Six months in, North Dakota’s new CIO says his job is ‘foolproof’

It’s been about six months since Corey Mock was named North Dakota’s newest chief information officer, and in that time, Mock said, his staff have made his job “foolproof.”

Mock, who was appointed by then-Gov.-elect Kelly Armstrong last November, accepted the job after 16 years in the state’s legislature. Mock said that experience had familiarized him with the staff of the state’s Information Technology Department. He described the transition as “fantastic.”

“This is as foolproof of a CIO position as I think you can find in the industry, and that’s all thanks to the incredible work and the passion and dedication that my team brings to their job,” Mock said.

Mock wasn’t the only one experiencing change — the gubernatorial transition meant everyone in the state’s government was in flux.

“There’s a lot of turnover that’s occurring. A lot of everybody’s getting acclimated to the new governor’s priorities, how they want to approach cabinet meetings,” he said. “And then coming in with a legislative session, you know, that adds another layer to the equation. So there’s been not a lot of time to just get adjusted within the operations.”

Another adjustment, Mock noted, has been how quickly technology is evolving, particularly artificial intelligence. He said the last time the legislature convened formally, in 2023, AI wasn’t the hot topic it is now.

“AI itself was nothing more than two vowels crammed together and found in a few words,” he said. “We left session, and all of a sudden you’ve got kids writing term papers using generative AI services, and teachers trying to find tools to detect it. Things change so quickly, so that’s been a big adjustment period for us.”

Mock said his office is also migrating systems off the state’s mainframe, a project he expects to be completed within the next two years.

“That allows us — it gives us the excuse, if you will — to get into an enterprise license with some low-code, no-code platforms, and that will allow us and give us a landing spot for other outdated or beyond-the-service-life applications,” Mock said. “So, as they’re getting updated, as we’re building out new workflows, new applications that will help agencies deliver their services, gives them a spot where they can put those applications with relative ease.