Traditionally, agency chief information officers have been the ones responsible for the hardware and software at government agencies, including ensuring that phones are working and laptops are purchased.
These are all important and necessary, but “[CIOs] weren’t the first people you thought of around delivery of mission,” Federal CIO Suzette Kent said at May 3 event in Washington, D.C. Today, CIOs are the leaders who put mission-critical tools in the hands of the workforce, they are commanded to plan ahead for many years and they are the drivers of innovation across agencies.
To get to know the people behind the title, GovLoop launched a new series called “CIO Conversations.”
Since then, we’ve interviewed more than a dozen chief information officers at the federal, state and local levels. Throughout 2018 we’ll feature conversational interviews twice a month on GovLoop.com.
You’ll learn about the perks and challenges of the job, how they are empowering everyday public servants to do their jobs using technology, tips for navigating professional relationships and more.
In this report, we highlight five interviews from the series, where we discuss career and leadership tips, current IT projects and how CIOs are balancing budgets, innovation and expectations from the public and internal employees.