Coral Gables: a story of beauty and brains

We aim to match the same capacity I had when I worked in industry. In a way, we wear two hats: one as a general contractor – capable of building infrastructure, handling engineering, and managing design and planning – and another as an R&D lab.

We have a dedicated laboratory where we conduct experiments in collaboration with academia and interns. Our internship programme is very strong, mentoring students from high school to graduates to post-doctoral research. Every spring, summer, and fall, we bring in about 20 interns and put them to work, giving them hands-on experience and valuable training.

SCW: How different did you find working in the public sector after industry?

RR: I knew Coral Gables to be a beautiful city and saw it was looking for a network analyst or network engineer and I thought I’d give it a try. What I didn’t know is that the city didn’t have a network so the job was to build everything from scratch! I’d spent 11 years in the private sector before joining the city and now it’s been 20 years.

Honestly, my initial goal was just to learn about the public sector. At the time, they had just created a technology department. I thought, ‘I’ll give it three or four years, learn how the public sector works, and then go back to the private sector.’ But three years turned into 20, and now I’m the CIO.

In government, you have to understand that your customers are the citizens, and they own the business. 

I’m very happy I stayed. The public sector is a completely different world from the private sector. You have two choices: either leave because it’s a different world or stay and work to improve things – helping it become more entrepreneurial, innovative, and efficient. In government, you have to understand that your customers are the citizens, and they own the business. 

I was passionate about telecoms in the private sector but it was also one-way. Working in the city required me to learn a lot. I had to understand public safety, civil infrastructure like public works, governance and policy. It forced me to broaden my thinking and change how I approach projects. I had to become a better project manager because, in the public sector, you deal with more stakeholders.

In the private sector we had a project, we had the funding, we could buy everything we needed to buy and then get things done. It was very straightforward. In government, it’s different. You need to negotiate, persuade stakeholders, and collaborate with the community. You can’t operate in silos. It makes you a better manager and a better leader because you face complexities in the public sector that you don’t encounter in the private sector.

SCW: How do you ensure you maintain momentum on your smart city journey?

RR: Continuous improvement has been a key focus for me. My background is in electrical engineering, but over time, I specialised in industrial engineering and systems engineering. That training helped me develop a more systematic, process-oriented approach to problem-solving. I have also become a Six Sigma Black Belt, which has shaped how I approach projects – not just in technology but across the organisation.

First of all, we trained all the business units and all the departments to create a culture around quality and the customer. To achieve this, I partnered with a university to launch a citywide Lean Six Sigma process improvement programme. We graduated at least one Six Sigma Green Belt in every department. These Green Belts became quality champions and served as liaisons for my department, helping us implement technology solutions that aligned with City Hall’s strategic goals and best practices.

We put significant effort into standardisation more than 10 years ago, adopting industry standards like ISO9000 and IEC standards. The goal was to build a culture of quality and create consistent processes. Once we built the capacity, we moved into digital transformation – not just through technology, but by transforming the organisation and investing in human capital.

The key to breaking down those barriers was to create channels of communication and align strategies across departments

Creating effective governance is essential and that’s what we have today. Organisations naturally develop silos and compartmentalisation. The key to breaking down those barriers was to create channels of communication and align strategies across departments. Understanding the vision of the chief of police, fire chief, city manager and mayor was crucial. Alignment around shared goals made it possible to foster collaboration and drive results.

We follow the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Baldrige Community of Excellence framework. That standard creates a tree and at the top you have residents and visitors who have needs and priorities. Then you have strategic goals in the organisation, which have a number like 1,2,3,4,5. All of the departments work towards the same goals whether that is to improve the citizen experience, become more efficient or make better use of government resources and taxpayers’ funds. All the projects have to align and you have multiple departments working together. You also foster collaboration between the different departments towards the same goal with the citizen as the end-customer. 

This alignment and collaboration have been more important to me than any technological advancement or infrastructure project. Listening to the voice of the customer – the citizens – and delivering quick results is essential. Over-planning leads to analysis paralysis, and in the fast-changing technology landscape, that’s a problem. You need to deliver quick wins and execute fast, or the technology will be outdated by the time you’re ready to implement it.

Our operating philosophy is simple and based on five core principles:

1. Keep the lights on – business continuity is number one.
2. Keep the customers happy – align everything you do with citizen satisfaction.
3. Keep the wheels moving – constantly learning and evolving and delivering innovation.
4. Keep the team sharp – invest in training and industry-leading skills.
5. Get things done – deliver results. Results are what really matters.

This mantra is very much what keeps us focused and moving forward.

The City has published a centenary website at www.100coralgables.com/