Alex and Amy talk about NASCIO's recently released 2026 federal advocacy priorities--as well as our personal goals for the new year.

Find the priorities here: https://www.nascio.org/government-affairs/federal-advocacy-priorities/

Alex and Amy talk with NASCIO President and Arizona state CIO J.R. Sloan about his presidential initiative for 2026 and priorities in Arizona. He also tells us what he loves about living in Arizona.

Alex and Amy are joined by Eyal Darmon of Accenture to talk about our recent joint report. Specifically we are talking about how citizens and CIOs view the challenges of accessing state services--where they align and where they don't.

See the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/harnessing-genai-to-elevate-the-citizen-experience/

Alex and Amy are joined by NASCIO's Eric Sweden to hear all about the NASCIO Top Ten lists for 2026. There's a big change to the #1 spot this year! We also get some historic perspective on the top issues and technologies, and as always get to hear Eric play the guitar!

https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/state-cio-top-ten-policy-and-technology-priorities-for-2026/

Today Amy and Alex talk about the issues that dominated NASCIO this year from AI and EA to procurement and accessibility. Plus we share what was on our Spotify Wrapped lists and our musical ages.

Alex and Amy are joined by NASCIO's program director for enterprise architecture and governace Eric Sweden to discuss the 2025 State CIO Survey sections on data management and cloud services. We also talk Thanksgiving food!

Read the State CIO Survey here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/the-2024-state-cio-survey/

Alex and Amy are joined by NASCIO Policy Analyst Kalea Young-Gibson to talk about IT Accessibility making it into the State CIO Survey for the first time and what is driving this issue as a priority for states. We also discuss the foundational ways states are collaborating with local goverments.

Alex and Amy discuss findings from the 2025 State CIO Survey on how states use and governance of generative artificial intelligence has evolved since the 2024 survey.