Craig Orgeron

Lawmakers in the Magnolia State are considering bills to make the state CIO a cabinet member, mirroring a national trend of CIOs evolving from tech managers to enterprise leaders — and to create a cybersecurity department.

Amid all the attention around AI, Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron said his state is focused on building the foundations state government needs to scale emerging technologies into 2026.

We spoke to technology leaders to understand whether they prefer to partner with small or large tech providers to support their IT work.