Governor picks Askins as division’s next chief

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has appointed Acxiom Corp. official Jonathan Askins as the director of the state Division of Information Systems, Hutchinson announced Tuesday.

Askins is director of expert client management at Acxiom, where he has guided new product strategy in the company’s government business sectors, according to the governor’s office.

“Jonathan Askins brings a wealth of experience in business and government,” Hutchinson said in a news release. “In his career, he has been a team builder, a business developer, a problem solver, and a crisis manager. He’s everything you look for in a leader, and DIS has great days ahead.”

Askins will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the previous director, Yessica Jones, effective Nov. 30.

Jones — who had served as the agency’s director since May 2017 — has said she resigned to pursue an opportunity in the private sector that will allow her to work from home.

The Division of Information Systems has been part of the state Department of Transformation and Shared Services since July 2019 under Hutchinson’s executive branch reorganization that merged 42 agencies into 15 departments.

Askins will start work on Jan. 4 with a salary of $161,373 a year, said Alex Johnston, a spokeswoman for the transformation department said. Jones was paid a similar salary.

In 2018, Hutchinson appointed Askins to the state Data Transparency Commission, where he serves as vice chairman. In his previous stint in state government, Askins worked at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission from 1998-2000, where he led a Cabinet-level task force to encourage investment in the tourism industry, according to the governor’s office.

Askins has served in his current post at Acxiom Corp. since 2017, according to his resume.