Lorrie Owens was elected to the CoSN Board in 2020. She has served as the Chief Technology Officer for the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) in Redwood City, CA since 2004. She is the first female and still the only African American to lead the technology division of a county office of education in California. Prior to starting at the SMCOE, Ms. Owens served as the Director of Technology for two school districts in the East Bay Area. Ms. Owens worked for IBM for 14 years before making a career switch to technology support in K-12 education. She received her undergraduate degree from the California State University, Hayward, and attended graduate school at the University of San Francisco. She is also a Certified Chief Technology Officer.

Ms. Owens is a member of, and served as the chairperson for the Technology Steering Committee, an advisory committee to CCSESA, which is comprised of the state’s 58 county offices of education superintendents. She was a STAR Award recipient in 2014 for her work with the TSC and CCSESA. Ms. Owens is also a member of California IT in Education (CITE), served on its board for 6 years, and served as its president during the organization’s rebranding from CETPA to CITE. Ms. Owens is a member of the California Association of African-American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA), CUE, the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and California School Business Officials (CASBO). She serves as a Personnel Commissioner for the Alameda County Office of Education. Ms. Owens is a popular speaker nationally, primarily on the topics of Transformational Leadership and Digital Equity. She has been a featured speaker at the Future of Education Technology (FETC) Conference several times.

Ms. Owens lives with her husband in Oakland, CA. She is very active in and speaks regularly on religious and social justice topics in both the Oakland and San Mateo communities.