{"id":505881,"date":"2026-10-23T23:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505881\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T23:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:24:08","slug":"long-beach-calif-s-new-tech-director-hails-from-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/505881\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach, Calif.\u2019s New Tech Director Hails From Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime executive Tendaji K. Jamal has been named the next director of technology and innovation for Long Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n

\"Long<\/p>\n

Long Beach Director of Technology and Innovation Tendaji K. Jamal.<\/p>\n

(City of Long Beach)<\/p>\n

\u201cTendaji brings a wealth of experience in modernizing complex technology systems and developing strategic solutions that support organizational goals,\u201d said Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica in a statement<\/a>, describing Jamal\u2019s \u201cexpertise in cybersecurity, digital transformation and collaborative technology planning\u201d as skill sets he will bring to the city\u2019s Technology and Innovation Department (TID).<\/p>\n

Jamal, whose service with Long Beach begins Nov. 16, is taking the place of Lea Eriksen, who departed<\/a> in April to become the new senior assistant city manager in Culver City, Calif. Eriksen was named one of Government Technology\u2019s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers<\/a> in 2022. Meredith Reynolds has served as<\/a> TID acting director since April 4 and will return to her role as deputy city manager.<\/p>\n

The incoming director brings more than 25 years of experience in public-sector technology leadership with him, in strategic planning, IT governance and enterprise technology modernization, according to a city press release.<\/p>\n

Jamal was most recently chief information technology officer at Pasadena City College, taking on initiatives to improve cybersecurity and IT infrastructure. He also helped to develop the college\u2019s first AI governance framework, among other initiatives.<\/p>\n

As TID\u2019s new director, Jamal aims to advance digital government tools and services for both workers and residents, improve data sharing across departments and oversee the implementation of the city\u2019s TID28 strategic road map<\/a>, a four-year plan identifying 31 projects to improve technology infrastructure and operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology in local government is ultimately about serving people by delivering dependable services, safeguarding public trust through robust cybersecurity and ensuring every resident has equitable access to city resources,\u201d Jamal said in a statement, indicating he looks forward to working alongside the TID team and staffers \u201cto build secure, reliable and accessible services that make a meaningful difference in the lives of Long Beach residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamal\u2019s initial tasks will involve conducting a comprehensive assessment of the city\u2019s technology systems, which will involve meeting with various departments and staff to identify needs, opportunities and prioritizing projects.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Skip<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Skip Descant writes about smart cities, the Internet of Things, transportation and other areas. He spent more than 12 years reporting for daily newspapers in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and California. He lives in downtown Yreka, Calif.\n <\/p>\n

See More Stories by Skip Descant<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime executive Tendaji K. Jamal has been named the next director of technology and innovation for Long Beach,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-505881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}