I hope you’ll draw inspiration for your own work from the pages that follow. Working on this issue always has that effect on me. For now, here are a handful of quotes from our winners that encapsulate the spirit of a GT Top 25er.
“We simply need to set the bar higher in the public sector, where we are building systems that have material effects on people’s lives,” said Emily Royall, senior IT manager for emerging technology in San Antonio. Royall brings an unconventional background to her work in city IT, with degrees in both neurobiology and city planning. A lot of her work in San Antonio has centered around smart cities, but her approach starts from understanding the great responsibility of working in government IT, where decisions can directly impact residents’ quality of life.
“I feel like people who are closest to the problems usually have the best ideas on how to solve them,” said Brendan Babb, this year’s northernmost honoree, who serves as chief innovation officer of Anchorage, Alaska. Babb encourages a culture of experimentation — a term that came up a lot in this year’s interviews — where novel approaches get fair consideration, even if they don’t happen to pan out in the end. And good ideas aren’t confined to any one agency or person at city hall. Babb understands that collaborating within and outside of your own organization tips the scales in favor of progress.
“It’s really about the relationships, not about Office 365.” This is from Jason Neilitz, CIO for Wisconsin’s Sokaogon Chippewa Community. While IT infrastructure enables secure access to modern tools like distance learning and telehealth, it’s not political, nor is it about specific tools. Rather, it’s about deploying technology from trusted partners that works to support community needs.
“It comes down to eliminating reasons for people to say ‘No,’” said New Hampshire CISO Ken Weeks, who leads a small cybersecurity team that is accomplishing big things for the state. The current fever around whole-of-state approaches to cybersecurity has state teams getting creative in how they engage smaller entities to upgrade their security. These agencies are often worried about how much work it will take to implement another costly and complex upgrade; Weeks’ “in-a-box” approach simplifies things for partners like utilities and schools, leaning on collaboration to model cybersecurity success.
“We have changed the Office of Information Technology to absolutely adopt — and I mean really embody — a services-first enterprise.” That’s the approach that Chief Technology Officer Chris Rein has worked to implement during his seven-year tenure leading state technology for New Jersey. Pointing to the unbreakable link between his office and the state agencies his office serves, Rein wants to position every one of those agencies for success with flexible, secure infrastructure. It’s an approach that leaves room for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, provided it’s delivering value to the people of New Jersey.
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.
