Amy and Alex talk about Amy's experience last week hosting guests from the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship Program in Lexington on behalf of NASCIO and Alex gives an update on federal affairs. Plus we talk about all the major pop culture news of the last couple of weeks. 

Amy and Alex are joined by NASICO President and Texas state CIO Amanda Crawford to discuss her president's initiative around state IT procurement and the report that was released last week. NASCIO held a number of listening sessions between state and corporate members to learn about procurement pain points and how to to avoid them. 

See the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/2025-presidents-initiative-demystifying-state-technology-procurement/

Chris Rein stops by the NASCIO Voices podcast to talk about his initiatives in New Jersey. We talk about updating infrastructure, balancing innovation with AI and citizen concerns, his advice for new CIOs and he tells us the most "New Jersey" thing about himself.

Amy and Alex are joined by Georgia state CIO Shawnzia Thomas. We talk about her four years at GTA and how AI has changed the work of the organization during that time. We also talk about her other priorities in the state and her favorite thing to buy for $10.

Alex and Amy are joined by NCSL's Legislative Director Barrie Tabin to talk about the proposed federal 10-year moratorium on states regulating AI. We discuss why our two organizations are working together to oppose the proposal as well as our work around preserving the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. Plus we look ahead to some fun summer plans.

https://www.nascio.org/press-releases/nascio-statement-on-efforts-to-prevent-state-enforcement-of-ai-laws-for-ten-years/

Amy and Alex are joined by NASCIO policy analyst Kalea-Young Gibson to talk about her new report, Unlocking Potential: Empowering Re-entry Through Cybersecurity Training. The cybersecurity workforce gap is growing—and so is the urgency to find new solutions. In this episode, we explore an unexpected yet promising approach: training incarcerated individuals for careers in cybersecurity. With hundreds of thousands reentering society each year and many struggling to find stable employment, prison-based vocational programs could help fill critical roles, reduce recidivism, and diversify the field. In our lightening round we all talk about our favorite thing about NASCIO Midyear--and there's even a blooper at the end. 

Find the report here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/unlocking-potential-empowering-reentry-through-cybersecurity-training/

Goodbye to National Harbor, hello to Philadelphia. Alex and Amy are joined again by NASCIO's director of experience and engagement, Emily Lane to talk all about what we can expect at the NASCIO Midyear Conference coming up in Philadelphia. We talk about programming changes, a new city, themes and apps Emily just can't live without!

Today Alex fills us in on the recent hearing on the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the testimony from Utah CIO Alan Fuller and CT CIO Mark Raymond. We also talk about making our homes more energy efficient and the new publication coming out on privacy.

Find the recording and testimony here: https://homeland.house.gov/hearing/cybersecurity-is-local-too-assessing-the-state-and-local-cybersecurity-grant-program/

Today Alex and Amy are joined by Waldo Jaquith with US Digital Response to discuss a new joint publication on improving the RFP process with a simple summary sheet.

We also discuss the importance of user research and who would play us in a movie. 

See the report and summary sheet template here: https://www.nascio.org/resource-center/resources/improving-rfps-with-user-research-how-summary-sheets-can-improve-solicitations/

Alex and Amy talk with Bryan Zaczek who works as a principal data scientist with the state of Indiana's Management Performance Hub. Bryan walks us through the art of prompt engineering to get better answers from generative AI tools. We also talk about how we are using GenAI in our personal lives!