StateScoop Radio

Okta Public Sector CTO and former FBI executive Christine Halvorsen joins Okta Principal Solutions Engineer Pam Vanmeter in a new podcast discussion on how modern Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platforms help state and local agencies lower costs and improve customer experience and security. The podcast is hosted by Scoop News Group's Wyatt Kash and sponsored by Okta.

UC Riverside's Matt Gunkel at Next '24 by StateScoop

Covered CA's Karen Johnson at Next '24 by StateScoop

NJ CISO Michael Geraghty at Google Cloud Next '24 by StateScoop

Rich Lavers at Google Cloud Next '24

Amanda Stange at Google Cloud Next '24 by StateScoop

Abdullah Hammoud at Google Cloud Next '24 by StateScoop

On this week's Priorities podcast, two election experts — Ted Allen, a professor at Ohio State University, and Victoria Bassetti, senior adviser at States United Democracy Center — join us to discuss voting as we head into the 2024 election season. With the U.S. 2024 presidential election 8 months away, this episode addresses how state and local governments are preparing for the upcoming election in their states, including election security, voting administration and recent legislation that's had an impact on election officials and poll workers nationwide.

Cryptocurrency has ushered in a new way for consumers and businesses to transfer value. That's presenting new challenges — but also new opportunities — for state and local governments and law enforcement agencies, according to Kat Faley, director of state and local government at Chainalysis, a blockchain data and software service provider. “A lot of people think about crypto as this digital platform, which is certainly true. But we also know that there are almost 35,000 Bitcoin ATMs located in grocery stores and gas stations all across the United States—something that these agencies need to be staying ahead of,” says Faley. Guest: Kat Faley, director of state and local government, Chainalysis Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group This podcast was produced by Scoop News Group for StateScoop and underwritten by Chainalysis.

The State of Oklahoma and the City of Philadelphia are using key partnerships to simplify network architecture and lower operational costs, says Juniper Networks' practice leader for state and local government, Ben Caruso. He highlights how state and local agencies can continue to optimize and security for their expanded networks for their remote workforce. Guest: Ben Caruso, Practice Leader, State and Local Government, Juniper Networks Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

State and local government agencies are looking for more effective ways to deliver public services, including modernizing their IT systems to keep up with service demand. Many agencies, however, are still just starting their journeys to the cloud in earnest — assessing where to start, what's needed and what to expect. While managing large migrations to the cloud may seem like a daunting task, organizations can still realize quick gains by working with specialized cloud services firms and starting with a smaller workload. Guests: Brian Schoepfle, manager of partner solution architects at AWS (left) and Nic Perez, CTO for Cloud, ThunderCat Technologies Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group This podcast was produced by Scoop News Group for StateScoop and underwritten by ThunderCat Technologies, Amazon Web Services and DLT Solutions.

StateScoop's Priorities Podcast has a new home on Soundcloud. Follow the revamped show at: https://soundcloud.com/priorities_podcast/ and at www.prioritiespodcast.com __ On today's episode of the Priorities Podcast, the Pew Charitable Trusts are warning governors and legislators to be wary of an impending financial “cliff” after the recent influx of federal aid expires. statescoop.com/most-states-have-…-financial-cliff/ NASCIO's latest federal advocacy priorities are out, and state CIOs are looking for additional clarity from the federal government on state and local cyber grants. statescoop.com/nascios-federal-a…022-cyber-grants/ Nelson Moe, now recently-former Virginia CIO, explains what's next for him and his proudest accomplishments in the Commonwealth, and offers advice for his successor and state CIOs across the community. statescoop.com/longtime-virginia…nelson-moe-exits/ statescoop.com/virginia-gov-youn…phil-wittmer-cio/ Meghan Sullivan and Thomas Beck, both from Deloitte's Government and Public Services practice, offer their takes on NASCIO's list of top 10 priorities for 2022. The two highlight the changing landscape for cloud services, as well as the spotlights on what's ahead for state CIOs in the new year. StateScoop's Priorities Podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more: www.prioritiespodcast.com

Though the 2022 list of top priorities for state chief information officers looks similar that of 2021, state government remains in a time of great change as the coronavirus pandemic enters its third year, according to experts from Deloitte. Deloitte's Meghan Sullivan and Thomas Beck point specifically to the rise of multi-cloud as an emerging priority and focus for state governments. Using multiple cloud instances and providers has become essential for states to provide robust services for a workforce that remains at least partially remote. Guests: Meghan Sullivan, Principal, Deloitte Government and Public Services and Thomas Beck, Principal, Deloitte Consulting Host: Jake Williams, VP, Content & Community, StateScoop & EdScoop This podcast is produced by StateScoop and underwritten by Deloitte.

State and local governments have made “massive strides,” on their ability to deliver citizen services in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but there's still quite a bit of work to be done, according to Auth0's Salman Ladha. “I think we're moving in the right direction,” says Ladha. “Not only has identity and access management jumped in terms of its priorities, but also on the tools [agencies] are looking to implement.” Guest: Salman Ladha, Product Marketing Manager, Auth0 Host: Jake Williams, VP, Content & Community, StateScoop & EdScoop This podcast is produced by StateScoop and underwritten by Auth0.

The shift in the workforce landscape has made upgrading and improving network infrastructure a necessity. In a new podcast, Cisco and Presidio discuss how state and local agencies confront the digital divide across communities in the U.S. and ensure constituents can access resources with reliable broadband connectivity. Guests: Meghan Steele, Senior Director, U.S. Public Sector East, Cisco and Dan Lohrmann, Field CISO, Public Sector, Presidio Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

StateScoop editors Colin Wood and Benjamin Freed review some of the year's top trends.

As state government information technology leaders gathered for their first in-person conference since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, industry leaders say the moment offers government a “time for reflection and change.” On a new StateScoop podcast, underwritten by Tanium, Jennifer Axt and Gary Buonacorsi said the response to the pandemic has changed the way state CIOs are thinking, and will radically shift how they operate going forward. Guests: Jennifer Axt, VP, U.S. SLED, Tanium and Gary Buonacorsi, CTO, U.S. SLED, Tanium Host: Jake Williams, VP, Content & Community, StateScoop & EdScoop This podcast was produced by Scoop News Group and underwritten by Tanium.

NASCIO's Matt Pincus and New Jersey CISO Michael Geraghty break down the influx of federal funding for broadband and cybersecurity.

CIOs are constantly challenged to deliver more IT services, typically without added resources. One way they and their IT departments are overcoming that challenge is by deploying AI-powered observability and operations platforms, says Willie Hicks, public sector chief technology officer at Dynatrace. These newer generation platforms can vastly improve the ability for IT and security teams to identify application dependencies and resolve network performance issues, especially as they expand to the cloud, says Hicks. Guest: Willie Hicks, Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, Dynatrace Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group This podcast was produced by Scoop News Group and underwritten by Dynatrace.

On this episode of Priorities, StateScoop Technology Editor Benjamin Freed sits down with Arizona's Secretary of Homeland Security Tim Roemer to talk about the state's cybersecurity operation, and more.

State and local IT leaders have been investing in network modernization well before the COVID pandemic hit. But the surge in demands from the public, and the need to support employees working remotely, have added new urgency to those investment strategies. They've also demanded that greater attention be paid to enabling applications, says Anthony Battista, managing director of solutions architecture at Verizon. The pandemic forced public agencies to “change from a premises-based focus to an internet-based focus. When that happens, applications become more network dependent,” says Battista. “And when they're more network dependent, we find that there are four key pillars to focus on.” This podcast is produced by StateScoop and underwritten by Verizon.

GIS officials from Washington and Oregon discuss their work supporting wildfire response and recovery and murder hornet tracking.

Iowa CIO Annette Dunn and Utah CIO Alan Fuller discuss federal relief funding.

For many government agencies, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of digitizing citizen-facing services. With demand overwhelming agency networks, numerous federal and state agencies are turning to software-defined networks or managed broadband, to better integrate modern web applications. “As applications become much smarter, the networks that they depend on need to be more dynamic, redundant and secure,” says James Clevenger, director of sales and business development at Hughes. This podcast is sponsored by Hughes. Guest: James Clevenger, Director, Sales and Business Development, Hughes Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

Texas CIO Amanda Crawford and New Jersey CTO Christopher Rein discuss CRM efforts in their states.

Ryan Kudera, Wyoming's broadband manager, and Anna Read with the Pew Charitable Trusts, discuss current issues facing states and their broadband programs.

Identity architect Jeet Shah shares how a developer centric IAM solution is helping agencies speed up citizen application development with a seamless and secure user experience. “Citizens today expect efficient and effective online services from their government. Whether they're registering their vehicle or applying for a hunting permit, citizens want to engage with the government in a way that's similar to their other online experiences,” says Shah. That includes easier accessibility to services online — rather than standing in line — and more immediate interactions with their government servants. But it's not just citizens who would benefit. In the podcast interview, he details why streamlining IAM across applications would contribute to a reduction in overall operating costs, deliver services more efficiently and improve citizen engagement. Sponsored by Auth0. Guest: Jeet Shah, Public Sector Identity Architect, Auth0 Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

Utah's John Angus and California's Liana Bailey-Crimmins and Scott MacDonald talk cloud services.

The pandemic response resulted in state and local agencies making rapid changes to network systems so more government employees could access agency resources remotely. In many ways too, that laid the groundwork for organizations to bring more flexibility to how employees work in the future. Even as state and local government leaders lay out plans to return to the office, a recent Cisco survey found that government workers expressed interest in returning to a schedule that allowed working remotely three days a week — up from the more traditional one day a week, according to Cisco CTO Marc Moffett. That will mean a significant uptick in hybrid workforce demands and require CIOs and CISOs to further modernize their security approach, he explains in the podcast. Sponsored by Cisco. Guest: Marc Moffett, Senior Engineering Leader and CTO, U.S. Public Sector, Cisco Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

Kelly Taylor of the Colorado Digital Service and Guiseppe Morgana of the New Jersey Office of Innovation discuss how digital services are changing in state government.

On this episode, Jake sits down with Maryland's Julia Fischer and Montana's Erin Fashoway to talk about one year of the coronavirus pandemic. Music by Captive Portal Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

Nebraska CIO Ed Toner and Ohio CIO Ervan Rodgers review how to the pandemic has affected their IT modernization efforts.

Last year, Rush University’s Medical Center in Chicago began an ambitious data collection and analysis project — Data Comms — to move data of more than a million patients into a secure cloud environment and use AI-enabled, deep-learning medical research algorithms. This investment opened the door to a new level of data analysis, but lowering costs billed to IT operations with a scalable, on-demand cloud platform, says Casey Frankenberger, chief research informatics officer. This podcast was produced by EdScoop and sponsored by Microsoft. Guest: Casey Frankenberger, Chief Research Informatics Officer, Rush University Medical Center Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Higher Education” on www.edscoop.com/listen

Last year, modernization initiatives for state and local agencies could be largely categorized as fast, reactive decisions to keep operations running during the pandemic. However, today CIOs and CISOs need to take a step back to consider larger questions around the security implications of those decisions. Security advisor Wendy Nather says findings from a recent security survey can help organizations, regardless of their budget situations, identify which practices are likely to deliver the greatest security improvements. The Security Outcomes Study surveyed nearly 5,000 IT, security and privacy leaders from 25 countries, to gain a clearer picture about which practices correlate to statistically better outcomes for organization. This podcast was produced by StateScoop and sponsored by Duo Security. Guest: Wendy Nather, Head of Advisory CISOs, Cisco’s Duo Security Host:Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group” Add: Look for more coverage of “IT Security in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

West Virginia Chief Technology Officer Joshua Spence and Oklahoma Chief Information Security Officer Matt Singleton explain how they're managing risk and the role that data plays in setting their states' cybersecurity policies. This episode is sponsored by Alteryx.

A recurring security theme through the last year is that in the rush to support remote workers — and deploy cloud-based services — state and local agencies have become more vulnerable to security risks and instances of fraud. CIOs are being asked to implement more cloud-based services that will improve service delivery. However, the success of these programs will depend in part on the identity authentication solution that agencies put in place, according to cloud and identity expert Rob Forbes. “The minute money comes into play the risk of fraud goes up. People are going to start attempting to try and get services and resources they're not entitled to,” Forbes says. He discusses why it is critical to look at modern identity and access tools to help mitigate instances of fraud. Sponsored by Okta. Guest: Rob Forbes, Cloud Architect, Okta Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group”] Look for more coverage of “IT Security in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

On this episode of GIS Addressed, we sit down with NY GIO Frank Winters and Wyoming's Karen Rogers to talk about the role of GIS in the data & analytics discussion. Music by Captive Portal Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

On this episode, we sit down with the winners of the GoldenGov: County Executive of the Year category in the 2020 LocalSmart Awards. Take Me Higher, Fireworks and Magic Mountain by Jahzzr Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

On this episode, StateScoop sits down with the winners of the 2020 LocalSmart Local IT Innovation of the Year awards. Take Me Higher, Fireworks and Magic Mountain by Jahzzr Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

On this episode of the 2020 StateScoop 50 Miniseries Podcast, Ben sits down with the winners of the Industry Leadership award to talk about how they've worked with government on response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Magic Mountain, The Wrong Way, Fireworks and So Easy by Jahzzar are licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

In this episode, StateScoop sits down with the winners of the 2020 GoldenGov: City Executive of the Year LocalSmart award. Take Me Higher, Fireworks and Magic Mountain by Jahzzr Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

Texas CIO Amanda Crawford and North Dakota CIO Shawn Riley discuss state IT workforce challenges. StateScoop's Colin Wood is your host.

In this episode, Jake sits down with the winners of the Local Cybersecurity Leader of the Year Award in the 2020 LocalSmart Awards. Take Me Higher, Fireworks and Magic Mountain by Jahzzr Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

IT leaders in Sonoma County targeted key user groups to demonstrate the time-saving effectiveness of an e-signature solution and gain support for broader adoption. Following the strategic rollout of a digital e-signature tool, both citizens and employees are experiencing dramatically quicker processing and approval times. Jim McKenney and Carolyn Staats share how they implemented their winning strategy. Sponsored by AWS. Guests: Carolyn Staats, Director of Innovation, Information Systems Department, Sonoma County and Jim McKenney, Project Manager, Information Systems Department, Sonoma County Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

NASCIO's Doug Robinson and Meredith Ward look back on 2020 and forward to 2021. This episode is sponsored by Duo Security.

As the pandemic prolongs the need to enable a remote workforce, state and local governments must rethink how they secure access to resources wherever their employees are working. The need to pivot and refocus security strategies adds an important perspective to NASCIO’s 2020 list of top IT priorities that state CIOs were already addressing, including security, cloud and innovation through technology, says Palo Alto Networks' Matthew Schneider. “States have seen their networks go from a few hundred or thousand nodes, to 100,000 in a matter of weeks,” he says. Schneider explains how the shift from office cubicles to the home office has inverted security demands on the network in a new podcast. Sponsored by Palo Alto Networks. Guest: Matthew Schneider, VP of Sales for State, Local and Education Markets, Palo Alto Networks Host: Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Security in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

For this episode, Jake sits down with Frank Winters, Jenna Leveille and Karen Rogers to talk about 2020 in GIS, as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.

In this episode, Jake sits down with the winners of the 2002 Local IT Leader of the Year LocalSmart award. Take Me Higher, Fireworks and Magic Mountain by Jahzzr Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0

The COVID-19 pandemic — while throwing the nation into crisis — also served as an accelerator for agencies to modernize how they interact with constituents and deliver services. “Everybody started to be affected by not just the pandemic and the virus, but how technology and data, and their interaction with it, made them successful or not,” says technical advisor, Juliana Vida. “More and more [decisions are] reliant on data. Those that are making decisions, those are that are deciding where the resources go, if they aren't really comfortable with looking at data and making best use of it across the entire agency … they're really at a disadvantage,” she says. Vida discusses the growing interest in data analytics, dashboards and graphs and why organization leaders should use this interest to push faster into that “data age." Sponsored by Splunk. Guest: Juliana Vida, Chief Technical Adviser, Public Sector, Splunk (former Navy Deputy CIO) Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Security in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

State and local government IT officials have faced unprecedented challenges this year in trying to meet their constituents’ needs. As they expand digital service offerings, it is critical to invest in and modernize identity and access management solutions for citizens. Citizens expect access to services from any mobile device, says ForgeRock's Tommy Cathey. Moving away from traditional desktop browser authentication tools needs to be a top priority. Cathy discusses digital modernization frameworks that help agency CIOs align privacy and authentication strategies across services and improve fraud and identity verification. Sponsored by ForgeRock. Guest: Tommy Cathey, Regional VP, Public Sector Sales, ForgeRock Host: Wyatt Kash, SVP, Content Strategy, Scoop News Group Look for more coverage of “IT Modernization in Government” on www.statescoop.com/listen

In this episode, which Ryan Johnston guest hosts, we dive into broadband and wireless connectivity, and specifically what's going on in a COVID-19 world with municipal broadband.