L. Jerome Mullen can take “acting” off his business cards.

On Friday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake officially appointed him as director of the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology.

“Jerome is a proven leader with a wealth of experience and knowledge,” Rawlings-Blake said in a release. “I am confident that under his leadership, MOIT will leverage information technology to enhance productivity and improve the delivery of services to the citizens of Baltimore.”

Mullen has run the office in an acting role since March, when Chris Tonjes was placed on administrative leave as part of an investigation into the office allegedly paying contractors for work not done. Tonjes later resigned.

“Continuing to serve the citizens of Baltimore and supporting the Mayor’s vision is an honor I don’t take lightly,” Mullen said in the release. “I’m committed to developing strategic partnerships by transforming government through the innovative use of technology. Together, we have the opportunity to build a connected city with better services for residents and businesses.”

Before joining MOIT as deputy CTO under Tonjes, the Army veteran served as vice president for Enterprise Technology Parks and, before that, as lead systems administrator and network operations center manager for Alabanza.

In an interview last month with Technical.ly Baltimore, Mullen spoke about his pursuit of expanded open data and public WiFi access.

“We want to make sure they aren’t initiatives that come up with some thick document that winds up on a shelf gathering dust,” Mullen said. “It’s not about throwing up wireless at ad-hoc places. We want to make sure there’s a strategy associated with that and whatever we do, we can sustain it.”

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