myColorado / Colorado Digital ID
The first DMV-issued digital driver license in the US, now used by 2M+ Coloradans
The problem
State services were scattered across dozens of agency websites, and proving your identity to government still meant a plastic card and a trip to an office. No US state had shipped a DMV-issued digital driver license, and there was no playbook for getting residents, agencies, and law enforcement to trust one.
What I did
As executive sponsor and product owner, I led the development, roadmap, outreach, and growth of myColorado and the Colorado Digital ID: the first domestic state-run digital identity and mobile driver license (MDL), built on verifiable-credential standards with Ping Identity single sign-on. The apps were native iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin). Adoption was earned agency by agency. The Colorado State Patrol and the Department of Public Safety Executive Director's Office were the lead state participants, and because each county runs its own public safety organization, acceptance had to be negotiated county by county: 19 early adopters first, scaling to nearly 250 public safety offices statewide.
The stress test
When COVID hit, myColorado went from 25K to 250K users in a single month, and reached 750K by the end of summer 2020. The platform held, and it became the front door for pandemic-era services, including vaccination verification integrated directly with the digital ID.
Impact
myColorado is the most successful non-mandated state government application in Colorado's history, with 2M+ users. It earned seven national awards over two and a half years, including NASCIO, AAMVA, and GovLoop recognition, and set the pattern other states now follow for mobile driver licenses.