One of Miami City Hall’s top tech boosters says he’s leaving the administration
One of the city of Miami’s top tech boosters is leaving City Hall.
Michael Sarasti, the city’s chief innovation officer and director of information technology, announced his departure Tuesday on Twitter.
“I’ll share more soon, but I’ll be transitioning out of CIO role over next few weeks. Been best ride of my career. I’ll still be around supporting @FrancisSuarez #MiamiTech vision,” Sarasti wrote in a tweet.
Sarasti, 43, has been with the city almost six years. He’s more recently played a role in Mayor Francis Suarez’s promotion of Miami’s tech scene and the city’s embrace of cryptocurrency. Sarasti helped work on the deal that commissioners approved in October that allows the city to receive donated funds from a cryptocurrency project called MiamiCoin.
Sarasti told the Miami Herald he expects his last day will be in early March, and he said he’ll be “taking a bit of a breather after 15+ years in government.”
“I’ve had a blast and am so proud of the work,” he said. “It’s good vibes all around — everyone’s been supportive, and I’ll be around to support community, Miamitech, and VentureMiami work however I can be helpful.”
City Manager Art Noriega’s administration has seen several other departures over the last 15 months. In the fall of 2020, three senior administrators resigned in one week. Alan Dodd, Miami’s second chief resilience officer, left in August to run Fort Lauderdale’s public works department.
Sylejman Ujkani, the city’s program manager for the Miami Forever bond, resigned in December. He now works for the city of Fort Lauderdale. Jeremy Calleros Gauger, who served as Miami’s deputy planning director, left in December to become the village of Key Biscayne’s chief planner. On Friday, another senior city planner, Assistant Director Kemarr L. Brown, submitted her resignation. Her last day will be Feb. 25.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 2:27 PM.
