James Grant, Florida CIO

We’ve made incredible progress going from zero state agencies ever collaborating on cybersecurity to over 35 integrated into the CSOC. The Local Government Cybersecurity Grant Program has been one of the first big tests for the current team, and the response — 100-plus applications in the first month — has been remarkable. With that infrastructure in place, we’re in a position to really scale to the next level. That means adding more entities to our statewide operations, providing more capabilities to existing partners and continuing to build the data catalog so we know what we’re protecting. The executive and legislative branches have always been supportive, and what we’ve accomplished has proved the return on that investment. It’s set us up for a successful legislative session, and the proposals so far have reflected that trust and recognition of how important our mission is.