State CIO group reaffirms members are drivers of innovation

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers, the group representing state governments’ top technology officials, this week updated its strategic plan, reaffirming a commitment to supporting the state CIO position as “the technology leader who drives business innovation and transformation.”

Arizona CIO J.R. Sloan, the current NASCIO president, acknowledged in a press release that this year’s changes are “minimal,” but important for emphasizing CIOs as “strategic business” leaders: “Today’s state CIO is balancing many things and it’s NASCIO’s mission to help them as they prepare for the future. We look forward to continuing that mission.”

A colorful new 2-page PDF describes the group’s vision as: “Government in which the public is fully served through business innovation and the optimal use of technology,” and includes a mission of: “Advancing government excellence through trusted collaboration, partnerships and technology leadership.” Guiding principles — “be nonpartisan,” “focus on multijurisdictional issues,” etc. — are followed by three goals: for NASCIO to serve as a “trusted resource” to state technology leaders, to advance state CIOs as “key state leaders” and to serve as a “national leader and advocate for government technology policy.”

NASCIO in January refreshed its federal advocacy priorities, focusing this year on a federal AI policy that respects state autonomy, reauthorization of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, support for broader adoption of the .gov top-level domain on government websites and a streamlining of the many redundant or conflicting federal cybersecurity standards that states must follow. These were much the same as the previous year, though it swapped out advocacy for policies that would bolster states’ cybersecurity workforces (which is still an unofficial priority, NASCIO organizers said), for a call to reauthorize FirstNet, the government public safety communications network operated by AT&T.

NASCIO updates its strategic plan every two years. In 2024, it changed its mission statement for the first time in two decades, in part to emphasize the CIO’s role in leading “trusted collaboration” and “partnerships,” where previously the mission only mentioned technology leadership. Doug Robinson, NASCIO’s executive director, explained around that time that the new wording was more “reflective of the current environment and the future.”