Charles Eckstrom

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Chief Information Officer

Charles Eckstrom serves as chief information officer for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, where he leads the strategic direction and daily operations of the IT organization supporting water delivery to 19 million residents. He has spearheaded major advancements in cybersecurity, infrastructure modernization and digital transformation. Over the past two years, he launched a 24/7 Cybersecurity Operations Center, implemented identity and access controls and led the shift to cloud-first architecture across Microsoft, Oracle and AWS platforms. Eckstrom has also driven a mobile-first strategy that empowers 400+ field technicians with real-time capabilities and expanded the use of UAV and GIS technologies to enhance operational efficiency. Under his leadership, the agency completed a major upgrade to its billing system, developed robust disaster recovery protocols and transitioned to digital workflows. Previously, he served as assistant CIO for Orange County and held executive IT roles at Toshiba, UnitedHealth Group and Deloitte.