Los Angeles County is the largest county in the U.S. serving over 10 million people across 40+ different departments.
They just passed a $46 billion budget. And their CIO, Peter Loo, has to coordinate with 40 other CIOs to get anything done.
That’s not a technology problem. That’s one of the hardest leadership and governance challenges in all of public sector — and Peter has been doing it for over 30 years because, as he put it, “You can see the impact you make directly in the services being delivered.” That stayed with me. I coach high school basketball for the same reason.
I sat down with Peter and Hannes Scheidegger, Chief Global Services Officer at Info-Tech Research Group, on-site at the 36th floor of The Gas Company Tower in downtown Los Angeles.
Peter and Hannes have been working together since around 2010 — across an EHR implementation at five hospitals, a data center consolidation from 42 facilities down to one T5, a countywide voting system, and more. This is one of the longest, most tested partnerships I’ve seen in public sector. And the lessons transfer far beyond LA.
Welcome to episode 238!
10,000,000
People served by LA County government. One CIO responsible for the technology direction across all of it — in a fully federated environment where every department has its own CIO and its own priorities.
Peter Loo’s job isn’t to run IT. It’s to move 40 semi-autonomous organizations in the same direction without the authority to force any of them. He told me the secret isn’t control — it’s bringing people back to the why. And once the steering committee starts saying it themselves, you know it’s working.
3 Things From This Episode
Lesson 1
Buy-in gets you a nod. Ownership gets the project done.
Peter's steering committee for the DHS EHR wasn't there to receive updates — they were empowered to solve problems and drive the implementation. They owned it. Hannes added the principle that made it work: push decisions as far down as possible, to the people who actually use the system.
“We can't dictate this top-down. We need to create a structure where the people who do the work can figure out how they can best leverage these new technologies.”
Leadership Principle: The difference between a steering committee and an audience is one word — authority. If your committee can't make a decision (or doesn't have the resources), you're running a status update, not a governance structure.
Lesson 2
Stop talking IT. Start talking risk. That's when executives really hear you.
LA County had 42 data centers. Many of them were server closets — literal refrigerators in utility rooms, equipment under desks, hardware in hallways. Peter knew consolidation was critical. But “data center consolidation” is not a phrase that moves a board of supervisors.
So Info-Tech helped build the case differently. They did a full physical inventory of all 42 facilities — and took photos. Then Peter walked into the boardroom and showed them the pictures. Not a slide deck full of technical debt metrics. Pictures of what was actually holding the county’s infrastructure together. The project was approved. Four years later, LA County has a T5 data center that is earthquake-proofed and fully resilient. Peter’s framing:
“We built the business case around risk. What happens if we don’t do this?”
Leadership Principle: Frame your next capital ask around risk, not capability. “Here’s what we can do with this investment” loses to “here’s what happens to our constituents if we don’t make it.”
Lesson 3
The right partner absorbs the politics so you don't have to.
One of the most honest moments of the conversation came when Hannes described a data governance meeting that went sideways. Nearly every department CIO in LA County was in one room. They thought they had agreed on roles and responsibilities. They had not. Hannes said it was one of the most contentious meetings of his career — and he was front and center taking the shots.
That’s exactly why it worked. Peter couldn’t be in that room as the county CIO without it becoming political. Hannes could be. He had no stake in who controlled what. His only job was to do the right thing and keep the process moving. Peter put it plainly: “He would be sitting next to me in front of the folks that were the issues — being the lightning rod for a lot of the concerns. That’s what commitment means. Sometimes you take more heat than you need to. But you just sit there and work through it. That’s what builds trust.”
Hannes has a name for what he's willing to do when it's the opposite: walk away. He's turned down projects and walked away from engagements when he no longer added value or couldn't commit to the cause. That willingness — to say no, to take heat, to be honest over comfortable — is what made Peter eventually call him for the voting system project with just one sentence:
“We need you to do what you did for DHS.”
Leadership Principle: If your vendor has never pushed back on you, absorbed a difficult room on your behalf, or told you they couldn’t do something — they might be a vendor, not a partner.
Guests
Peter Loo, Chief Information Officer, Los Angeles County, CA
Hannes Scheidegger, Chief Global Services Officer, Info-Tech Research Group
Timestamps
(0:00) Peter Loo introduces LA County — 40 departments, 40 CIOs, and a $46 billion budget
(2:00) The EHR origin story — five hospitals, one system, five different implementations
(4:00) What made it succeed — executive commitment, empowered steering committees, and a “not if but how” mindset
(8:00) AI governance lessons — why principles beat prescriptive guidelines, and how LA County worked with GovAI Coalition
(12:00) How Info-Tech engages — blueprints, guided implementations, workshops, and full consulting
(16:00) The data center consolidation — 42 data centers, some were closets, some next to refrigerators
(18:00) How to communicate with executives — the language of value, risk, and constituent services
(22:00) The most contentious meeting of Hannes’ career — CIOs in one room who thought they’d agreed. They hadn’t.
(28:30) “We want you to do what you did for DHS” — the moment that defined the partnership
(33:00) Closing advice — commit to the mission, be patient and persistent, always do it as a “we”
Recommended Next Episodes
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