Clark County expected to make Mike Lane chief information officer

Over the past 20 years, Mike Lane has earned a living building software for casinos, teaching calculus to local high school students and creating tool kits used by police to search vehicles for hidden compartments carrying contraband.

On Tuesday, Lane is expected to add Clark County chief information officer to his list of jobs.

County commissioners will consider ratifying the appointment of Lane to the position at their Tuesday meeting. As CIO, he’d oversee information technology for the county’s 38 governmental departments.

Lane, 44, began working for the county in August 2013 as one of two deputy CIOs.

In that position, he was responsible for about half of the IT department’s 160 employees and a majority of the department’s project management.

As CIO, Lane said he wants to keep the department vigilant and prepared for cyberattacks to prevent security breaches.

“The primary thing is ensuring we’re evolving our strategy to handle the changing security landscape,” he said. “As a government agency, I feel like we have a strong responsibility to protect not only our employees’ information but also any information about our citizens we have in our system.”

Lane graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in computer science during the mid-90s. He has about 20 years of IT experience in the public and private sectors.

County Manager Yolanda King appointed him county CIO on Nov. 18 after his predecessor’s resignation.

Louis Carr, Jr., 52, had worked as the county’s CIO since March 2013. He left to become CIO for Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General.

Lane is paid an annual salary of $126,672, county spokesman Erik Pappa said.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.