NASCIO Voices

Alex and Amy talk with Indiana State CIO Tracy Barnes about his whole of state approach to cybersecurity, visiting all the counties in Indiana, partnering with universities, identity and access management, workforce and more. 

Alex talks with Amy about the new NASCIO report she authored called Navigating the Metaverse: Potential Applications and Implications for State Government.  Then Amy gets some help from her 7-year-old daughter to explain what the metaverse actually is.  Report: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/ Episode on VR for social work job applicants: https://www.buzzsprout.com/704052/3605425 Pictures o...

Alex and Amy talk with Meredith Ward, NASCIO's director of policy and research, and Casey Dolan, senior policy analyst with the National Governor's Association. Meredith and Casey are co-author's on a new publication called Securing States: Modernizing to Attract and Retain Cyber Talent .  The publication is full of recommendations which come from a joint association roundtable held...

Alex and Amy chat with Mike Watson, chief information security officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia all about his background, the whole-of-state approach to cybersecurity, predicting costs for cyber incidents, baking cybersecurity into the procurement process, how VA is handling the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant program and the new technology that is his biggest cybersecurity concern the...

Alex and Amy sit down with colleagues Julie Ellis (NASCIO's digital communications coordinator) and Emily Lane (NASCIO's programming and brand director) to talk about all the ways NASCIO members (and non-members) can get involved with NASCIO via in-person events, virtual events, forums, committees, resources and more. We even save a little time at the end to learn some new things about e...

The Indiana Department of Information Technology realized that 70% of potential applicants weren't applying to jobs that mentioned a preference for a four-year degree even when one wasn't required. They decided to try something new. Jon Rogers, Director of Strategic Workforce Planning at the Indiana Office of Technology joins Amy and Alex to talk all about the State Earn and Learn Progra...

Alex Whitaker and Amy Glasscock talk with with Brandon Hirsch. Brandon has a unique role as Director of Government Relations for Minnesota  IT Services (MNIT) and he sits down with us to tell us all about it. Find out how and why MNIT has a trusting relationship with a key bipartisan group of legislators, what his biggest challenges and successes have been and why he and Alex are sometimes rivals...

Amy interviews Alex about NASCIO's 2023 Federal Advocacy Priorities. What has changed and what has stayed the same? Find out in our latest episode. You can find the list here: https://www.nascio.org/government-affairs/federal-advocacy-priorities/ 

Alex and Amy are talking with NASCIO's own program director for enterprise architecture and governance, Eric Sweden, on the NASCIO Top Ten policy and technology lists for 2023. Find out what issues and technologies are moving up, moving down and staying the same. Stay for Eric's beautiful holiday medley on the guitar! You can find the NASCIO Top Ten here: https://www.nascio.org/wp-conten...

Alex and Amy sit down for two interviews (and two lightening rounds!) on the customer experience. First with NASCIO award winner and chief experience officer for Maryland, Ashley Laymon who talks with us all about the work she's doing to improve the agency customer experience in the Maryland Department of Information Technology. Next we talk with Kunal Modi and Ashka Dave from McKinsey all ab...

Alex and Amy talk with new NASCIO President and Tennessee State CIO Stephanie Dedmon about her background, why she wanted to serve as NASCIO President, what she thinks are the most pressing issues for her colleagues, her plans for the program year, top priorities in TN and the best advice she's ever received. 

Amy and Alex are joined by Meredith Ward, NASCIO Director of Policy and Research and Srini Subramanian, Deloitte Principal, who are the co-authors of the new 2022 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity Study . Learn the big takeaways from the latest report, biggest surprises and trends. Stick around to find out how their knowledge of cybersecurity has influenced their personal lives and what music they hav...

Alex and Amy talk with CISA's Cameron Dixon about the dot gov domain, why it's important for governments to have it, recent updates to the program and how states can encourage local governments to adopt dot gov.  Here is a link to the blog post mentioned in the episode: https://home.dotgov.gov/updates/2022/9/14/making-infrastructure-less-invisible/

It's National Podcast Day! Amy talks with Alex about The State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program that came out earlier this month and what states need to know about it.  Resources: Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) (the full NOFO can be found under the "related documents" tab) SLCGP Overview SLCGP FAQs SLCGP Fact Sheet

The NASCIO 2022 Annual Conference in Louisville is right around the corner, and NASCIO's Program and Brand Director, Emily Lane is back to give us the full rundown of programming, the thinking behind branding this year, our giveback recipient (and give back drinks!) and more. Registration closes October 3, 2022.

Alex and Amy ask the NASCIO staff about their most frequently asked questions (and answers). Today we are talking about everything from how we choose conference speakers, what the average state IT spend is, how to post on our NASCIO community, how many states have cyber insurance and MORE! Here's the 2017 CLC video on what to expect at a NASCIO Conference that was mentioned in the podcast: ht...

Alex and Amy talk with FirstNet's Director of Legislative Affairs, Tom Shull about some of FirstNet's accomplishments over their first decade, some background on the platform,  what they are looking for in a new executive director and possible reauthorization from Congress. Learn more here:  https://www.firstnet.com/ Check out the FirstNet podcast here:  https://firstnet.gov/newsroom/pod...

Alex and Amy talk with New York state CIO Tony Riddick about how his time in Iraq and hurricane response in the Virgin Islands shaped his philosophy as a CIO, the new Joint Security Operations Center in Brooklyn, how New York is preparing for the cybersecurity grant, and what the new work from home expectation of employees means for New York state government.

Alex and Amy talk with Pokey Harris, Executive Director of the North Carolina 911 Board about North Carolina's next generation 911 project which won a NASCIO award in 2021. We hear all about why the change was needed, how it works, funding, lessons learned, and the power of a good group selfie! Project: https://it.nc.gov/about/boards-commissions/nc-911-board/next-generation-911 NASCIO Award S...

Alex and Amy talk with Karen Sorady, former NY state CISO and Vice President of Multi State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) Member Engagement at the Center for Internet Security. She talks all about the work MS-ISAC is doing and the publication she wrote recently on how states can prepare for the cybersecurity grant program. We also find out what she's reading this summer! Y...

Alex and Amy discuss NASCIO's new report all about the state chief privacy officer role, why states are continuing to put more of a focus on privacy, how the role is maturing, challenges and resources needed by state CPOs and NASCIO's three recommendations for states when structuring the chief privacy officer role. You can find the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/reso...

Alex and Amy talk with Ohio state CIO Katrina Flory about broadband, their recent NASCIO award, collaborating with agencies, top priorities and the best advice she's ever received.  You can see more about Ohio's award here: https://www.nascio.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/NASCIO-2021-Cybersecurity-OHID-Next.pdf

Alex and Amy talk with North Carolina state CIO Jim Weaver about how is state is expanding broadband for low-income North Carolinians, why Jim made privacy a priority in his state, how they are preparing for the cybersecurity grant program and his favorite vacation spot in North Carolina.

Alex and Amy talk with Nebraska state CIO Ed Toner about his emphasis on IT governance, recruiting from local colleges and universities, mentoring young technologists, streamlining how citizens access services, blogging and lobster fishing. You can find Ed's blog posts here: https://cio.nebraska.gov/blog/index.html

NASCIO's Midyear Conference is back in person! And NASCIO program and brand director Emily Lane is here to give us a preview of the programming, protocols and schedule for the four days of the conference. Still have questions? Check out our FAQs and other info at our event page: https://www.nascio.org/conferences-events/2022midyear/