The Opportunity
The departure of CAP's CIO opens a moment to do something more considered than a straight backfill. CAP currently runs two technology functions in parallel — IT, housed under the COO, and Digital Technology, embedded in Communications — that share more at the infrastructure and data layer than their separate reporting lines suggest. Managing them as one coherent function, under unified leadership, eliminates duplication, clarifies accountability, and positions technology as a genuine strategic asset rather than a cost center to be managed.
Consolidation of this kind works when the right leadership condition is met: a single leader who understands both the infrastructure layer and the strategic application layer, and can hold both accountably. That condition is now present. The opportunity is to act on it deliberately.
Technology enables CAP's mission at every layer — from keeping the network secure and the laptops running, to powering the data pipelines and MarTech platforms that drive communications impact. The distinction is not IT vs. Digital. It is provisioning vs. application — and both belong under one roof, with unified leadership accountable for the whole.
How We Think About This
Provisioning vs. Use of Data
Pipeline engineering — building and maintaining the data infrastructure — is a permanent technical concern that lives in Technology. Campaign analytics and audience insight — the use of that data — is a domain concern that belongs in COMMS as it builds capacity. These are distinct, and the boundary matters.
Audience Data Modeling vs. Audience Strategy
How CAP's audience strategy is reflected in systems like Salesforce — segmentation schema, list architecture, CRM data quality — is a technical concern that lives in Technology regardless of where audience strategy sits. Who CAP targets, why, and with what message is a COMMS domain decision. The systems serve the strategy; they do not own it.
"Digital" Is a Domain Word, Not a Technology Word
Digital outreach, digital engagement, digital advocacy — these describe what COMMS and Advocacy do with technology. The function that enables it is simply Technology. Naming it that way is intentional: it removes the ambiguity about ownership and signals a mature, organization-wide infrastructure mandate.
Leadership Is the Enabling Condition
Consolidation without the right leadership produces confusion, not efficiency. What makes this model viable is unified technical leadership that holds both the operational reliability mandate and the strategic transformation mandate simultaneously — and can translate between them for every stakeholder.
The Technology Department
The combined function is organized around two zones that reflect the natural distinction in its work. The IT Core handles service management, infrastructure operations, and portfolio governance — the backbone that keeps CAP running reliably for every staff member. Technology Services is the strategic application layer: CRM and audience systems, solution development, analytics, and the web and MarTech platforms that power COMMS's outreach. Both report to the CTO. Each zone has a distinct but complementary client base.
Technology Department — People & Structure
Shar · CTO
Reports to COO · Stephanie
↓
IT Core
Service Management
Walter
Personified
Ticketing · SLAs · Tier 1–2
Operations
Alex
Maft
DistrictPartners
Infra · Security · MS Systems · Tier 3
Portfolio & Planning
Paula
Governance · Budget · Roadmap
⟷
Technology Services
CRM & Audience Systems
Brandon
JR
BridgeFarm
Salesforce · Audience data modeling · CRM architecture
Solution Development
Daniel
Pipelines · Databases · Integrations
Analytics & Data
Ben ↗
Chris →
Sanjana
↗ transitional to COMMS over time
Web & MarTech · Strategic COMMS-Facing
Teal
Flagship websites · Web dev · MarTech platforms
Enterprise
All Staff
←
Desktop & helpdesk
Network & infra
Security & compliance
Software licensing
COMMS · DEV
ADVO
←
Web & MarTech
CRM & Audience data
Campaign infrastructure
Analytics (transitional ↗)
Audience strategy (transitional ↗)
↗ planned move to COMMS | → role consolidation in progress
COMMS Evolution & Transition Arc
COMMS does not lose capability in this model — it gains a reliable, accountable technology partner and, over time, builds its own digital engagement capacity. The hiring of a Senior Director of Digital Engagement is the enabling condition for the transition arc. As that team matures toward VP level, campaign analytics and audience strategy operations migrate from Technology to COMMS in a deliberate, well-supported sequence. The technology infrastructure underneath those capabilities — data pipelines, CRM architecture, systems — stays in Technology permanently.
JR's role is an important nuance: audience data modeling remains a technical and systems concern regardless of where audience strategy lives. JR operates under a RACI model that keeps Technology accountable for the systems layer while COMMS owns the strategic direction.
COMMS Evolution — Three Phases Over ~12 Months
Technology → COMMS
Service Relationship
Informal now
→
Formalized by Q2 2027
SLAs · Service catalog · Capacity reporting
Now
Q3 2026
COMMS
Editorial
Media
Press
Policy comms
Creative
Hiring Now
Sr. Director · Digital Engagement (TBD)
Building capacity; scope defined with Mark
Technology
Web & MarTech
CRM & Audience data
Campaign analytics
Audience strategy ops
Pipelines
IT Core
Ben
JR
Daniel
Brandon
→
Transition
Q4 2026 – Q2 2027
COMMS — Growing
Editorial
Press
Policy comms
Creative
Social & email marketing
Content strategy
Audience growth
Sr. Director of Digital Engagement building team
Technology — Transitioning
Campaign analytics ↗
Audience strategy ↗
Web & MarTech
CRM & Audience data
Pipelines
IT Core
Ben ↗
JR (RACI)
Daniel
Brandon
Service catalog & SLAs formalized
→
Steady State
2027 onward
COMMS — Full Capacity
Editorial
Press
Policy comms
Social & email marketing
Content strategy
Audience growth
Campaign analytics
Audience strategy
Creative
Ben
+ Digital Engagement team
VP of Digital Engagement
Technology — Permanent Core
Web & MarTech (Teal)
CRM & Audience data
Data pipelines
IT Core
JR (RACI)
Daniel
Brandon
Clean client/server model · ROI-gated investment
Governing Principles
Attrition-Only Rightsizing
No layoffs. Vacated roles are re-justified against the combined design before any backfill. Compensation resets to market over time through natural turnover.
ROI-Gated Investment
Once the $2.0M baseline is reached, every incremental technology investment must be traceable to a measurable efficiency gain or cost reduction. No investment without a verifiable offsetting benefit.
Formalized Service Relationship
Technology serves COMMS, DEV, and ADVO through a formalized service model — SLAs, a service catalog, and capacity reporting — giving stakeholders hard data to plan resource transitions and identify gaps.
RACI for Shared Functions
Shared capabilities like CRM and audience data modeling operate under explicit RACI: Technology owns Responsible and Accountable on the systems layer; COMMS owns strategic direction. No ambiguity about who decides what.
Where This Conversation Goes Next
This document reflects a direction, not a final plan. The intent is to align on the model and surface the questions worth resolving together before decisions are made. A few things worth discussing:
1.The reporting line and CTO role — timing, transition from COMMS, and what Stephanie needs to make it official.
2.Mark's view of the Digital Engagement hire — scope, timeline, and how the transition arc gets paced against that team's readiness.
3.The service formality model — what level of structure makes sense at the outset vs. what gets built over time.
4.The budget case — addressed separately, but the org design and the cost trajectory are linked and should be reviewed in sequence.