Technology veteran Todd Coombes’ approach to his new job as the first chief information officer for the California Earthquake Authority is to keep an enterprising yet cautious eye on the risks and rewards that emerging technologies offer.

Among the issues with which CEA’s first CIO says he will be concerned when he starts his job on June 3 are security, efficiency and the task of integrating new technology into the organization.

Acting in the role of opportunist Coombes also plans to be mindful of what he calls the “consumerization of IT,” or as he puts it another way, “the technology in hands of everyone now.”