NASCIO Announces Association Leadership for Coming Year

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Tuesday, October 27 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) announced the association’s executive leadership for the new program year. All officers will continue for a second term: Denis Goulet, Commissioner and CIO for the State of New Hampshire, will remain NASCIO President; Mike Hussey, CIO for the State of Utah will remain Vice President; and Michael Leahy, Secretary of Information Technology for the State of Maryland, will remain Secretary/Treasurer. Additionally, Ohio CIO Ervan Rodgers and Vermont CIO John Quinn will also be joining NASCIO’s Executive Committee as new directors.

Rick Webb, Senior Advisor with Accenture, and Ron Baldwin, Specialist Executive with Deloitte, will continue in their roles as NASCIO Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) Chair and Vice Chair. CLC members promote information sharing among public and private-sector members, providing expertise to NASCIO issue focus areas and supporting projects. The CLC Chair and Vice Chair hold advisory, non-voting seats on NASCIO’s Executive Committee.

NASCIO’s 2020-21 Executive Committee leaders are:

President
Denis Goulet, Commissioner and CIO, State of New Hampshire

Vice-President
Mike Hussey, CIO, State of Utah

Secretary/Treasurer
Michael Leahy, Secretary of Information Technology, State of Maryland

Executive Committee Directors:
Stephanie Dedmon, CIO, State of Tennessee
Yessica Jones, CTO, State of Arkansas
John MacMillan, CIO, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Nelson Moe, CIO, Commonwealth of Virginia
Ervan Rodgers, CIO, State of Ohio
John Quinn, CIO, State of Vermont
James Weaver, CIO, State of Washington
Greg Zickau, CIO, State of Idaho

Rick Webb, ex officio
Ron Baldwin, ex officio

NASCIO Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO Honors Former Delaware CIO James Collins with Meritorious Service Award

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, October 22 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) recognized James Collins, past NASCIO president and former chief information officer (CIO) for the State of Delaware, with the association’s Meritorious Service Award. NASCIO created the Meritorious Service Award several years ago, honoring leadership in state government and dedication to the advancement of NASCIO’s mission.

NASCIO Past President and Connecticut CIO, Mark Raymond, nominated James for this award saying, “James was an active and highly engaged member since his appointment as state CIO in Delaware. He was always willing to give his time and expertise to the association as well as to his fellow CIOs and the broader NASCIO community. In his role as president and past-president, James represented NASCIO’s mission and advocacy priorities through meetings with state and federal leaders, congressional staff and federal agencies.”

In recognizing his service to the State of Delaware, Delaware Governor John Carney made this statement: “James has been a central member of our team since day one when I asked him to continue to lead DTI and Delaware’s transition to a more digital government. But his work and expertise has never been more important than over the last six months – as we have battled this COVID-19 pandemic. James and his team have kept state workers connected throughout this crisis, making sure they could continue to deliver vital services to Delaware families. He has worked with the private sector to expand high-speed broadband service across rural Delaware and to protect Delawareans from cyber threats.”

James is a veteran of the United States Air Force and served the State of Delaware for nearly 20 years the past six years as chief information officer and head of the Department of Technology and Innovation. James served on NASCIO’s Executive Committee from 2016 to 2020, holding the leadership positions of vice president, president and immediate past president. He also served as co-chair of the NASCIO Awards Committee and Chair of the NASCIO Programs Committee.

NASCIO Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO and EY Study Highlights Need for Emerging Technology Governance

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, October 15 — Today the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and Ernst & Young LLP (EY) released How Will the Power of Emerging Technology Help Reframe Your Future? The publication focuses on emerging technology governance, and includes survey data and quotes collected from state chief information officers (CIOs) and addresses challenges that states face when integrating emerging technology into their information technology infrastructure and digital transformation efforts.

Data collected in the survey shows that:

  • State CIOs ranked citizen-facing digital services as the area where emerging technology will make the most measurable impact in states.
  • Budget was identified as the top challenge or barrier to adoption of emerging technologies.
  • State CIOs are somewhat confident in engaging emerging-technology projects and managing risk.
  • Nearly half of states have an effective governance model in place or were developing one, and the other half of states do not have a mechanism for monitoring the review, adoption and deployment of emerging technologies.
  • Nearly two-thirds of states do not have policies or procedures in place regarding the use of emerging technology within their organizations.

“This publication clearly demonstrates that there is a desire and sound business cases for the use of emerging technology,” said Denis Goulet, NASCIO President and Commissioner and CIO for the State of New Hampshire. “As COVID-19 has demonstrated, states are using these technologies to aid in delivering services to citizens during the pandemic and beyond.”

Chris Estes, US State & Local Technology Leader with Ernst & Young LLP and former CIO for the State of North Carolina, said, “The definitions and parameters surrounding emerging technology have changed so much in a few short years. Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to governance and adoption, emerging technologies have the potential to continue to be very beneficial to the operations of state government.”

Finally, the publication includes several recommendations for state CIOs on adopting emerging technology, including making it a part of the state’s enterprise architecture, intelligent design, funding, acquisition and governance.

The full publication can be found on NASCIO’s website, www.NASCIO.org/resource-center.

NASCIO Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO Honors Three Public Servants with State Technology Innovator Award

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, October 15 —The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) presented the State Technology Innovator Award to three deserving public servants during the 2020 NASCIO Virtual Annual Conference. The NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award honors outstanding state government employees who have made contributions to advance state technology policy through the promotion of best practices, adoption of new technologies and advancements in service delivery. Nominations were gathered from NASCIO members as well as non-members and selected by the NASCIO Executive Committee.

The following are the recipients of the 2020 NASCIO State Technology Innovator Award:

Everton Heron
Information Systems Technology Manager, TennCare, Tennessee

Leveraging 20+ years of experience in implementing and integrating technical solutions, Everton has played a key role in ushering TennCare into an era of exciting new capabilities. Leading 65+ vendor relationships and 30+ TennCare employees, Everton acts as the bridge between the TennCare compliance and technology organizations. His vision has streamlined redundant approvals and shortened compliance processes that once took four weeks to three days, making for efficient, customer-centric service for 1.7 million members. His work on the Tennessee Eligibility Determination System, which leverages cutting-edge cloud computing and automation, provided Tennesseans with increased access and ownership of their healthcare. Everton led the migration of Tennessee’s data and applications to the cloud, minimizing costs and maximizing security. Additionally, his expertise of state regulations and cloud computing created an alliance among state agencies and supporting vendors for other state programs.

Kierston Howard
Deputy Director, Dept of Labor and Employment, Colorado

When COVID-19 hit Colorado, the Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) experienced an enormous surge in unemployment claims, taxing their systems, call centers, and unemployent insurance teams. Kierston Howard, Deputy Director of Unemployment Insurance, realized there was a shortage of people to tackle the amount of claims coming in. She acted quickly and turned to technology to help triage all the requests and get citizens access to the information they needed to resolve their unemployment claim issues. Kierston leveraged the power of artificial intelligence launching a virtual agent to offload calls from CDLE’s taxed call center and triage the most frequent questions and requests from claimants. Since the launch in July, there have been more than 350,000 virtual agent sessions with less than 15% of sessions resulting in requested callbacks. Citizens no longer receive busy signals when calling in for help and are getting access to representatives who can assist them with their claims.

Douglas Smith
Chief Information Officer, Dept of Legal Affairs, Office of the Attorney General, Florida

Douglas Smith, Chief Information Officer for the Florida Office of Attorney General, led the effort to onboard an innovative approach for modernizing the entire IT application portfolio using cloud-based technologies. Mr. Smith’s efforts to modernize the enterprise content management back-office applications as well as the case management and customer relationship management systems, will bring expedited access to critical legal case data and greatly improve the efficiencies for state agency interactions in the handling of cases. The Florida Attorney General’s Office is the first major entity to modernize its entire portfolio in the state of Florida.

NASCIO Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

2020 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity Study Highlights Imperatives for State Governments

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Continued need for cross-boundary collaboration and increased modernization and digital government services brought to light by COVID-19

LEXINGTON, Ky., Oct. 14, 2020 — Today Deloitte and The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released their 2020 Cybersecurity Study, “States at Risk: The Cybersecurity Imperative in Uncertain Times.” The national study is based on responses from 51 U.S. state and territory enterprise-level chief information security officers (CISOs). This is the 10th year of this study and the sixth iteration, with a record number of state and territory CISO’s participating this year.

The key themes in this year’s study are:

  • COVID-19 has challenged continuity and amplified gaps in budget, talent and threats, and the need for partnerships.
  • Collaboration with local governments and public higher education is critical to managing increasingly complex cyber risk within state borders.
  • CISOs need a centralized structure to position cyber in a way that improves agility, effectiveness and efficiencies.

The report also details focus areas for states during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has highlighted the resilience of public sector cyber leaders, it has also called attention to long-standing challenges facing state IT and cybersecurity organizations such as securing adequate budgets and talent; and coordinating consistent security implementation across agencies.

These challenges were exacerbated by the abrupt shift to remote work spurred by the pandemic. According to the study:

  • Before the pandemic, 52% of respondents said less than 5% of staff worked remotely.
  • During the pandemic, 35 states have had more than half of employees working remotely; nine states have had more than 90% remote workers.

“The last six months have created new opportunities for cyber threats and amplified existing cybersecurity challenges for state governments,” said Meredith Ward, director of policy and research at NASCIO. “The budget and talent challenges experienced in recent years have only grown, and CISOs are now also faced with an acceleration of strategic initiatives to address threats associated with the pandemic.”

“The pandemic forced state governments to act quickly, not just in terms of public health and safety, but also with regard to cybersecurity,” said Srini Subramanian, principal, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and state and local government advisory leader. “However, continuing challenges with resources beset state CISOs/CIOs. This is evident when comparing the much higher levels of budget that federal agencies and other industries like financial services receive to fight cyber threats.”

State governments’ longstanding need for digital modernization has only been amplified by the pandemic, along with the essential role that cybersecurity needs to play in the discussion. Key takeaways from the 2020 study include:

  • Fewer than 40% of states reported having a dedicated budget line item for cybersecurity.
  • Half of states still allocate less than 3% of their total information technology budget on cybersecurity.
  • CISOs identified financial fraud as three times greater of a threat as they did in 2018.
  • Overall, respondents said they believe the probability of a security breach is higher in the next 12 months, compared to responses to the same question in the 2018 study.
  • Only 27% of states provide cybersecurity training to local governments and public education entities.
  • Only 28% of states reported that they had collaborated extensively with local governments as part of their state’s security program during the past year, with 65% reporting limited collaboration.

The 2020 study also revisits the three “bold plays” of the “2018 Deloitte–NASCIO Cybersecurity Study,” covering funding, innovation and collaboration, to assess progress on these strategic issues. While CISOs have made progress in the intervening years, more is needed.

The study is based on responses from U.S. state and territory enterprise-level CISOs. CISO participants answered 56 questions designed to characterize the enterprise-level strategy, governance and operation of security programs. The study can be viewed on NASCIO’s website, www.NASCIO.org.

 

Deloitte Contact
Austin Price
Public Relations
Deloitte Services LP
+1 571 429 0142
[email protected]

NASCIO Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO Honors Utah State CISO Phil Bates

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LEXINGTON Ky., Wednesday, October 14 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has named Utah CISO Phil Bates as the recipient of the 2020 Thomas M. Jarrett State Cybersecurity Leadership Award. This is the eighth year for the program, which was created to pay homage to Thomas M. Jarrett, past president of NASCIO (2004 – 2005), for his passion for cybersecurity. The award honors state chief information security officers (CISOs) for exceptional accomplishments in their field. This award evolved from the Thomas M Jarrett Cybersecurity Scholarship, being renamed in 2020 to reflect the vital role state CISOs hold in state cybersecurity efforts and their deeper involvement with NASCIO.

Phil was nominated by Utah CIO Mike Hussey and has served as the CISO for the State of Utah since 2015. During his tenure he has implemented many programs and initiatives aimed at improving Utah’s cybersecurity posture. Most notably, in 2016, Phil pushed to create the Utah Cyber Center which consolidated state, federal and local resources into a single location, significantly improving coordination between all of these groups. The Utah Cyber Center has played an important role in helping Utah cities and counties respond to several recent ransomware attacks.

Phil also implemented a state-of-the-art multi-factor authentication system for UtahID, Utah’s single sign-on service covering over 950 applications and services statewide; a statewide network segmentation program; an enterprise risk management solution; and has worked to improve Utah’s federal cybersecurity audits. Phil also oversees a robust state cybersecurity awareness program and is currently working on incorporating additional artificial intelligence into Utah’s cybersecurity activities.

Before assuming the role of state CISO, Phil was the IT Director for the Utah Department of Public Safety, where he also made an impact on information security in Utah and nationally, having been part of the effort that created the Utah Statewide Cyber Intelligence Network.

Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

State CIOs Resilient as COVID-19 Impacts Government Operations in 2020

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Oct. 13, 2020, Washington, D.C. — In the face of a pandemic that was affecting almost every aspect of life for citizens, businesses and governments, state chief information officers (CIOs) acted and adjusted with stability, resiliency and flexibility, according to the 2020 State CIO Survey, The Agile State CIO: Leading in a Time of Uncertainty. The report examines the critical issues related to COVID-19 and other challenges facing state CIOs such as state and local collaboration, broadband, digital government, disaster recovery and privacy. The CIO survey, which has been published annually for the last 11 years, includes responses from 47 state and territory CIOs and was released by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), Grant Thornton LLC and CompTIA.

“State CIOs have certainly faced new challenges in 2020,” NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson commented. “Their experiences will inform how state IT operates—from changing business models to digital government to disaster recovery and business continuity—for the near and long term.”

“As the pandemic accelerated in the United States, State CIOs quickly realized they would become the lynchpin not only for facilitating increased remote citizen services, but also for the core responsibility of allowing state employees to continue to work and collaborate remotely,” said Graeme Finley, principal at Grant Thornton

“The role of the state CIO has never been more vital to how government agencies deliver services to their constituents,” added Jordan Kroll, Director of Public Sector at CompTIA. “COVID-19 also has changed how governments work with more and more agencies deploying remote working programs to keep operations running and staff safe.”

The 2020 State CIO Survey also highlights CIO organization business models and the adoption of cloud and emerging technologies within state government. The complete report, The Agile State CIO: Leading in a time of uncertainty, is available on the NASCIO website (www.NASCIO.org).

Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

Jennifer Kerber
Grant Thornton LLC
703.635.3037
[email protected]

Roger Hughlett
CompTIA,
202.503.3644
[email protected]

NASCIO Announces Recipients for 2020 NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Tuesday, October 13, 2020 —The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) has announced recipients for the 2020 NASCIO State IT Recognition Awards. This year 90 submissions were received from NASCIO member states and territories and over 60 NASCIO members served as volunteer judges.

The award nominations showcase the use of information technology to address critical business problems, more easily connect citizens to their government, improve business processes and create new opportunities that improve the lives of citizens. To ensure states have access to the innovations and leading practices of their peers, all award submissions have been added to NASCIO’s Awards Library.

NASCIO Awards Committee co-chairs, Nelson Moe, Chief Information Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Ervan Rodgers, Chief Information Officer and Assistant Director for the State of Ohio, praised the recipients and all states who submitted a project: “we congratulate all of the recipients of this year’s awards and are delighted to recognize them with this high honor.”

Award recipients for the 2020 State IT Recognition Awards are:

Business Process Innovations
State of North Carolina: Modernizing Environmental Mapping with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Cross-Boundary Collaboration & Partnerships
Commonwealth of Virginia: Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT)

Cybersecurity
State of Georgia: Who Let the “Cyber Dawg” Out? A Live-Action Cybersecurity Exercise

Data Management, Analytics & Visualization
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Maintenance-IQ – Empowering PennDOT Professionals with Data Visualization

Digital Services: Government to Business
State of Colorado: MyBizColorado

Digital Services: Government to Citizen
State of Colorado: myColorado

Emerging & Innovative Technologies
State of Indiana: Management Performance Hub, Enhanced Research Environment

Enterprise IT Management Initiatives
Commonwealth of Virginia: Pioneering a New Method of State IT Services Delivery

Information Communications Technology (ICT) Innovations
State of Maryland: Maryland First: First Responders Interoperability Radio System Team

State CIO Office Special Recognition
State of Washington: Paid Family & Medical Leave

To review these and other submissions, please visit NASCIO’s Awards Library: www.NASCIO.org/awards.

Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO Observes Electronic Records Day

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Friday, October 9 — Today, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is observing Electronic Records Day, sponsored by the Council of State Archivists (CoSA). Electronic Records Day is celebrated every year in October as an opportunity to share what states and organizations are doing to manage digital resources and preserve electronic records.

In recognition of Electronic Records Day, CoSA has promoted electronic records awareness leading up to October 9 to raise community awareness of digital records, and of the need to manage and preserve them. CoSA reminds us that electronic records need regular attention and care in order to remain accessible. Join NASCIO and CoSA in raising awareness of digital records and the importance of their preservation.

See CoSA’s Electronic Records Day resource page for more information and tips on managing e-records.

Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209

NASCIO Champions National Cyber Security Awareness Month

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LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, October 1—The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is once again observing National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) by being an official cybersecurity champion. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the National Cyber Security Alliance are promoting cyber security awareness, safety and security online.  NASCIO is continuing its partnership with these organizations to officially show support and promote a safer, more secure and trusted Internet.

This year, the NCSAM theme is “do your part. Be cyber smart.” According to the NCSAM website, the theme “empowers individuals and organizations to own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace, with a particular emphasis on the key message for 2020: ‘If you connect it, protect it.’  If everyone does their part – implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable audiences or training employees – our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for everyone.”

“While responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, state governments are seeing increased cyber threats and attacks. Greater awareness is critical. NASCIO applauds those states who have issued proclamations to recognize October as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month and calls on everyone to commit their support to helping raise awareness about the importance of securing cyberspace,” said NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson.

To learn more about how to participate in National Cyber Security Awareness Month, please visit  www.staysafeonline.org.


Contact
Meredith Ward
Director of Policy and Research
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
859.514.9209