Mississippi Looks to Expand Digital Service Offerings

1. What brought you back for a new stint as Mississippi CIO?

I got asked to come back, and the desire to serve has always been top of mind for me. Also, I’ve really enjoyed public service because you get to do a lot of different things. You get to grapple with AI, you get to do GIS, but ultimately I think it’s a desire to serve. There’s also something about the digital transformation journey for the state and trying to put the organization where it needs to be. I stepped off the path for a little bit, but I wanted to get back on the path and help the state continue moving forward.

2. How has the job of CIO changed over your career?

There’s been a shift from an infrastructure focus to much more of a strategic leadership focus, which makes total sense. We were all about networks and infrastructure and data centers, but I think now it’s much less of those things. There’s also been the rise of cybersecurity. We were always concerned about data and enterprise systems, but there’s now a much larger focus on cyber.

There’s more focus on emerging technologies, not just the rise, but the pace with which they rise and the impact they have. Your head is sort of spinning that this stuff is moving so quickly. The last change is viewing data as a strategic asset and harnessing it to make decisions. It takes a concerted effort to have great data.

3. What did your time in the private sector and academia teach you?

With the private sector, I think about efficiency and innovation from the standpoint of measurement. When I got into the private sector, I was amazed at the things that get measured and how they get measured. In the public sector, agencies produce metrics, but I was struck by the way they manage or lead with those metrics in the private sector. In the private sector it’s about really being maniacal with the data and efficiency to drive change.

My other big lesson in the private sector was the partnership value, being able to see a cloud company partnering with an integrator really opened my eyes to the value of that in a way I don’t know that I appreciated. On the academic side, the lesson I picked up there was about focusing on mentoring. I think as a CIO, it’s about being more intentional with team-building and paying more attention to the mentoring piece.

4. What are some of your top priorities for 2025 and beyond?

One is really looking to expand our digital services across the state, imbued with as much automation and AI as we can put in those services. On the cybersecurity front, there’s been legislative leadership in Mississippi to create a Cybersecurity Review Board, and it’s really the first thoughtful and intentional whole-of-government approach to cyber. It brings local government, county government, K-12 and higher education to the table.

Next, we’re looking at a definitive cloud strategy and how to make the most out of these infrastructure modernizations. Mississippi is a federated state, and it’s really about figuring out which skillsets belong in the office of the CIO and which skill sets belong in agencies. And then, we’re focused on workforce development, continuing to look at talent in government, not just in terms of job classes and salaries, but how to really get people excited to spend time in the public sector.

This story originally appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.