Government Technology: Pair of Tennessee Employees Honored

NASHVILLE – Two employees of Tennessee’s centralized technology division have been named among Government Technology magazine’s 2022 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers. Lawrence Sanders and Todd Bartine were honored for their work to launch the Diversity and Inclusion Council in Strategic Technology Solutions (STS), a division of the Department of Finance and Administration.

“I am so proud of Lawrence and Todd’s leadership in diversity, equity and inclusion within our organization,” Chief Information Officer and STS Director Stephanie Dedmon said. “This was a grass-roots effort and their passion and drive to help our team improve in these important areas is greatly appreciated. We want our workforce to bring their best to work every day to help us focus on serving Tennesseans, and the work of our diversity council helps us create that environment.”

Lawrence Sanders is project delivery director at STS and Todd Bartine is an IT director for the division. Together, with the backing of division leadership, they created the Diversity and Inclusion Council in 2020 with a goal of creating an environment of opportunities to work, learn and develop in a community that embraces the diversity of individuals and ideas. The 14-member council is divided into groups focused on analytics, inclusion, outreach, recruiting and communication.

STS serves as the central information technology service bureau to state departments and commissions, providing planning, resources, execution and coordination in managing information systems needs.

Government Technology’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers annual awards program has recognized more than 550 people since its inception in 2002. Recipients are chosen based on their record of using technology to solve problems, improve citizen services and transform internal operations. Government Technology focuses on solving problems in state and local government through the smart use of technology. Government Technology is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.