Thomas Parrish brings over 33 years of experience in information technology, with a diverse background spanning North Carolina’s executive government, city government, and education sectors. His expertise includes enterprise project management, telecommunications, and infrastructure management.

Currently serving as Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Departments of Public Safety and Adult Correction, Thomas previously served as Interim CIO for the State of North Carolina, leading the Department of Information Technology through the height of the pandemic and helping to launch technologies supporting the state’s vaccine effort. He also serves as adjunct faculty at Edgecombe Community College, where he helped launch the first GIS/Remote Sensing Drone certification and degree program.

Thomas’s career includes service as Deputy State CIO for the Department of Cultural Resources, the Office of Human Resources, and the Office of the Governor, where he helped establish North Carolina’s first technology innovation center in 2013. He also served as Chairman of the Board for Rocky Mount Preparatory School, overseeing the launch of one of the state’s first charter school distance learning programs, and as CIO for the City of Rocky Mount, where he led the development of one of North Carolina’s first 1GB municipal fiber networks.

Thomas is a certified Government CIO and holds a master’s degree in Earth Science with a focus on remote sensing from North Carolina Central University (NCCU). He is a former board member of the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) and currently serves on the SECU Technology Governance Committee.

In his personal life, Thomas enjoys technology projects and independent filmmaking with his wife, Valerie, and their sons, Thomas and Zachary.