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#212: From COBOL to Salesforce: Washington State Liquor Board’s 9-Year, Multi-Million Modernization + Army Leadership Lessons
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#212: From COBOL to Salesforce: Washington State Liquor Board’s 9-Year, Multi-Million Modernization + Army Leadership Lessons

Featuring: George Williams, CIO, Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board

Listen now: YouTube x Apple x Spotify

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Featuring:

What You’ll Learn:

  • How a 42-year-old COBOL system from 1983 finally got retired — and why a 70-year-old contractor stayed on just to see it die

  • Why George paused the entire project for a year and restructured the whole team — and how that bold move led to a successful go-live after two failed attempts spanning nine years

  • The critical moment George stopped outsourcing ownership to contractors and put actual agency employees in charge

  • How battlefield leadership lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan shaped George's approach to managing massive licensing operation

  • Why “success” nearly broke the system — and how the agency handled 30,000+ phone calls in just three months post-launch

  • How George built a cross-division data governance team to prevent inaccurate AI answers — and what every CIO should learn from it

  • Why Salesforce developers are solid gold — and how George is fighting to keep them in the public sector with training budgets and team loyalty

  • The one job George believes every CIO must do: take the heat round so their team can thrive

Timestamps

  • (00:35) From Army Combat Vet to Cannabis & Liquor Board CIO

  • (03:00) Basketball to Military: “Too Slow for Forward, Too Short for Center”

  • (06:00) Iraq 2004: Getting Blown Up and Building Resilient Teams

  • (12:00) 9-Year Project Nightmare: Firing Teams and Rebuilding from Scratch

  • (16:00) 42-Year-Old COBOL System: The 1983 Legacy That Wouldn’t Die

  • (23:00) 7 Legacy Systems to Salesforce: The Technical Transformation

  • (26:30) 20,000 Liquor + 1,900 Cannabis Licenses: Managing Complex Customer Operations

  • (33:00) CIO as Translator: Making Tech Make Sense to Non-Tech Leaders

  • (38:00) 30,000 Phone Calls Post-Launch: When Success Creates New Problems

  • (44:00) Leadership Lessons: Taking the Heat and Supporting Your Team

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