Announcing the winners of the 2026 StateScoop 50 Awards

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Dave Cole has served as New Jersey’s Chief Innovation Officer for two years. Despite New Jersey’s gubernatorial transition in 2026, he was asked to stay on in Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s new Cabinet. Cole ensured the first-in-the-nation codification in law of a state-cabinet-level innovation team in January 2026.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Ohio Chief Information Officer Katrina Flory actively spearheads statewide technology transformation by prioritizing digital equity, user experience, and robust system modernization. Under her leadership, the state has dramatically reduced its number of unserved broadband locations.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

New York State Executive Deputy CIO Jenson Jacob has transformed New York state government IT over a career spanning 15 years of service to New Yorkers. Jacob began with the Information Technology Services agency as an Enterprise Architect and worked at all levels until being appointed Executive Deputy CIO in 2025. As Executive Deputy CIO he has led transformative change to the operating model of ITS and delivering improved service to both state employees and all New Yorkers who rely on an immense variety of critical state services.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Henry Lofton, Deputy CTO for Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, is a visionary leader in infrastructure and digital equity. In 2025-2026, Lofton pioneered DC’s “Humans in the Loop” AI governance, launching mandatory District-wide Responsible AI training to ensure ethical innovation.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Marcus Thornton leads the Virginia Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA). This group is charged with assisting other Commonwealth of Virginia agencies with their data governance, data management, and data sharing. Thornton has overseen the implementation of a data governance program for the Commonwealth which includes data governance role-based training and a resource library for agencies to improve their data governance policies and practices.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Texas Chief Information Officer Tony Sauerhoff drives statewide initiatives aimed at fortifying digital architecture against sophisticated threats while maintaining strict technology governance models. Additionally, Sauerhoff frequently collaborates with state and national technology associations to ensure that Texas’s technical roadmaps directly align with modern, long-term public sector innovations.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

In Rhode Island, Chief Information Officer Brian Tardiff is leading a complete digital evolution of the state’s technology footprint by focusing deeply on data analytics and data-driven executive reporting. Utilizing his robust cybersecurity background, he continuously champions enterprise risk mitigation frameworks to reduce technical vulnerabilities across more than a dozen state departments.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Under Terrence Woods’ leadership as Oregon’s State CIO, the state  is moving decisively from legacy to modern, secure, customer-centered services. Woods’ steady, collaborative leadership turns strategy into action, builds trust across agencies, and accelerates transformation that improves how technology serves Oregonians.

State Leadership of the Year

As Oregon’s Chief Privacy Officer and AI Strategist, Nik Blosser is translating vision into statewide practice. He spearheaded the state’s first enterprise privacy guidance and is driving enterprise AI governance. His approach pairs innovation with security and data-classification guidelines, helping agencies implement new technologies quickly and safely.

State Leadership of the Year

Under Washington, D.C. CISO Suneel Cherukuri’s leadership, the District of Columbia has been modernizing remote employee access and accelerating cloud adoption to improve both user experience and security. Cherukuri has led the development of a strategy for the city that involves a combination of traditional cybersecurity and automation, as well as focusing on the risk management framework and city employee education.

State Leadership of the Year

Jenel Ferrell was the connective tissue behind Minnesota’s Paid Leave technology launch — the person who made sure the right people were in the room, blockers got cleared, and the project kept moving forward. As Program Manager at the Minnesota IT Services (MNIT), Ferrell was the go-to fixer for all things IT. She brought a rare combination of technical fluency and people-first leadership, crafting a “one badgeless team” approach that united state employees, vendors, and multiple agencies under a shared mission: dissolving the silos that so often derail complex government projects.

State Leadership of the Year

Troy Horton is a transformative technology leader who bridges advanced data science with frontline government operations. As Group CIO for Health and Human Services in Illinois, he led the Case Error Reduction (CER) initiative, using Machine Learning to strengthen the integrity of the SNAP program. Under his leadership, Illinois shifted from a reactive audit approach to a proactive model that identifies high-risk cases before payments are issued.

State Leadership of the Year

Tim Marczewski, the chief of AI for the State of Missouri, has ushered and progressed the use of AI into the state to improve citizen outcomes and drive operational efficiencies across the 17 agencies in government. Marczewski’s military rigor and work ethic has enabled him to create AI use policies and governance, rapidly expanding access to these platforms to thousands of state employees and returning 7-figure ROIs.

State Leadership of the Year

Vitaliy Panych, state CISO of California,  is responsible for the security of more than 140 state departments and protecting upwards of 400 million malicious probes daily, Panych has successfully moved California beyond traditional security boundaries. Through the creation of the Cal-Secure roadmap and the Information Security Leadership Academy, he has not only fortified technical infrastructure but fundamentally matured the state’s cybersecurity culture and workforce.

State Leadership of the Year

Chris Wooten has led the technical team for the Virginia Office of Data Governance and Analytics for several projects benefiting the Commonwealth. During the previous administration, he led the team to create the Virginia Permit Transparency Dashboards, which was an effort to bring more transparency to the permitting process in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Most recently, Wooten has led the technical team to partner with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority in the creation of the Substance Use Disorder Analytics (SUDA) Platform, which brings together substance use related data for Commonwealth leadership to make data driven decisions to combat the opioid crisis in Virginia communities.

State IT Innovation of the Year

The Indiana Secretary of State’s  Notary Education Learning Management System has had a meaningful impact on the government IT community by demonstrating how modern cloud platforms and responsible use of artificial intelligence can improve public services. Serving more than 50,000 notaries, the platform replaced fragmented legacy systems with a secure, AI-enabled learning environment that improves accessibility, engagement, and compliance while reducing administrative burden.

State IT Innovation of the Year

The New Hampshire Liquor Commission Division of Enforcement & Licensing modernized its enforcement and regulatory operations by replacing a legacy records management system with a secure, cloud-native platform through a collaborative partnership with System Automation and implementation of the “Evoke” platform.

State IT Innovation of the Year

For more than four decades, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) relied on the Revenue Information System (RIS), a legacy COBOL/ADABAS mainframe that required manual, paper-based workflows and lacked modern digital service capabilities. As expectations for online government services grew, the system became a barrier to innovation and efficient service delivery. To address this challenge, WYDOT launched the MAX Project in August 2023 to modernize Driver Services statewide.

State IT Innovation of the Year

Virginia’s Substance Use Disorder Analytics (SUDA) platform exists to create a one-stop-shop look at opioid use in the Commonwealth to assist leaders as they work to combat the opioid crisis. SUDA enables health and safety leaders, public administrators, and policymakers to respond swiftly and effectively to substance use challenges.

Industry Leadership of the Year

Claire Bailey has made a lasting, nationwide impact on the state cyber and IT community through more than four decades of leadership in modernization, cybersecurity, and citizen service. A trailblazer and cabinet official for two Arkansas governors, she delivered foundational digital government advancements as CTO, including the first digital drivers’ licenses, online services connecting 75 counties, statewide cybersecurity tools, and modernized public safety and election systems. Nationally, she has strengthened collaboration and best practice sharing through leadership roles in NASTD, NASCIO, and GovTAP.

Industry Leadership of the Year

Tommie Fern is the executive vice president for state, local and education at Salesforce. Fern has more than 30 years of experience working with state and local governments to improve the lives of citizens and families.

Industry Leadership of the Year

Jon Minshew is Chief Technology and Innovation Strategist at Dell Technologies, bringing over 33 years of leadership in public‑sector transformation and enterprise IT strategy. A former senior technology executive for the State of North Carolina, Minshew served as Chief Customer Officer for the Department of Information Technology and as CIO for both the Governor’s Office and the Lieutenant Governor’s Office, advancing citizen‑focused digital services and statewide IT modernization.

Industry Leadership of the Year

Stephen Risseeuw was the National Vice President of State, Local, Education and Healthcare Services for SAP. Risseeuw has a storied public sector adjacent career with 16 years at SAP, as well as other roles at Daon and Oracle. Risseeuw left SAP in May 2026.

Industry Leadership of the Year

As Area Vice President of Strategic Engagement at World Wide Technology, David Stevens has significantly impacted state IT communities by partnering with government and education leaders to shape digital transformation strategies. Drawing on decades of public sector experience and service as Chief Information Officer of Maricopa County, the nation’s fourth-largest county serving over five million residents, Stevens advises states on aligning AI, cybersecurity, and cloud investments with long-term organizational priorities.

Industry Leadership of the Year

Joshua Verville, director of business development at General Dynamics Information Technology,  has worked closely with public-sector leaders to address some of the most pressing cyber challenges facing states.