Chapter 2: An Outsider Arrives

Steve Gordon was born in Modesto and raised in California's Central Valley. He earned a bachelor's degree in business from CSU Stanislaus University before relocating to San Diego County. Gordon began his career in the public sector, working for the San Diego County auditor's office. Later, Gordon transitioned into technology, serving in a number of roles for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Detroit, then with Delta Airlines (then Northwest Airlines) in Minneapolis, before joining Cisco Systems in 1993. He cofounded the travel company, MySeatFinder, and served as a managing partner at ZTransforms, a technology and consulting firm.

Taking over a government department like the DMV had never been a part of Gordon's life plan. “There was an article in the San Jose Mercury News, with the headline: 'Hate the DMV? Here's your chance to run it!' My wife read that article in the paper and said: 'This sounds a lot like you.' And so on a bit of a lark, I applied,” Gordon recalled.

The application process brought Gordon face-to-face with the scale and urgency of the department's issues. Following his first interview, Gordon was encouraged to visit a couple of field offices. Arriving at an office near his home in San Jose, Gordon found customers waiting in line at 6 am, even though the front doors opened at 8 am. “One man brought a lawn chair for the two-hour wait and told me what others in the line also shared: They were there early to avoid an expected crush of people,” he added.

Four months later, after meeting with Governor Newsom himself, Gordon was offered the job to take over the department as its new director. It was Gordon's blend of public sector experience and leadership in Silicon Valley's technology sector that caught the attention of the California governor. He saw in Gordon a skillset that he believed would lead the DMV through significant change.

The director's job would be a major change of environment and pace for Gordon. He would be leaving the private sector to take over a state department with 9,711 employees, 180 field offices, and a fiscal budget of $1.3 billion. In 2019, the department was responsible for licensing 27 million drivers and registering 35.7 million motor vehicles.

Gordon recognized that modernizing and improving the DMV, while continuing to deliver services every day in the most populous state in the United States, under significant legal, regulatory, and budgetary constraints, would be a monumental challenge. “I had never managed a 10,000-person organization, let alone a retail organization,” he recalled. “That was well outside of my wheelhouse.”

He would also be operating inside government for the first time in his career. “We'll likely have to do everything through the lens of being inside government. Whether it's on the legislative or the administrative side, we'll have to make sure that the governor's office and the elected members understand what we're doing and why we're doing it,” Gordon explained.

Gordon was determined to chart a new course for the embattled department. Despite the daunting scale and complexity of the proposition, Gordon felt compelled by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on his community. “I was inspired to take this job because—from the constituent's perspective—I think it's the largest and most important turnaround opportunity in the state, and maybe in the nation,” he said.