Episode 26
Working For The Government From A Farm,
E-I-E-I-O, with Shawn Riley
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Show notes
Shawn Riley is the chief information officer and cabinet member to Governor Burgum of North Dakota; but back home on his hobby farm in Southeastern Minnesota with his wife and kids, he's affectionately known as Chief E-I-E-I-O. In this episode, Shawn shares his personal journey from starting his own computer repair and website business at the age of 16 at the encouragement of some people in his community. His willingness to take on tough projects led him up through the ranks in more than one organization. As an IT professional, he's been familiar with working remotely with team members from around the country and around the world, and he and his family often bounce back and forth between their farm in Minnesota and condo in North Dakota; and his experience working with remote teams in the past proved very valuable as his current team helped get more than 7000 government employees teleworking from home over a very short span of time in the spring of 2020. Shawn also talks about how he was able to secure an agreement with his local internet service provider to bring high speed internet to his rural area and how having that in place has made it possible for him to work from the farm in MN when a family member was injured, even while needing to give testimony for state legislature in ND.