Colorado Appointed New State Information Chief
Sarah Tuneberg is leading a digital restructuring aimed at reducing operational friction for state programs.
Updated on Sept. 30, 2026 in People
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Sarah Tuneberg assumed the role of Colorado Chief Information Officer on June 1, 2026, following her tenure as director of the Colorado Digital Service. She is spearheading a modernization effort to consolidate state digital services and streamline user verification.
Why it matters
The state is shifting to a modular, open-source technology stack to reduce compliance costs related to federal mandates, such as the six-month Medicaid eligibility check required by H.R. 1.
The transition to the myColorado system reduced application times to 25 seconds from 2 minutes, addressing a friction point where recipients previously managed 9 different sets of credentials.
The players
Sarah Tuneberg
The current Chief Information Officer for Colorado who previously led the Colorado Digital Service.
Colorado Office of Information Technology
The state agency responsible for implementing digital modernization and managing enterprise IT infrastructure.
The details
The Office of Information Technology is utilizing cross-functional teams comprised of service designers, delivery engineers, and product managers to build a modular benefits stack. This approach uses open-source components, which the state intends to share for other jurisdictions to adapt. This infrastructure is designed to solve for specific compliance burdens, such as the H.R. 1 mandate for semi-annual Medicaid verification, by automating processes using internal state data.
Timeline
July 2025: H.R. 1 established new Medicaid eligibility requirements.
2024: Sarah Tuneberg began serving as Colorado Digital Service director.
April 2026: The state launched myColorado sign-in for the summer EBT program.
June 1, 2026: Sarah Tuneberg assumed the role of Chief Information Officer.
Market Landscape
Colorado is responding to the H.R. 1 Medicaid eligibility verification requirements by developing internal, modular tools rather than relying on legacy vendor systems. This follows a broader trend where state agencies are utilizing cross-functional teams to build and open-source their own infrastructure.
Operators dealing with state-managed programs should watch for the expansion of the myColorado sign-in to the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program. Expect future opportunities to leverage or integrate with the state’s open-source income verification tools as they become available.
The takeaway
The move toward a unified benefits stack suggests that states are prioritizing user experience as a primary driver of operational efficiency. Businesses interacting with state portals should track the implementation of the data backpack project, which aims to simplify cross-program data sharing.
Further reading
For more on personnel changes affecting state governance, see People.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Government Technology.
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