginia to add redundant circuits at critical field locations such as DMV offices. He suggested exploring low-Earth-orbit satellite links and multiple carrier routes to reduce single points of failure.

On modernization, Osmond recommended assessing legacy systems on an application-by-application basis, weighing codebase, available skills and vendor ecosystem. He cited a multi-state approach to tax system modernization that allowed Virginia to benefit from 37 other states' implementations rather than building a one-off solution.

Several senators raised the role of consultants and procurement costs. Osmond said DTI should be an "honest broker"—an unbiased technical evaluator to test vendor claims, verify delivery and prevent wasteful contracts.

The committee recorded no confirmation vote in the transcript; the chair moved to the next nominee after concluding questions for Osmond. The committee also approved the minutes of the April 22, 2026 meeting by unanimous consent earlier in the session.

The committee adjourned after concluding questions for both nominees.