NASCIO Recognizes State Chief Information Security Officers with Jarrett Scholarship

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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has awarded the Thomas M. Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship to two exceptional state Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) for the 2016 Annual Conference in Orlando. This is the fourth year for the scholarship program, which was created to pay homage to Thomas M. Jarrett, past president of NASCIO (2004 – 2005), for his passion for cybersecurity. The scholarship grants current CISOs the opportunity to attend the NASCIO Annual Conference and contribute to the national dialogue on cybersecurity and related issues. 
The 2016 Thomas M. Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship recipients are Elayne Starkey, Chief Security Officer, State of Delaware (nominated by James Collins, Chief Information Officer, State of Delaware) and Joshua Spence, Chief Information Security Officer. State of West Virginia (nominated by Gale Given, Chief Technology Officer, State of West Virginia). 

State IT Leaders Adapting to Evolving Tech Environment, 2016 State CIO Survey Reveals

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State CIOs are becoming brokers of technology services rather than providers, as data center consolidation progresses and outsourcing of IT applications and services expands, according to new research released today at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Annual Conference.
The Adaptable State CIO, published jointly by NASCIO, Grant Thornton LLP and CompTIA, takes the pulse of how state CIOs are adapting to an evolving technology environment and rapid changes in innovation, business, security, privacy, and the workforce. 
“The results of our 2016 survey highlight the critical leadership role of the state CIO,” said Doug Robinson, Executive Director of NASCIO. “As shown in the survey topics, their portfolio is already diverse and new technology and business opportunities will require constant adaptation to serve the needs of state government.” 
“The state CIO must be increasingly agile as he or she navigates the shifting IT and business landscapes, as well as citizen expectations,” said Graeme Finley, managing director in Grant Thornton’s State and Local Public Sector practice. “The perspectives of these CIOs will be especially valuable to state governors, legislatures and business leaders as they work to strengthen and protect essential state IT services.”
The seventh annual survey reveals a continued reduction in state-owned-and-operated data centers and increased use of outsourcing. More than two-thirds of states now outsource at least some IT infrastructure operations. While outsourcing of operations is becoming increasingly common, continued movement toward some type of managed services model appears to be the norm for most states in future years—nearly two-thirds use a managed services model for some or all IT operations. 
Countering the outsourcing trend, however, is the finding that almost one in five CIOs expect certain operations that are currently outsourced will be brought back in-house. This may reflect lessons learned from first generation outsourcing experiences and evaluations of which operations and services are the best fit for outsourcing.

Workforce Challenges Persist 

State governments continue to face challenges in recruitment, development and retention of IT professionals as they compete with the private sector for talent. 

The 2016 survey finds that state CIOs are innovating and promoting the experiences available only in government that the private sector cannot offer, and it seems to be working. Promoting non-salary benefits and a call to public service are two of the most effective strategies. 

State CIOs also suggest that updating job titles and classifications and modernizing office culture with benefits such as flexible work schedules and telecommuting are changes that would positively impact the state IT workforce.
“With so many states setting the pace for innovation, driven by cloud-based solutions, mobile technologies and the Internet of Things, public service has much to offer prospective technology workers,” said Jennifer Saha, Director of State & Local Government and Education at CompTIA. “But state CIOs are wise to do some self-examination of the tactics and strategies they’re using to attract new talent. Practices that worked a few years ago when it was a buyer’s market for employment may no longer be as relevant in a tight labor market.”


Dealing with Data 

The overwhelming majority of state CIOs consider data governance and management to be a key element of their strategic agendas and operational plans. There has been significant progress in this area in the last several years. The overwhelming majority of respondents indicate their state is integrating or has an interest in the integration of data analytics to develop insights and inform policy decisions.

The complete report The Adaptable State CIO is available on the NASCIO website at www.nascio.org/2016StateCIOSurvey.

NASCIO Announces New Executive Committee Leadership

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Top state information technology leaders have been selected to serve as new program year Executive Committee for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO). The association is now led by Mark Raymond, Connecticut chief information officer and NASCIO president for the 2016-17 program year. Raymond succeeds New Mexico Secretary and Chief Information Officer, Darryl Ackley. 
NASCIO’s 2016-17 Executive Committee leaders are:

Executive Committee Officers:
President – Mark Raymond, Chief Information Officer, Connecticut
Vice President – Bo Reese, Chief Information Officer, Oklahoma
Secretary/Treasurer – Craig Orgeron, PhD, Chief Information Officer and Executive Director, Mississippi
Past President – Darryl Ackley, Secretary and Chief Information Officer, New Mexico
Executive Committee Directors:
Jason Allison, Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, Florida
Thomas Baden, Commissioner and Chief Information Officer, Minnesota
Ron Baldwin, Chief Information Officer, Montana
Stu Davis, State Chief Information Officer and Assistant Director, Ohio
Gale Given, Chief Technology Officer, West Virginia
Joanne Hale, PhD, Acting Secretary of Information Technology, Alabama
Mark Myers, Director and Chief Technology Officer, Arkansas

NASCIO Recognizes Outstanding Achievement in State Government

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Twelve exemplary initiatives were chosen as recipients for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ (NASCIO) 2016 Recognition Awards for outstanding achievement in information technology in state government.

Recipients were announced this evening during the NASCIO Annual Conference in Orlando. This marks the 28th consecutive year NASCIO has honored outstanding information technology achievements in the public sector through the awards program. Recipients were selected by the NASCIO Awards Committee from a field of more than 130 nominees.

“It has been a great privilege to co-chair the NASCIO Awards Committee,” said Delaware Chief Information Officer James Collins and Indiana Chief Information Officer Dewand Neely in a joint statement. “The recipients honored tonight, as well as all nominated projects, demonstrate the integral and transformative nature information technology can have on state government and the experiences of citizens.”    

The 2016 Award Recipients are:

Cross-Boundary Collaboration and Partnerships
State of Michigan, Medicaid as a Service

Cybersecurity
State of Michigan, Cyber Disruption Response Plan

Digital Government: Government to Business 
State of Florida, Clearinghouse for Health Care Applicant Screening 

Digital Government: Government to Citizen 
State of Georgia, Accessible Platform Initiative
State of Iowa, Iowa Administrative Rule Public Comment Site

Disaster Recovery/Security & Business Continuity Readiness
State of Connecticut, Innovation in Business Continuity – Colocation at Springfield Massachusetts Data Center

Emerging and Innovative Technologies
State of Arkansas, Gov2Go

Enterprise IT Management Initiatives
State of Wyoming, Wyoming Enterprise Extendable Code Cloud Library

Improving State Operations
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Informing and Enhancing the Work of the State Auditor to Drive Business Improvements across State Government

Information Communications Technology (ICT) Innovations
State of Ohio, Expanding Unified Communications Across Ohio: True Enterprise Collaboration

Open Government and Data, Information and Knowledge Management
State of Florida, Contract Accountability and Transparency

State CIO Office Special Recognition
State of Washington, Washington State Employer of Choice

NASCIO Issues Better Decisions, Better Government Through Effective Data Management

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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released the second in its series focused on data management. NASCIO has published briefs in the past on data governance, implications on data management within cloud services, records management, open data and analytics. This is a new series focused on the basics of data management. The first brief dealt with making the case for data management. This second in the series presents how to get started. 

Recognizing the importance of data management in state government, NASCIO established its Data Management Working Group under the auspices of the NASCIO Enterprise Architecture and Governance Committee. There is a reason for this positioning. Given NASCIO’s comprehensive definition of enterprise architecture, NASCIO places data management and data architecture in a critical and strategic position within the state government enterprise. 

“Data management is the foundational discipline for ongoing operations with state government. Data and information assets are essential to virtually every operation and every decision within state government. From analyzing health data to determine the effectiveness of programs to evaluating road conditions across the state,” said Stu Davis, chief information officer, state of Ohio, and chair of the NASCIO Data Management Working Group. “We have to get better at leveraging our state government data and information assets in decision making at both the strategic and operational levels.”

“The portfolio of data and information assets are growing and will continue to grow at an exponential rate,” said NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson. “We have to be able to manage what we have in state government and position ourselves to properly manage the current and anticipated growth in the generation of data from burgeoning technologies such as the Internet of Things.”

Read the brief at NASCIO.org/datamanagement.

NASCIO Recognizes Outstanding Achievements in State IT: Finalists Announced for 2016 NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards

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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has selected 37 IT initiatives in 11 categories as finalists for the State IT Recognition Awards. This year’s high quality of nominations shows that states continue to innovate and achieve great results.
 
The prestigious awards program, in its 28th consecutive year, honors outstanding information technology achievements in the public sector. Finalists have been named in each award category; the recipient in each category will be announced at the upcoming NASCIO Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida this September. Projects and initiatives from NASCIO member states, territories, and the District of Columbia were eligible for nomination. Finalists were selected by the NASCIO Awards Committee from a field of more than 130 nominees.
 
“Recognition Awards are determined by peer review,” said Dewand Neely, CIO for the state of Indiana and Award Committee co-chair. “Our volunteer judges undertake a difficult task in scoring nominations, but their review is what sets NASCIO awards apart from others in the field. Recognition from peers holds a special meaning.”
 
“The prestige of this awards program and its importance to the state IT community is confirmed by the large number of NASCIO members that submit nominations and give of their time as judges,” said James Collins, CIO for the state of Delaware and Awards Committee co-chair. “Though finalists and recipients are named, at its core, this program is about honoring the innovative and important work in state IT that often goes uncelebrated.”
 
To ensure states can access the innovations and best practices of their peers, details about all nominated projects are posted on NASCIO’s website, www.NASCIO.org. 
 
Awards finalists in the 2016 program are as follows:
 
Cross Boundary Collaboration and Partnerships
State of Connecticut: Connecticut State Gigabit Connections Enable Local Government Collaboration
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Delivering on the Promise of Digital Learning: Unprecedented Collaboration between State Government and Public Schools 
State of Michigan: Michigan Medicaid as a Service
 
Cybersecurity
State of Michigan: Michigan Cyber Disruption Response Plan
State of Texas: SPECTRIM: Statewide Portal for Enterprise Cybersecurity Threat, Risk and Incident Management 
Commonwealth of Virginia: Reducing Risk through Enterprise Data Identification
 
Digital Government: Government to Business
State of Florida: Clearinghouse for Health Care Applicant Screening
State of Mississippi: Mississippi Secretary of State Boss: Business One Stop Shop
State of Oregon: Oregon License Directory
State of Utah: State Construction Registry
State of Washington: Health Information Exchange
State of West Virginia: Public Defense Fraud Detection
 
Digital Government: Government to Citizen
State of California: UI Online
State of Georgia: Accessible Platform Initiative
State of Iowa: Iowa Administrative Rules Public Comment
State of West Virginia: DMV Self-Service Application 
 
Disaster Recovery/Security & Business Continuity Readiness 
State of Connecticut: Innovation in Business Continuity: Colocation at Springfield, MA Data Center
 
Emerging & Innovative Technologies 
State of Arkansas: Gov2Go-Arkansas' Citizen-Centric Government Service Delivery Platform
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Patient Safety Visual Analytics Reporting System
Commonwealth of Virginia: Virginia Unmanned Systems Commission
 
Enterprise IT Management Initiatives
State of North Dakota: North Dakota K-12 Identity Management Services Project
State of Ohio: Data Center Co-Location Service 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Securely Exchanging Data across the Private and Public Information Highway
State of Wyoming: Wyoming Enterprise Extendable Code Library
 
Improving State Operations
State of Arkansas: ClaimItAR.com Enables Arkansans to Receive 70% More Unclaimed Property
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Informing and Enhancing the Work of the State Auditor to Drive Business Improvements across State Government 
State of Michigan: MiLogin
Commonwealth of Virginia: BeneVets Automated Claim Application
 
Information Communications Technology Innovations
State of Michigan: Michigan Forest Inventory System (MiFl)
State of Ohio: Expanding Unified Communications Across Ohio: True Enterprise Collaboration
State of Wyoming: Wyoming Unified Network
 
Open Government Initiatives
State of California: CHHS Open Data
District of Columbia: 2015 Sensor Flight and Data Capture Project
State of Florida: Contract Accountability and Transparency
 
Special CIO Recognition Award
State of California: California Department of Technology CalCloud
State of Washington: Washington State Employer of Choice
State of Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin eGovernment Program
 

State Chief Information Officer Michael Cockrill, State of Washington, Profiled in NASCIO State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign

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Michael Cockrill, State Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director of Washington Technology Solutions (WaTech) is making a difference for the state of Washington by transforming citizens’ experiences with government and making Washington state government IT an employer of choice.  
Through August 5, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers will feature the work and accomplishments of Cockrill and WaTech in the State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign. Washington’s profile will specifically highlight the state’s efforts in privacy and cybersecurity and their workforce development initiatives to find and retain a cutting-edge technology workforce. 
“Our agency continues to make durable changes that help re-invent the everyday public service experience,” said Cockrill.  “Our goal is to simplify things for our customers by becoming easier to do business with while implementing continuous improvements in an ever-accelerating IT environment that demands rapid organizational responses.”  
To learn more about Cockrill and the work of WaTech, see the information sheet. Visit the campaign website at www.NASCIO.org/CIOsMakeaDifference and follow #StateCIOsRock for campaign highlights and updates.

State Chief Information Officer James Collins, State of Delaware, Profiled in NASCIO State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign

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State Chief Information Officer (CIO) James Collins is making a difference for Delaware by leading the Department of Technology and Information (DTI) in delivering innovative technology solutions that meet the needs of citizens and businesses.
Over the next two weeks, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers will feature the work and accomplishments of Collins and DTI in the State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign. Delaware’s profile will specifically highlight the state’s Broadband initiative, the Delaware Open Data Council and the collaborative way in which DTI is partnering with state agencies. 
“Improving the lives of Delawareans through advanced technologies that innovate government services is our vision,“ said Collins, chief information officer, State of Delaware. “This is the challenging, yet exciting, part of the job, as we are tasked with looking into the future to see where things are going, where we should be headed from a networking, infrastructure, application development perspective; and start moving in that direction.” 
To learn more about Collins and the work of DTI, see the information sheet. Visit the campaign website at www.NASCIO.org/CIOsMakeaDifference and follow #StateCIOsRock for campaign highlights and updates.

State Chief Information Officer David Behen, State of Michigan, Profiled in NASCIO State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign

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State Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) David Behen is making a difference for Michigan by leveraging technology to help residents more easily engage with their government.  
Over the next two weeks, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers will feature the work and accomplishments of Behen and DTMB in the State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign. Michigan’s profile will specifically highlight the state’s successes around MiPage, Michigan’s mobile app that serves as a hub for all government services and information, as well as the state’s commitment to cybersecurity. 
“In Michigan we’re committed to making a difference for our residents by providing better customer service, leveraging technology to help 10 million Michiganders interact with their government,” said Behen. “We’ve made great strides in taking government directly to the citizens, we call it citizen-centric government.” 
To learn more about Behen and the work of DTMB, see the information sheet. Visit the campaign website at www.NASCIO.org/CIOsMakeaDifference and follow #StateCIOsRock for campaign highlights and updates.

State Chief Information Officer Stu Davis, State of Ohio, Profiled in NASCIO State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign

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State Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Assistant Director of the Department of Administration Services (DAS) Stu Davis is making a difference for Ohio by driving savings and efficiencies and investing in citizen and business centric services.

Over the next two weeks, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers will feature the work and accomplishments of Davis and DAS in the State CIOs Make a Difference Campaign. Ohio’s profile will specifically highlight the state’s successes in IT optimization and what that foundation will allow Ohio to accomplish in the near future. 

“Collaboration was key to our success,” said Davis, chief information officer, state of Ohio. “We developed tactical plans with a group of over 100 state employees from IT, HR, fiscal, you name it, that became our IT Transformation Approach. This was our roadmap; we planned the work and worked the plan.”

To learn more about Davis and the work of DAS, see the information sheet. Visit the campaign website at www.NASCIO.org/CIOsMakeaDifference and follow #StateCIOsRock for campaign highlights and updates.