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Kynect’s technology program coordinator receives national recognition

Honored by National Association of State Chief Information Officers

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 13, 2015) — Chris Clark, administrative and technology services executive director of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, received a national award today at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) in Salt Lake City. Clark was presented with one of three State Technology Innovator Awards for his work as kynect’s technology program coordinator.

Chris Clark
Chris Clark

“We are so pleased to see Chris Clark’s tremendous work as primary technology coordinator of the construction and implementation of kynect recognized in this way,” said CHFS Secretary Audrey Tayse Haynes. “The commonwealth is lucky to have benefited from Chris’s leadership and commitment to public service. Through his work, he has helped to improve health care access for the hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians who have enrolled through kynect, many of whom now have health insurance for the first time.”

Clark has served the commonwealth of Kentucky for over 25 years through a number of IT leadership positions. Prior to being named the executive director of the Office of Administrative and Technology Services, Clark served as technology program manager for kynect, Kentucky’s health benefit exchange. Clark was instrumental in the success of the exchange, which has been regarded as one of the country’s most successful state-based insurance exchanges. In Clark’s current role, he is leading the expansion of the Cabinet’s Quality Health Information (QHI) initiative, which is radically changing the health profile of the state.

“I’m honored to receive this recognition for working on one of the most rewarding projects of my career, kynect,” said Clark. “I would also like to extend my own gratitude and recognition to the many other individuals who collaborated on this project and made our successful rollout possible, including Gov. Beshear, Secretary Haynes, Carrie Banahan, and the many other individuals involved at the Cabinet, the kynect offices and through our outside partnerships. This has truly been a team effort.”

The NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award honors outstanding individuals who have made contributions to advance state technology policy through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery. Nominees must be an employee, elected official, appointed official or other appointee representing state government. Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members as well as non-members. The other recipients of the 2015 NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award were: Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Jeff Kline, Texas Electronic and Information Resources (EIR) accessibility program director.