National Association of State Chief Information Officers

National Association of State Chief Information Officers
Name	National Association of State Chief Information Officers
Abbreviation	NASCIO
Formation	1969
Type	Nonprofit organization
Purpose	Advocacy and professional association for state chief information officers
Headquarters	Lexington, Kentucky
Region served	United States
Membership	State and territorial chief information officers

Contents

National Association of State Chief Information Officers is a professional association representing chief information officers from the fifty United States states, five territories, and the District of Columbia. The organization serves as a forum for technology leadership, standards development, and intergovernmental collaboration among senior technology executives from entities such as the State of California, State of Texas, State of New York, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and State of Florida. NASCIO engages with federal entities including the Office of Management and Budget, Department of Homeland Security, and General Services Administration while interacting with private-sector partners like IBM, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Oracle Corporation, and Deloitte.

History

NASCIO traces its origins to a 1969 gathering of state technology leaders who sought coordination akin to associations such as the National Governors Association and the Council of State Governments. Early interactions included collaboration with the National Association of State Personnel Executives and the National Conference of State Legislatures on issues paralleling efforts by the Office of Technology Assessment and the Federal Communications Commission. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s NASCIO provided state CIOs a venue similar to meetings held by the American Bar Association for legal leadership and by the National League of Cities for municipal executives. The association expanded during the 2000s amid initiatives led by the White House and the U.S. Congress on e-government, cybersecurity, and information privacy, engaging with landmark efforts such as the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and policies influenced by the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

NASCIO's mission centers on advancing state information resource management to improve services and safeguard information assets, aligning objectives with organizations like the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Core objectives include promoting strategic planning practices used by entities such as the Government Accountability Office, advancing interoperable architectures echoing standards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and fostering workforce development comparable to programs from the National Science Foundation. The association emphasizes cross-jurisdictional collaboration with counterparts in the Canadian government and the United Kingdom to reflect international practices exemplified by institutions like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Membership comprises state and territorial CIOs and their designees from jurisdictions including the Commonwealth of Virginia, State of Illinois, State of Ohio, State of Georgia, and State of North Carolina. Governance follows a board and executive committee structure informed by models used by the American Society for Public Administration and overseen by elected officers who have professional affiliations with entities like the University of Maryland and the Harvard Kennedy School. NASCIO’s committees mirror functional groups in organizations such as the American Public Health Association and liaise with advisory councils that include representatives from Accenture, Cisco Systems, and the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute.

Programs address areas including cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, digital transformation, and procurement modernization, paralleling initiatives at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence and the Federal CIO Council. NASCIO issues guidance and toolkits analogous to publications from the RAND Corporation, champions identity management frameworks related to work at the Internet Engineering Task Force, and promotes cloud adoption strategies similar to those advocated by the U.S. Digital Service. Targeted initiatives have included collaboration with the Center for Internet Security for security controls, pilot projects with Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and workforce apprenticeships modeled after efforts by the Department of Labor and the National Governors Association.

NASCIO conducts policy advocacy on legislative and regulatory matters before bodies such as the United States Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, coordinating positions with organizations like the National Association of Attorneys General, the National Association of Secretaries of State, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The association partners with federal agencies—Department of Health and Human Services, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration—and with standards bodies including the Internet Engineering Task Force and the International Organization for Standardization to influence policy on privacy, open data, and procurement reform. Private-sector partnerships involve firms such as Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, AT&T, and Red Hat to prototype solutions and inform best practices.

NASCIO convenes annual conferences that attract attendees from jurisdictions like the State of Michigan, State of Arizona, State of Washington, State of Colorado, and international delegations from the European Commission and the Government of Canada. Events feature keynote speakers from institutions such as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Brookings Institution, and the Aspen Institute. Publications include best-practice guides, white papers, and policy briefs comparable to outputs by the Pew Research Center and the Bipartisan Policy Center, and collaborative reports co-authored with universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

Category:American professional associations Category:Public administration in the United States