NASCIO Voices

Alex and Amy are joined by NCSL's Legislative Director Barrie Tabin to talk about the proposed federal 10-year moratorium on states regulating AI. We discuss why our two organizations are working together to oppose the proposal as well as our work around preserving the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Plus we look ahead to some fun summer plans.https://www.nascio.org/press-releases/nascio-statement-on-efforts-to-prevent-state-enforcement-of-ai-laws-for-ten-years/

Amy and Alex are joined by NASCIO policy analyst Kalea-Young Gibson to talk about her new report, Unlocking Potential: Empowering Re-entry Through Cybersecurity Training. The cybersecurity workforce gap is growing—and so is the urgency to find new solutions. In this episode, we explore an unexpected yet promising approach: training incarcerated individuals for careers in cybersecurity. With hundreds of thousands reentering society each year and many struggling to find stable employment, prison-based vocational programs could help fill critical roles, reduce recidivism, and diversify the field. In our lightening round we all talk about our favorite thing about NASCIO Midyear--and there's even a blooper at the end. Find the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/unlocking-potential-empowering-reentry-through-cybersecurity-training/

Goodbye to National Harbor, hello to Philadelphia. Alex and Amy are joined again by NASCIO's director of experience and engagement, Emily Lane to talk all about what we can expect at the NASCIO Midyear Conference coming up in Philadelphia. We talk about programming changes, a new city, themes and apps Emily just can't live without!

Today Alex fills us in on the recent hearing on the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the testimony from Utah CIO Alan Fuller and CT CIO Mark Raymond. We also talk about making our homes more energy efficient and the new publication coming out on privacy.Find the recording and testimony here: https://homeland.house.gov/hearing/cybersecurity-is-local-too-assessing-the-state-and-local-cybersecurity-grant-program/

Today Alex and Amy are joined by Waldo Jaquith with US Digital Response to discuss a new joint publication on improving the RFP process with a simple summary sheet.We also discuss the importance of user research and who would play us in a movie. See the report and summary sheet template here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/improving-rfps-with-user-research-how-summary-sheets-can-improve-solicitations/

Alex and Amy talk with Bryan Zaczek who works as a principal data scientist with the state of Indiana's Management Performance Hub. Bryan walks us through the art of prompt engineering to get better answers from generative AI tools. We also talk about how we are using GenAI in our personal lives!

Today Amy and Alex talk about how the federal funding freeze might affect the Cybersecurity Grant Program and state IT offices. Plus Amy tells Alex about what she learned about the Japanese local government system, their workforce challenges that look a lot like ours and what she was most impressed by in her recent trip to Japan representing NASCIO.

NASCIO's 2025 federal advocacy priorities are released! Alex gives us the rundown. https://www.nascio.org/government-affairs/federal-advocacy-priorities/Kalea Young-Gibson, NASICO's policy analyst also joins to give us an overview of the DOJ final rule for accessibility for state and local government websites and apps.

Alex, Amy and Meredith from the NASCIO team disucss our predictions for the trends that will affect cybersecurity, privacy, AI, enterprise architecture, workforce and DC. We also give our pets some new year's resolutions.

Amy and Alex are joined by Eric Sweden, program director for enterprise architecture and governance with NASCIO, for our annual NASCIO Top Ten episode. Come for the data, stay for Eric's Christmas medly on the guitar! Eric tells us all about what's on these lists for 2025, how the lists have changed over the years and what's staying consistent. Top 10

Find out where we've been, what we did and all we accomplished as a community in our episode wrapping up the year at NASCIO. Alex and Amy have a conversation covering our events, publications, awards, advocacy priorites and some fun things too. And yes, they tell you what was on their Spotify Wrapped lists too.

Alex and Amy are joined this week by NASCIO's deputy executive director Meredith Ward and Deloitte's Srini Subramanian to talk about the 2024 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity Study. We talk about the changing role of the state CISO, why budget woes are back and how CISO's are handling generative AI. Come for the great cyber content, stay for the seven minute lightening round where we talk about what they would  be doing if they weren't in technology and what tech they can't live without.Find the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/2024-deloitte-nascio-cybersecurity-study/

Today Amy and Alex talk about the new NASCIO report on how states are using generative AI. This was a President's Initiative Report spearheaded by the past year's President Jim Weaver, North Carolina's state CIO.Find out key findings from the report such as:The role of the state CIO when it comes to generative AIThe most common business practices for generative AI in the statesWhy some states aren't using it moreNASCIO's recommendations for statesTrends we expect to see over the next five yearsYou can find the report at nascio.org/resource-centerThe other report mentioned is: Data Quality--Vital to Optimizing GenAI: A survey of State Chief Information Officers and Chief Data Officers.

Amy and Alex sit down with Texas State CIO and Executive Director (and NASCIO's new president!) Amanda "Mandy" Crawford to talk about her involvement with NASCIO over the years, her priorities in Texas and her thoughts on a presidential initiative. And of course, in our Lightening Round we also hear about her thoughts on fall, hobbies and Halloween plans.

Fresh off the NASCIO Annual Conference, Amy and Alex use the magic of Notebook LM to give us an audio overview of the NASCIO 2024 State CIO Survey. Hear how this AI tool summarizes the main ideas in the survey and even plays up this year's "building blocks" theme.Read the survey for yourself here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/the-2024-state-cio-survey/

It's time for the NASCIO Annual Conferece preview episode with our own director of experience and engagement, Emily Lane.We'll be getting together very soon in The Big Easy! Find out what to wear for the Awards and Recognition Dinner, what you'll learn in the learning lounges and who our keynote speakers are. Plus, you'll learn how to hear directly from state CIOs and where to charge your phone and network. 

This week we are joined by NASCIO's program director for enterprise architecture and governance, Eric Sweden and EY's Chris Estes on a new joint publication between NASCIO and EY called Data Quality--Vital to optimizing GenAI: A Survey of State Chief Information Officers and Chief Data Officers. We discuss what's in the report, data management and the first historical event we can remember!https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/data-quality-vital-to-optimizing-genai-a-survey-of-state-chief-information-officers-and-chief-data-officers/

Amy and Alex talk about the Summer Series guest list and discuss upcoming NASCIO events and publications. Plus they discuss what they did this summer and their work goals for the fall.

Amy talks with Nate Denny, Deputy Secretary for Broadband and Digital Equity for the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. We talk about the direct impact he and his team have on the ability of North Carolina citizens to get the resources they need in 2024.

Alex and Amy talk with Julia Fischer, Maryland DoIT's director of data services and geographic information officer. We talk all about her passion for maps, data and cartography. 

Alex and Amy are joined by Paula Calhoun who serves as the director of communications for the Georgia Technology Authority. We found out that though Paula started out in broadcast journalism, she found her true calling in government.Find the transcript: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/15328390

Bonus episode! Amy and Alex interrupt our regular summer series programming to announce a new NASCIO publication: Revolutionizing Assistance: How States Can Improve Generative AI's Role in Disability Empowerment. Author and NASCIO policy analyst Kalea-Young Gibson joins us to talk about the publication and the recommendation she thinks is most critical.

This summer we are diving into some of the lesser-known roles in state government technology. This week Amy and Alex talk with Special Projects Coordinator, Addy Newsom with Tennessee Strategic Technology Solutions. Addy also provides executive support to the Tennessee state CIO. Addy tells us how an early career pivot away from nursing led her down the path to a job she loves today and why she thought she was being punked when she was asked to interview for the job.

This summer we are diving into some of the lesser-known roles in state government technology. This week Amy and Alex talk with Chief People and Culture Officer, Lisa Jammer with the Texas Department of Information Resources. Lisa tells us how she's reinvisioning human resources in her role for the organization, the craziest work trip she's ever taken and what her plans are for the summer.

Alex and Amy talk with NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson about 20 years in his role, what has changed with the state CIO role, state technology and NASCIO as an organization. We talk about challenges, successes and the advice he would go back and give himself 20 years ago.  Also stay for an informative lightening round when we discuss bourbon at length!

Amy and Alex talk about all the big issues happening now on Capitol Hill along with an overview of our recent federal fly-ins. We also discuss why AI isn't much of a partisan issue and the fact that TikTok is still here even though Congress banned it.

Amy and Alex talk with our newest team member Kalea-Young Gibson, policy analyst, about her background and why she is excited to work with NASCIO. Then we are joined by NASCIO's director of experience and engagement, Emily Lane to talk all things Midyear Conference. Find out what's new, what's changing, what to get excited about and what to wear.

Alex talks with Amy about the newest NASCIO survey and report about the state chief privacy officer role, new AI responsibilities and continuing challenges around governance, funding and authority. https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/the-shifting-privacy-paradigm-state-chief-privacy-officers-evolving-roles-and-persistent-realities/Find the transcript at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/14859172

Alex and Amy talk with Bryce Carter, chief information security officer for the city of Arlington, TX. We talk about the similarities in priorities between local government and state government, his relationship with the state CIO, working with the private sector and the city's partnership that will bring air taxis to Arlington!

NASCIO has a brand new report on data literacy and NASCIO's Eric Sweden joins Alex and Amy to talk about the topic which has been highlighted with the emergence of generative AI. Learn more here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/data-literacy-within-state-government-building-a-knowledgeable-workforce-that-knows-how-to-use-data-for-better-decisions/

Alex and Amy talk with Nevada CIO Timothy Galluzi about his newly elevated state CIO role in the governor's cabinet, generative AI, projects in 2024 and how his time in the Marine Corps prepared him for the role of state CIO. We also learn a surprising fact about him, his ideal vacation and where you should visit if you are coming to Nevada (that's not Las Vegas).Find the transcript on our podcast hosting site here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/14586439

Alex and Amy talk with Heather Morton, director of financial services, technology and communications at the National Conference of State Legislatures. We talk with Heather about trends in AI legislation, how states are legislating deepfakes and the surge in privacy bills. We also learn about Heather's first job. Hint: it involved Blizzards.Find the transcript here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/14496873

Alex and Amy talk with Arizona state CIO J.R. Sloan about AZ's journey into the cloud, priorities for 2024, his recent visit to D.C. and what what sport he's most likely to be watching.

Amy and Alex talk about NASCIO's 2024 federal advocacy priorities the day before they are released, why we have them and what's brand new this year. We also talk about why Alex is not technically a lobbyist and listen to a few minutes of a radio interview Amy did on artificial intelligence.

Alex and Amy talk with North Carolina state CIO and NASCIO's new president Jim Weaver on serving in three different state IT offices, his plans for 2024 and the most important traits of a state CIO.

It's that time of year again! Alex and Amy talk with NASCIO's Program Director for Enterprise Architecture and Governance, Eric Sweden about the NASCIO Top Ten lists for 2024. These lists are what state CIOs are most focused on for the year ahead. Find out the big surprises for the year (like a tie for first place!) and what's on the list for the first time ever. Find the list here once it's released: nascio.org/resource-centerFind transcript to episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/14136522

Alex and Amy talk with NASCIO's most recent past president about her president's initiative report on the digital citizen experience. She also reflects on her term as president this past year.Find the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/creating-a-citizen-centric-digital-experience-how-far-have-we-come/You can find the transcript to this episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/14051184

During the NASCIO Annual Conference in Minneapolis Amy and Alex interviewed nine attendees about what they think is the most exciting thing happening in technology right now. And of course we asked a fun question as well. Special thanks to Dan Wolf, Karen Sorady, Denis Goulet, Katrina Flory, Katy Ruckle, Ken Weeks, Matt Pincus, Steve Pier and Torry Crass. You can find the transcript here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13928412

Alex and Amy talk with Teri Takai of the Center for Digital Government and Dan Chenok of the IBM Center for the Business of Government about a report that they, along with NASCIO, recently authored entitled Preparing for Future Shocks in State Government: State CIOs Play an Important and Expanding Role in Resilience. The report is intended to help frame what future disruptions may look like for state CIOs and how they can effectively tackle them. In this episode, Dan and Teri give us a brief overview of the report findings.You can find the transcript on our podcast webpage here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13836791

Amy and Alex are joined by NASCIO executive director Doug Robinson who is giving us an overview of what's on the just-released NASCIO 2023 State CIO Survey. Hear how state CIOs are thinking about everything from cybersecurity and workforce to financial models and the future of the role.Find the transcript of this episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13729009You can find the survey here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/Episode on drones in North Carolina: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/5985103

Alex and Amy are joined by NASCIO's director of experience and engagement, Emily Lane. Emily gives us an over view of conference programming and all we have to look forward to in Minneapolis!Find a transcript of the episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13667370

See transcript of this episode here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13577144Alex and Amy talk with Cara Woodson Welch, CEO for the Public Sector HR Association about the latest 2023 survey on State and Local Workforce. We learn about trends in attracting and retaining workers, recruitment, DEI and more!See the report here: https://slge.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023workforce.pdfFind PSHRA's podcast here: https://pshra.org/news-resources/public-eye-podcast/

Alex and Amy talk with Jay Wyant, who serves as chief information accessibility officer for the state of Minnesota. We talk with Jay about how state organizations can improve accessibility in technology and procurement as well as best practices within the state to be more inclusive.See full transcript in transcript tab on Buzzsprout at https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/13443893.Episode 102 -- Jay WyantMon, Aug 21, 2023 12:50PM • 16:08SPEAKERSAlex Whitaker, Jay Wyant, Amy GlasscockAmy Glasscock  00:05Hi, and welcome to NASCIO voices where we talk all things state IT. I'm Amy Glasscock, in Lexington, Kentucky.Alex Whitaker  00:12And I'm Alex Whitaker in Washington, DC. Today we're talking with Jay Wyatt, who serves as Chief Information Accessibility Officer for the State of Minnesota.Amy Glasscock  00:20About a dozen or so states have a role like this, but it's still somewhat unique. So today we're talking with Jay about what he does and what other state IT agencies can do to be more accessible. Jay, welcome to NASCIO voices, and thanks so much for joining us.Jay Wyant  00:34Thank you for having me here. I really appreciate the opportunity to have a chat with you all this morning.Alex Whitaker  00:39Yeah, Jay, welcome. So tell us about your role as Chief Information Accessibility Officer and what you do.Jay Wyant  00:46Well, I was lucky, first of all when I was hired to do the job, it was my opportunity to build a job they had not had before, so it was like, here's your job, you figure it out. And basically, my role is to work with agencies and employees to embed accessibility into the culture of the state. One of the ways we did that was by seeding agencies with digital accessibility coordinators throughout all the agencies and the IT partners and to empower them with effective sustainable policies, processes, tools and procedures to basically get everybody to own accessibility in one way or another.Alex Whitaker  01:29Got it? Yeah, that's, that's really fascinating. And so, you know, based on our sort of basic research on you, we've seen that you have a long history of working in accessibility and technology, can you tell us a little bit about your professional background, and kind of how you came to the role?Jay Wyant 01:44Sure. My career had been a very winding path, which is actually not uncommon for people with disabilities. So, after being a very passionate, but not a great teacher in high school history, I fell into creating on-demand technology training for the telecommunications industries. That was in the 1980s, the 1990s, so really, you know, the ground floor of how the internet had been developed, but I was providing training on how the building blocks of the Internet work. Then, after that, I became a marketing manager for a software startup that was kind of the precursor to cloud-based computing. Which was a lot of fun--it didn't go anywhere, but it was a lot of fun. I also became the marketing director for one of the nation's largest captioning companies. And the way I got into that was that on the side, as a volunteer I served on boards of non-profits, both local and national boards and part of my role is that I wrote a column and articles for magazines on how to make technology work, how to basically hack technology for accessibility, to kind of build my accessibility credentials by what I did on my own in addition to the work that we were doing. So, combining my technology work, and working with people to figure out how to hack things to make things work for people who are deaf, or otherwise, kind of led to where I am today.Alex Whitaker  03:25Yeah, that's, that's really fascinating and further proof that

Alex and Amy talk with Montana CIO and co-chair of the new NASCIO Generative AI Working Group, Kevin Gilbertson. We talk about how he's discussing generative AI with his team, state agencies and other CIOs, the benefits, challenges and things to keep in mind. He also answers the age old question: Star Wars or Star Trek?

NASCIO Voices celebrates 100 episodes with special guests. Meredith Ward interviews Alex and Amy about the podcast and former co-host Matt Pincus returns to ask all of the lightening round questions! We also hear from a couple of loyal listeners.

Amy and Alex talk with new Maryland CIO Katie Savage about her background, her priorities in Maryland and how her Peace Corps Service influenced her thinking around user-centered design.

Amy and Alex discuss her recent Op-ed in GovTech about why every state needs a chief privacy officer. Amy also explains how the chief privacy officer community came about at NASCIO and how the role is evolving. Don't miss the lightening round  to hear what our favorite Taylor Swift album is and for Amy's favorite power tool for the minimalist builder.Op-ed: https://www.govtech.com/opinion/5-reasons-your-state-needs-a-chief-privacy-officer-nowSurvey: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/privacy-progressing-how-the-state-chief-privacy-officer-role-is-growing-and-evolving/

Alex and Amy talk with New York Chief Privacy Officer Michele Jones about her role in New York state government, why the role is important, why privacy is more important now than ever before and what she's working on right now. 

Amy and Alex sit down with NASCIO Corporate Leadership Counsel Chair and Vice Chair Stu Davis and Paul Baltzell to talk about their years as state CIOs in Ohio and Indiana and why they believe in being involved in NASCIO while on the corporate side. We also talked about what makes a good night out in Columbus and Indianapolis and what they wanted to be when they were kids.You can see Stu's favorite NASCIO moment at the end of this awards video from Mississippi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsGLho539PI&list=PL6c5-pFa0fmZlUDS0HWjnUlBOKwiGWA3G&index=8

What does the role of the chief operating officer to a governor look like? Alex and Amy talk with Brandon Gibson about her role as Governor Lee's COO, what she does and her close relationship with CIO Stephanie Dedmon. 

Alex and Amy talk with Emily Lane, NASCIO's Director of Experience & Engagement about the upcoming NASCIO Midyear Conference and what we can expect from a programming perspective. Learn what's new, what's returning and what we aren't doing again!