TechTables

Hey Arizona — I'm coming to town! ??? Join me and Tim Roemer, CEO at GMI - Global Market Innovators, this Thursday, March 27th at 12:00 PM for the 2025 GMI Golf Tournament at Camelback Golf Club in Scottsdale. Don’t golf? No worries — neither do I. ?? There will be exclusive raffle giveaways, great food, networking, and family fun for all. Plus, if you’re curious about leadership, transformation, or just want to talk public sector — I’ll be giving folks a sneak peek of my upcoming free 5-day email series: ?? The TechTables Collaboratory Leadership Playbook – 5 Proven Strategies for Public Sector Leaders to Drive Transformational Change Inside, you’ll uncover: 1?? The # 1 challenge keeping public sector leaders up at night (and how top leaders are solving it right now) 2?? How one leader turned a near-failure into a massive success—by making one bold decision 3?? The 3 mindsets that separate transformational leaders from the rest (and why most leaders get them wrong) 4?? Proven strategies for driving innovation—without waiting for permission or perfect conditions 5?? The secret to building leaders who multiply impact beyond their tenure (most leaders miss this step) This isn’t live yet — but you’ll get early access if you’re there on Thursday. ps: can’t make it Thursday at noon? I’ll be grabbing coffees, lunches, and dinners across Arizona with my public sector peeps this week. DM me if you want to connect! pss: I'd love to see you J.R. Sloan, Ryan Murray, Errika Celsy, Justin Fair (hehe I'll see you at PF Changs), Richard McHattie, Lisa Faison, Christian Taillon ?, Suzanne Wang, Doug Lange, Lyndee H., Jeff Scheetz, CGCIO, CISM, Travis Cutright, Kyle Bowen (Carpool Convos?!?!), Lester Godsey, Lev Gonick, Frank Sweeney, Bianca Lochner, Ph.D., Seema Patel, Wendy L. Jameson, MA, Elizabeth Neeley, Sandeep Desai, Owen Zorge, Aaron Jones, Scott Campbell, Michael Manrod, Aaron Judy

I'm excited and honored to connect and collaborate with my peers as the March 2025 guest speaker on The Collaboratory by TechTables! Thank you Joe Toste for the opportunity to share the great work at the City of Raleigh Municipal Government and also learn from CIO rock stars that will be attending! ? Learn more?about the community where?exceptional?public sector?leaders share real challenges, exchange proven solutions, and build lasting relationships. ? Experience a vendor-free environment where authentic conversations lead to actionable insights and genuine connections—monthly virtual forums, regional and national?retreats?designed exclusively for senior public sector leaders. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/ezZKw3fh #govtec #digitalequity #publicsector #leadershipforum #cio #smartcities

Excited to announce Mark Wittenburg, CIO, City of Raleigh, as our March 2025 guest speaker this Thursday, March 20th at 11:00 AM Pacific on The Collaboratory by TechTables! We featured Mark on episode EP 170 at the Big Sky Live Podcast Tour in Montana. One big question Mark tackles daily is, "How do we deliver services equitably in a digital world?" while ensuring no resident gets left behind. Join us for an open Q&A to hear how Mark is: - Creating data-driven solutions for community challenges - Building partnerships between universities and local government to develop talent pipelines - Transforming how citizens interact with essential city services The Collaboratory offers what you can't find anywhere else - a vendor-free environment where public sector leaders share real challenges, exchange proven solutions, and build lasting relationships that drive meaningful change. Limited spots available for our March's Monthly Forum! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g7WZxyDr #GovTech #DigitalEquity #PublicSector #LeadershipForum #CIO #SmartCities

It was so fun to be part of #TechTables podcast with an amazing group of innovative leaders creating the next generation of cyber talent while making our higher education entities more secure. Thank you Joe Toste Craig Woolley Ed Wozencroft Kim Milford #Splunk #TekStream

Excited to drop TechTables EP 197: LSU's $7.5M Student-Powered SOC + NJIT's Life-Saving Analytics + Illinois' Creative Data Applications Powered by Splunk [EDUCAUSE 2024] Featuring: - Craig Woolley, CIO at Louisiana State University (LSU) - Kim Milford, CISO at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - Ed Wozencroft, VP for Digital Strategy and CIO, NJIT - Mary Lou Prevost, Group Vice President SLED, Splunk Here are 4 big highlights: 1. Student-Powered SOC: A Revolutionary Education & Security Model 2. Developing the Next Generation of Cybersecurity Warriors 3. Expanding Data Analytics Beyond Security 4. Building Consensus in Decentralized Universities I had a lot of fun hanging with these great leaders. Keep up the great work! ?? Check out the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gf2nkb3V

After the magic of Austin City Limits, the TechTables Live Podcast Tour headed west to Phoenix, AZ (spoiler: it was actually called The TechTables Suite Talk Series at the time!). April 21st, 2022. The day we took over the beautiful Kimpton Hotel Palomar in downtown Phoenix across where the Phoenix Suns play. The energy from Austin City Limits was gone. It had been 7 months since that event, and the idea Jamie Toste and I had was for a much more intimate experience. We had very few industry partnerships at the time so I traded all my camera gear to my friend, Felipe Contreras, so that he could record the video podcasts at the Kimpton. It was scrappy. It was crazy. With Jamie fully on board that we had something special - whatever it was - we were excited AND terrified. Who would come to an executive hotel room? Who does that? While waiting in the lobby of the Kimpton, I met Steve Bell for the first time. He was working at SentinelOne back then (now he's at Palo Alto Networks). Even though he had already agreed to partner, I still had to convince him that our actual event was upstairs in the suite! He was terrified to come inside the hotel room too! There were definitely no booths in there! ?? And we had a killer line up, featuring: - J.R. Sloan, CIO, State of Arizona - Tim Roemer, CISO, State of Arizona & Nancy Rainosek, CISO, State of Texas - Justin Fair, CIO, City of Goodyear & Bradley Pristelski, CIO, CommonSpirit (Southwest) - Doug Lange, VP of IT Strategy at Choice Hotels & fmr. CSO, State of Arizona What made Phoenix so special was seeing the relationships form on and off the mic. I'll never forget that night - it was the night that Aaron Judy had his baby and had to bail the night of the event (good call), and where I met Richard McHattie by accident (what a leader filling in!). It was when I first met Ryan Murray and Owen Zorge. It was the night I almost met Jennifer Pittman-Leeper, but didn't because her boss, Tim Roemer, didn't invite her (but don't worry, I met JPL on the journey later). ?? ?? ?? That night was awesome. Looking back I'm grateful for the people who showed up at the Kimpton Hotel Palomar to take a chance on Joe & Jamie. Those relationships only blossomed, and one of the reasons I love the public sector community today. Speaking of building new relationships, I'm coming back to Texas for the 2025 TAGITM Conference at the La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio on April 23rd-25th, bringing together Texas' leading organization for government technology professionals. Experience authentic conversations, strategic connections, and real transformation. Ready to build lasting relationships? TechTables & TAGITM teaming up - check out the first event of the year here: https://lnkd.in/gknZUvQR

September 16th 2021. The day before the first ever TechTables Live Podcast Tour. No one believed in the vision. My own wife (Jamie Toste) didn't believe (but she got on the plane to Austin anyway to help with setup and prep). I spoke the vision of the "Live Podcast Tour" but no one knew what that meant (and some people still don't lol). But I had this idea of bringing people together, having fun conversations, in a fun environment. I asked my friend, Felipe Contreras, to come to Austin to record the video podcasts (he probably thought I was crazy too!). September 17th 2021. I was so sweaty and nervous. This was the moment. Would anyone show up? Would I? All the work I put into planning this event, and now I'm thinking I'm the crazy one. We featured: - Amanda Crawford, CIO, State of Texas (and taking on the role of President at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO)) - Andrey Shtylenko, Head of AI at Honeywell; now at Meta (who challenged me to get to 100 podcast episodes... Hey Andrey - we'll hit 200 episodes this month). : ) - Bratton Riley, Founder & CEO at Citibot (crazy to see him doing so well!) - Patty Roze, VP of Public Sector at Verizon (so awesome to see you back in Houston last year. You're seriously amazing, and crazy you're neighbors with Courtney Arbour?!?! This world is way too small). - Nadia Hansen, CIO, Clark County, NV; now at Salesforce (there's a flashback!) - Cory Wilburn, CIO, Texas General Land Office; now at Texas McCombs School of Business (what a great friend he's been and love seeing his growth over the years). Honored to have featured you at EDUCAUSE last year with Doug Thompson. After the event, Jamie mentioned that she was a "bieber believer" now. She caught the vision. Felipe caught the vision. And Austin City Limits laid the foundation for the "Art of the Possible" and "What if" We did it. I don't know what we did, but it was special. And I love the relationships from that event that I still have today. In the words of Saby Waraich ?? - go be a purple cow, because you never know where it will take you. Speaking of Texas, I'm coming to the 2025 TAGITM Conference at the La Cantera Resort & Spa in San Antonio on April 23rd-25th, bringing together Texas' leading organization for government technology professionals. Experience authentic conversations, strategic connections, and real transformation. Interested in learning more about TechTables & TAGITM teaming up? Check out my first event of 2025 here: https://lnkd.in/gknZUvQR cc: Shane McDaniel MS, CGCIO, CISM, PMP, ITIL, James O'Brien, Tony Gonzalez, Tim Boltz, Laura Miller, Jovana Trejo-Zuniga, Hannah Horowitz, Dr. Scott Macdonald, Hannes Scheidegger, Chris Stewart, Stephanie Weber, Scott Woestman, Vishal Hanjan, Alex Johnson, Jessica Krause, Jeremy Deckert, Matt Wright, Brad Booth, Alena Golovnya, Marina Chamberlain, Jody Cook

Don't mistake kindness for weakness. This has been Kendra Ketchum's mantra in leadership for years. She's watched countless CIOs fall into the "brilliant jerk" trap - sure, they know the tech, but they don't build teams that last (and who **aren't** “Gardeners” - right Craig Hopkins?!?). Kendra Ketchum, VP of IT at University of Texas San Antonio, dropped this gem during our conversation for EP 196 on TechTables at EDUCAUSE 2024. As she put it, "when you nurture and grow people, I am just as feisty and fiery in protecting them too." This is leadership gold, folks ?? We had an incredible discussion with Kendra and Jared Pane from Elastic about how empathetic leadership actually drives BETTER technical outcomes. The kindness approach doesn't just feel good - it gets results. Building teams isn't about collecting the smartest people in a room. It's about fostering an environment where people are invested in each other's success. As Jared said, "You want to make it happen. You want to grow things." That's what happens when leaders invest in their people. Listen to the full episode on TechTables - you'll hear why humble, hungry, and kind is the secret formula to building tech teams that actually deliver. cc: Carahsoft, Laura Miller, Tim Boltz

[?? EDUCAUSE Series 1/8 is Live!] EP 194: How Clackamas CC Protected 10,000 Students + [Case Study] Texas A&M's Digital Transformation with Omnissa Just dropped a fantastic episode of The Public Sector Show by TechTables with two amazing guests: - Saby Waraich ?? (CIO/CISO at Clackamas Community College) - Wayne Bridges, Ed.D. (Senior Solutions Engineer at Omnissa) ? Key Takeaway: From navigating ransomware attacks affecting 10,000 students to unifying 15+ login systems, technology leaders from?Clackamas Community College and Omnissa?share frameworks for successful digital transformation in higher education. Through?CARES (Communication, Adapt, Relationships, Empowerment, Stay Calm)?and?Purple Cow?leadership models, Saby and Wayne reveal how to balance innovation with security while maintaining positive team culture. Their practical approaches span everything from?implementing AI-powered service desks to creating unified digital experiences?that put student needs first, demonstrating how higher education can embrace technological change while strengthening human connections. Big thanks to Saby Waraich and Wayne Bridges for sharing their insights on navigating digital transformation in HigherEd at EDUCAUSE + Carahsoft in 2024! ?? ?? ps: Saby and I had two podcasts in about a month (Seattle Learning Conference at Seattle City Hall). It was super fun to get to know him better, and I had to post his testimonial from EDUCAUSE. pss: Ready to come on the podcast in-person? Check out the upcoming events we'll be at in 2025 (more events coming soon!): TAGITM Conference: ???Date:?April 22nd-25th ???Location:?San Antonio, TX Westmont College Technology Impact Conference: ???Date:?July 24th?& 25th ???Location:?Santa Barbara, CA EDUCAUSE + Carahsoft: ???Date:?Oct. 27th-30th ???Location:?Nashville, TN ?? All links in the comments below.?? #digitaltransformation #publicsector #govtech #techtables #educause #educause2024 #carahsoft