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Oct 13 2025
Management

NASCIO 2025: State CIOs Are Bullish on Government IT Fortunes

In a conference panel, state CIOs said they received more money than last year while working with more sister agencies.
Mickey McCarter
by

Mickey McCarter is the senior editor of StateTech Magazine.

With many state governments facing budget challenges and a changing technology landscape, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers captured the concerns of government CIOs in its latest annual survey.

Following the release of NASCIO’s 2025 State CIO Survey: Leading Change Through Uncertain Times, a panel of state CIOs expressed optimism Monday during the NASCIO 2025 annual conference in Denver about their capabilities to fund and deliver IT projects and services.

The report dives into eight topics, and North Dakota CIO Corey Mock, Georgia CIO Shawnzia Thomas and Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron discussed four of those during their panel: dimensions of leadership, IT accessibility, modernization funding and service delivery.

In the 2025 survey, CIOs ranked the most important leadership traits or attributes for their role:

  1. Change leader
  2. Communicator (tied)
  3. Strategist (tied)
  4. Relationship manager

The results did not surprise Mock, Thomas and Orgeron, who agreed that managing IT projects required great communications skills. Mock said CIOs must be adept at talking to policymakers.

“Policymakers don’t live in the world of tech; they don’t understand it as well as the practitioners,” he said. “They have an entirely different way of thinking.” Thomas, meanwhile, said the CIO role is about building relationships.

Orgeron added, “I have given more tours of a data center to a legislator than I can count, because it’s something you can touch and feel.”

But against an increasingly complicated tech backdrop, CIOs must communicate the value of cloud services and other things that people cannot easily see, he said.

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All State Agencies Face an IT Accessibility Deadline

All states face an April 24, 2026, deadline to ensure their content and mobile applications comply with accessibility guidelines under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Specifically, state agencies must comply with the technical standards of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1, level AA.

While moderating the panel, NASCIO Executive Director Doug Robinson said it was unclear if States would face penalties for failing to meet the deadline. That said, the 2025 CIO survey revealed that 52% of state CIOs have hired an IT accessibility coordinator. Fourteen percent of states have an accessibility coordinator as part of a different government agency. And 34% of states have no IT accessibility coordinator. Fifty-two percent of states reported that compliance with the Justice Department mandate was in progress.

Mock emphasized that the DOJ mandate was not simply a problem for IT agencies. “It’s been a challenge to get other agencies to recognize that they own this challenge as much as we do.”

READ MORE: StateTech talks to Colorado CIO David Edinger about accessiblity and other priorities.

Most States See Increasing or Flat IT Budgets

For fiscal year 2026, the NASCIO survey found that 50% of state CIOs received a budget increase. Eighteen percent said their budgets fell, and 32% said they remained flat.

During the conference panel, North Dakota, Georgia and Mississippi each reported at least slightly higher levels of funding this year than last. Thomas said Georgia benefited from a special fund established by the state legislature two years ago to fund enterprise IT projects. While the Georgia Technology Authority generally doesn’t receive direct funding, the modernization fund goes directly to GTA to oversee designated projects from beginning to end. Growth in the fund enabled GTA to open a separate account for cybersecurity projects.

In the survey overall, about half of state CIOs say they receive money from general appropriations, and roughly a quarter said they receive one-time special funding.

DIVE DEEPER: Discover which state CIOs made StateTech's 2025 influencers list. 

IT Agency Service Support Expands to Peers

The 2025 NASCIO CIO survey asked CIOs what other agencies rely on their services. The survey had never previously asked that question, Robinson said.

The top results:

  • 100% Public safety/state police
  • 90% Transportation commissioner
  • 88% Agriculture commissioner
  • 80% National Guard/military affairs
  • 80% State treasurer

In the past, many states exempted their public safety officials or elected commissioners from IT agency mandates or direction.

Keep this page bookmarked for our coverage of the NASCIO 2025 Annual Conference. Follow us on the social platform X at @StateTech and the official conference account, @NASCIO. Join the conversation using the hashtag #NASCIO25.

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