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Mike Gwartney, Director

Message from Director Mike Gwartney

Thank you for visiting the Idaho Department of Administration's virtual location. Our primary goal is to deliver quality, dynamic support services to accommodate the ever-changing future needs and requirements of all Idaho state government agencies, and to assist those agencies in keeping their overhead costs at a minimum.

Our Department is the central administrative agency of state government. We work in partnership with the Office of the Governor, the Idaho Legislature, and other state agencies to put programs, policies, and systems in place to ensure that state government is efficient, effective, and accountable.

Our guiding values are simple, but serve as our foundation in meeting our customer needs in a professional and satisfactory manner. They include:

The Department contracts with hundreds of private firms for much of state work. We administer hundreds of separate public works projects either in design or under construction, and hire private firms to administer our thousands of employee and family life and health insurance claims. In addition, Administration contracts for credit card services and for a large share of state telecommunications and technological services.

We administer state facility contracts and leasing, and we invite local governments to buy goods and services at volume discounts available under state contracts. We also obtain federal surplus properties and distribute them to state and local government entities.

The business of state government is always changing. To compete in the new economy, government at all levels must be flexible, adaptable, and innovative as well as more consumer friendly, performance driven, and accountable. We would like to hear any ideas or comments to help us achieve these goals.

Mike Gwartney
mike.gwartney@adm.idaho.gov


Biography

Governor “Butch” Otter named Mike Gwartney as the Director of the Idaho Department of Administration in June 2007, after he successfully headed-up the Governor’s transition team.

Mr. Gwartney serves as the President of Political Consulting, Ltd. Prior to working for the Governor, he was Chairman and Chief Executive of Farmers and Merchants State Bank and Vice President of Human Resources for Boise Cascade Corporation.

He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Regence BlueShield of Idaho, where he has been a member since 1987. Mr. Gwartney is a member of the Boise YMCA Endowment Committee, a member of the Boise Chamber of Commerce task force on insurance for small businesses, and a former board member for YMCA of Boise and the Idaho Heart Association. He is also a former Chairman of UWC, a lobbying group in Washington DC. He served in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1976 until 1982.

Mr. Gwartney holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Idaho. He is married to Tore Beal Gwartney, and they have five children.