Announcing the winners of the 2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

The 2024 StateScoop 50 Awards honor the year's top leaders and projects that have made a difference in the state government IT community.

The 2024 StateScoop 50 Awards (Scoop News Group)

Scoop News Group is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 StateScoop 50 Awards.

The awards, now in their 11th year, honor the most influential people in the state government IT community and the most innovative projects that advance government operations and citizen services.

The 2024 awards were presented Sunday on the first day of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Winners were honored at a reception, sponsored by Sophos.

This year’s winners will also be featured in upcoming video interviews taped at the conference and highlighted on StateScoop’s Priorities podcast.

Starting in early February, members of the state and local IT community nominated hundreds of leaders and projects for this year’s StateScoop 50 awards. StateScoop narrowed the list to nearly 200 finalists, and from Feb. 26 through March 29, readers cast more than 1 million votes to select this year’s 50 winners.

“Eleven years into the StateScoop 50 Awards and we remain incredibly impressed with the work that these leaders do every single day,” said Jake Williams, Scoop News Group’s senior vice president of modernization. “As government continues to embrace new opportunities and look into a new future driven by artificial intelligence and other emerging technology, we’re excited that these are the leaders who are leading that charge.”

This year’s awards recognize leaders and projects from 25 states, along with executives from 13 companies.

The winners:

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Colin Ahern

Chief Cyber Officer, State of New York

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Colin Ahern is an internationally-recognized cybersecurity, resilience, and intelligence expert. He was appointed the first Chief Cyber Officer of the State of New York in June of 2022. As Chief Cyber Officer he oversees all cyber threat assessment, mitigation, and response efforts and leads cross-agency efforts to protect New York State from cyber threats. In his previous role as First Deputy Director of New York City Cyber Command and later as Acting Chief Information Security Officer of New York City, Ahern led the transformation of a small team into a charter backed city agency with more than 800,000 endpoints under management across more than 100 departments and offices throughout New York City government.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Tracy Barnes

Chief Information Officer, State of Indiana

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Tracy Barnes was appointed as Indiana’s chief information officer by Gov. Eric J. Holcomb in March 2020. In this role, Barnes sits on the governor’s cabinet overseeing the Indiana Office of Technology and provides strategic oversight of the state’s technology portfolio, as well as leadership on technology and cybersecurity policy. Barnes also serves as the co-chair for the Indiana Executive Council on Cybersecurity. Barnes brings significant business leadership and information technology experience to his role, having previously served as Chief of Staff for the Lieutenant Governor, and as Deputy Auditor and IT Director for the Indiana Auditor of State. Before joining the public sector, Tracy served as president and chief executive officer for ENTAP, Inc., an IT consulting services firm that designed and delivered effective enterprise-focused information technology solutions to organizations in various industries across the globe.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Laura Clark

Chief Information Officer, State of Michigan

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Laura Clark serves as Michigan’s chief information officer, directing the state’s technology and security efforts. As deputy director for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget, she also oversees operations for the department, which provides information technology, business, and administrative services to state employees and stakeholders, as well as Michigan residents, visitors, and businesses. During her 20-year career in public service, Clark has embraced a hands-on, adaptable approach to leadership. Since being appointed as CIO by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, she has helped the State of Michigan achieve success through many initiatives, such as the launch of the award-winning Michigan Secure mobile app and successfully securing $20 million in critical cybersecurity funding from the Michigan Legislature for statewide security enhancements.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Timothy Galluzi

Chief Information Officer, State of Nevada

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Timothy Galluzi was appointed administrator of Nevada’s Enterprise Information Technology Services Division (EITS) in February 2021 and designated as the state Chief Information Officer in June 2022. Following the agency’s transition from EITS to the Office of the Chief Information Officer in the Governor’s Office, Galluzi was reappointed as state Chief Information Officer. Galluzi has been serving the State of Nevada since 2013 in various roles in information technology (IT) and leadership. He began with EITS in 2018 and has served as the project manager for the statewide Microsoft Office 365 implementation as well as the technology investment administrator in EITS Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Kevin Gilbertson

Chief Information Officer, State of Montana

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Kevin Gilbertson was appointed as Montana’s CIO in March 2021. Gilbertson brings almost 30 years of high-tech and business consulting experience to the position. He has focused on helping organizations transform their customer experience (CX) for the past 20 years. Gilbertson had also worked for a number of SaaS vendor and/or consulting organizations providing CX software and expertise to both public and private sector clients as well as consulting with SaaS companies to transform internal teams and business functions prior to joining SITSD. His most recent roles included VP of Product & Engineering at Helix Business Solutions, and Founder and Principal Consultant at Forstara, LLC.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Bill Kehoe

Chief Information Officer, State of Washington

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Bill Kehoe joined the Washington Agency for State Technology as the Director and State CIO on August 2, 2021. He joined the agency from Los Angeles County, California where he served as the Chief Information Officer since 2017. While at Los Angeles County, Kehoe managed enterprise security, information management, enterprise architecture and technology consulting services for 37 county departments. He also advised the Board of Supervisors and the Chief Executive Officer regarding enterprise technology strategy, policy, and governance.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

John Laurent

Acting CIO, State of Missouri

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

John Laurent is the acting chief information officer for the State of Missouri. Laurent previously worked as the state IT department’s deputy CIO. He started working with the state in 2021 as chief of business system development. Before that, he was a consultant for Cierra-Cedar and a vice president of Enterprise Holdings’ global business support systems division.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Henry Lofton

Deputy CTO, Washington, D.C.

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Henry Lofton is the deputy chief technology officer for Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer. Before stepping up to the deputy role in 2019, Lofton was an Associate CTO focusing on DCNET, the vast network connecting the critical digital infrastructure of the district’s government operations. He’s been with the District since 2007.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Denise Reilly-Hughes

Chief Information Officer, State of Vermont

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Denise Reilly-Hughes was appointed as Vermont’s state CIO and director of the Agency of Digital Services in September 2023. She joined the agency in January 0f 2023 as its deputy commissioner. Reilly-Hughes came to ADS with over 20 years of technology experience in the private sector. Her background includes licensing contracts, technology strategy, customer success, and executive leadership. Reilly-Hughes has a decade of experience working with the New England states. She was a key partner with Vermont as it transitioned its modern workplace environment to the cloud.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Brandy Reitter

Executive Director - Broadband Office, State of Colorado

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Brandy Reitter is the executive director of the Colorado Broadband Officer. Reitter joined the office in 2022 and is responsible for providing oversight and management of the office’s programs and state-wide strategy for broadband deployment. Her work includes education, outreach, supporting regional collaborations, fostering relations with partners, and mobilizing resources to improve the access and affordability of high speed internet. She works to assist with policy and legislative development, serves on various broadband boards, and supports the work of the office. Her professional experience includes 15 years in local government management in cities and towns across the State of Colorado. As a former Town Manager, she built broadband programs in rural communities and has leveraged resources to deploy broadband in her communities.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Jason Snyder

Chief Information Officer, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Jason Snyder is the Secretary of the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security. He was previously the Chief Technology Officer at Harvard University. He has more than 30 years of information technology experience in government, higher education and the private sector. He worked at Harvard for almost ten years, as a Program Director for Identity & Access Management, as Managing Director of Architecture and Engineering, and as Chief Technology Officer since 2015. He served as Chief Technology Officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the duration of Governor Patrick’s tenure, and prior to that spent 13 years in the private sector at CSC Consulting Group.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Shawnzia Thomas

Chief Information Officer, State of Georgia

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Shawnzia Thomas is the chief information officer for the state of Georgia. Thomas has worked for the state of Georgia for more than 15 years with an emphasis on integrating technology in all sectors of state government to improve constituent services and better serve Georgians. Most recently, she served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services. Previously, she was Executive Director of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity and Director of the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division. She is a commissioner on the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity Advisory Board and a director on the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Daniel Urquhart

Chief Information Officer, State of Alabama

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Daniel Urquhart serves on Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s Cabinet as Secretary of the State of Alabama Office of Information Technology. First formed through the passage of Senate Bill 117 and signed into law on May 21, 2013, OIT is responsible for the strategic planning, governance, and resource utilization of all IT for the state. Prior to his appointment by Governor Ivey to lead the agency on July 1, 2023, Urquhart served the State of Alabama for more than two decades and spent the past three years as Deputy Secretary of OIT. Before joining OIT in 2020, Urquhart served as the CIO for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency where he played a vital role in working with industry partners to design, build, and implement a state-of-the-art criminal justice network that exceeded regulatory compliance requirements. The first fifteen years of Secretary Urquhart’s professional career were spent in the private sector. He held various technical and leadership positions in the banking and finance, drug/medical wholesale, childcare services, restaurant concepts, and consulting industries where he led and implemented various business and decision-making systems and platforms.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Terrence Woods

Chief Information Officer, State of Oregon

GoldenGov: State Executive of the Year

Terrence Woods is the chief information officer for the state of Oregon. Before being appointed State CIO in 2018, Woods was the State Deputy CIO, the Department of Revenue CIO, the Oregon Health Authority Director of IT, and the Department of Human Services Deputy CIO. Prior to joining state government, Woods was the Human Resources Manager and Regional Technology Manager for Safeco Insurance.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Jennifer Bjerke

Deputy CIO, State of Oregon

State Leadership of the Year

Jennifer Bjerke is the deputy chief information officer for the state of Oregon. Before being named deputy state CIO in 2018, Bjerke was the State Strategic Technology Director. Prior to joining the Enterprise Information Services department, she spent 20 years with the Oregon Department of Corrections, holding multiple positions in institution security operations and information technology services, where she ultimately served as chief information officer.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Josh Coultas

IT Director - Governor's Office of Information Technology, State of Colorado

State Leadership of the Year

Josh Coultas is the IT Director for the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology. Coultas took on the role in 2022, after serving in multiple roles in the office since 2016. Before joining state government, Coultas worked in various roles in the private sector.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Michele Jones

Chief Privacy Officer, State of New York

State Leadership of the Year

Michele Jones was appointed as New York State’s first-ever Chief Privacy Officer in 2022 and also serves as the Chief Risk and Data Privacy Officer at New York State’s Information Technology Services office. In this capacity at NYS ITS, Jones is responsible for building and managing a team of risk and privacy professionals, developing, and maintaining an enterprise governance risk and compliance program, and establishing a vision for the statewide IT privacy program.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

JP McInnes

Deputy CIO, State of Tennessee

State Leadership of the Year

JP McInnes is the deputy chief information officer for the state of Tennessee. He joined the state in 2019, after a three-year stint as the Health Cluster Chief Information Officer for New York state’s IT agency. McInnes has previously worked for Ohio’s mental health and addiction agency, as well as in the private sector.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Richard Offenbecher

Chief Information Officer - Department of Revenue, State of Wisconsin

State Leadership of the Year

Richard Offenbecher is the chief information officer for Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue. Offenbecher has been with the agency since 1999, raising through roles starting as a technical architect and most recently working as deputy IT director before taking over the CIO job in 2010.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Vitaliy Panych

Chief Information Security Officer, State of California

State Leadership of the Year

Vitaliy Panych is the chief information security officer for the state of California. In this role, he is responsible for protecting the largest collection of digital information assets in the country, experiencing more than 400 million malicious probes daily. Panych works to monitor the security of more than 140 state departments and has onboarded most of those departments to monitor their own internal networks. He expanded the California Department of Technology Security Operations Center, which operates under his purview performing log management implemented in a cloud-based, FedRAMP-compliant, scalable and redundant environment.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Dawnna Pease

Director of Computing Infrastructure and Services, State of Maine

State Leadership of the Year

Dawnna Pease is the director of computing infrastructure and services for Maine’s Department of Administrative & Financial Services. In this role, she is responsible for a wide variety of services within the Office of Information Technology. This includes: infrastructure computing, administration office personnel, cloud hosting, directory services, enterprise storage and backup, SQL server, digital accessibility, IIS/SharePoint, application hosting, Office 365, document management/ITSM and power platform. Pease has been with the state for 36 years and became active in the National Association of State Technology Directors in the fall of 2014. She is currently the association’s immediate past president.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Brandon Ragle

Deputy CIO, State of Illinois

State Leadership of the Year

Brandon Ragle is the deputy state chief information officer for the state of Illinois. Ragle was previously the state’s acting CIO, and before that was the state’s assistant secretary of the Department of Information Technology. Ragle has been with the state government since 1993 in various agencies and roles.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Nancy Rainosek

Chief Information Security Officer, State of Texas

State Leadership of the Year

Nancy Rainosek is the Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Texas. She has over three decades of IT experience in Texas state government and private sector consulting. Additionally, she serves on the Executive Committee of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. She received the Thomas M. Jarrett State Cybersecurity Leadership Award from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers in 2021. Nancy took a leadership role in the state’s successful response to the 2019 ransomware attack that affected 23 local government entities in Texas. Prior to joining DIR, she served at two additional state agencies and the private sector.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Jon Rogers

Director of Strategic Workforce Planning, State of Indiana

State Leadership of the Year

Jon Rogers is the director of strategic workforce planning for the State of Indiana. Rogers has been with the state government since 2018. Before joining the state, Rogers held a role with the Central Intelligence Agency and the city of New Braunfels, Texas.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Katy Ruckle

Chief Privacy Officer, State of Washington

State Leadership of the Year

Katy Ruckle is the chief privacy officer for the State of Washington. Ruckle has served as the state’s chief privacy officer since 2020, and before that worked in privacy roles inside the state’s Department of Social and Health Services. Ruckle has worked for the state since 2006.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Melinda Stewart

Chief of Enterprise Services & Solutions, Commonwealth of Virginia

State Leadership of the Year

Melinda Stewart, chief of the Virginia IT Agency’s enterprise solutions team, recently led a transformational program to modernize the Commonwealth’s executive branch agency websites to provide an accessible, trusted, cohesive and secure digital experience for all Virginians. Using a collaborative approach and introducing new tools to agencies, the program has been remarkably successful. This past year, the enterprise improved from 44% accessibility compliance to over 88%. The cohesively-designed branding bar was deployed to 100% of public-facing sites to ensure consistency. This programmatic partnership sets the Commonwealth up for compounding success in future opportunities together.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Cloud Migration

Cloud Migration, State of Alaska

State IT Innovation of the Year

Alaska is undergoing a massive cloud migration project that has so far moved more than 700 state applications from legacy systems in the state’s data centers into the cloud. The migration has so far occurred without interrupting service to residents, and the project is now entering its final phase.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Wildlife Tracking Program

Wildlife Tracking Program, State of Arizona

State IT Innovation of the Year

The Arizona Game and Fish Department is overhauling the data management system used to track the location of wildlife in the state. The state’s biologists, researchers and wildlife managers are consolidating all of the wildlife tracking data into a new, cloud-based management system known as the wildlife data warehouse. The efforts are part of Arizona’s 10-year plan for managing wildlife and the natural environment.

CA Digital ID

CA Digital ID, State of California

State IT Innovation of the Year

To efficiently serve over 40 million Californians across various state and local government entities and administer benefits and eligible discounts from numerous programs, digital identification, or digital ID, has become essential. Pilot programs are already demonstrating the power and importance of this tool, including collaborations with Monterey-Salinas Transit, California Department of Transportation, Cal-ITP, and Login.gov, that facilitated eligibility verification for veterans’ transit benefits, and an expansion of support for senior transit riders through partnerships with Regional Transit agencies. With a goal to enhance efficiency, accessibility, and security in government services, the states Digital Identity Framework was published in October 2023.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Broadband One-Stop Shop Grant Portal

Broadband One-Stop Shop Grant Portal, State of Colorado

State IT Innovation of the Year

When the COVID-19 pandemic required residents to work, learn and connect with people and services from home, it accelerated the need for fast, reliable and affordable broadband access. That’s why Colorado’s broadband office set a goal to connect 99% of the state’s households to high-speed broadband by the end of 2027. The state’s Advance Colorado Broadband state-managed grant program will deploy federal funding for projects that invest in capital assets, bridge the state’s digital divide and help Coloradans thrive anywhere in the state.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Let’s Connect Georgia

Let's Connect Georgia, State of Georgia

State IT Innovation of the Year

The state of Georgia has been at the forefront of broadband efforts nationwide — with its detailed broadband availability map and robust grant funding to strengthen infrastructure and get high-speed internet to homes and businesses throughout the state. Now, with additional funding coming to the state for broadband infrastructure and related programs, Georgia is poised to continue to expand broadband across the state.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Operational Technology Essential Training

Operational Technology Essential Training, State of Kansas

State IT Innovation of the Year

In January 2024, the Kansas Information Security Office (KISO), the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) joined forces to launch an Operational Technology Training program for Water/Wastewater operators across Kansas. This comprehensive training initiative equips operators with the knowledge to identify cyber technology within their facilities and assisting them in conducting self-assessments to bolster readiness for future external security audits. The initiative aims to safeguard critical assets and ensure the continuity of essential services.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

ABC Emergency Trip Permits

ABC Emergency Trip Permits, State of New Jersey

State IT Innovation of the Year

Emergency Trip Permits are required for any vehicle that is transporting alcoholic beverages into, out of, or within the State of New Jersey that does not have a transportation license or permit. Through a new website from the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, users can apply for — and immediately receive — a digital copy of an Emergency Trip Permit that allows them to transport alcoholic beverages into, out of, or within the state.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Innovate Ohio

Innovate Ohio, State of Ohio

State IT Innovation of the Year

Innovate Ohio is the state of Ohio’s innovation platform and incubator. The program looks to evaluate every single state service with an eye on the customer’s experience and journey. The program also is leading the statewide broadband strategy for Ohio. The effort is also driving the use of more shared services among state government agencies to save taxpayer dollars.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

PAyback.pa.gov

PAyback.pa.gov, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

State IT Innovation of the Year

PAyback.pa.gov is a digital service provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s digital services team that allows state residents to check their eligibility for a refund for permits, licenses or certification application fees. The tool takes less than five minutes to fill out.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Website Modernization Program

Website Modernization Program, Commonwealth of Virginia

State IT Innovation of the Year

The Commonwealth of Virginia launched a new phase of its program to modernize all Virginia state government websites. By collaborating with all agencies, the program team provided for new tools and solutions, updated web standards, training and unified branding to create a trusted, cohesive, secure, accessible and streamlined customer experience for all 8.6 million Virginians. The program has been remarkably successful. In just a year, the enterprise improved from 44% accessibility compliance to over 88%. A new branding bar was deployed to 100% of public-facing sites to ensure consistency. Using similar tools and programs provided shared knowledge and collective problem solving, which saved money, time and resources across the enterprise.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

DC Business Portal

DC Business Portal, Washington, DC

State IT Innovation of the Year

District of Columbia officials have launched a new website designed as a portal to help small businesses navigate the many bureaucratic and legal processes of setting up shop in the nation’s capital. The new D.C. Business Licensing Portal, which is still considered to be in its beta phase, is the first major project completed by the city’s relatively new digital services team. It’s meant to give small-business operators a replacement to what was once a thicket of forms requiring applicants to jump from agency to agency with little guidance. The project comes as city officials look to rebuild a downtown economy still wounded by the coronavirus pandemic.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

David Crowson

Vice President for Business Solutions, Maximus

Industry Leadership of the Year

David Crowson is the vice president of business solutions for Maximus. Crowson is a former government chief information officer, who lead information technology operations for Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services. Before becoming CIO for the department, Crowson spent eight years in various IT roles in the department.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Chris Cruz

Chief Information Officer - Public Sector, Tanium

Industry Leadership of the Year

Chris Cruz is Tanium’s Chief Information Officer for Public Sector. A recognized executive leader, he helps organizations transform their cybersecurity strategy and practices. Cruz is formerly the CIO for San Joaquin, California. Before that, Cruz was the chief deputy CIO for the state of California, and a CIO for several state agencies.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Kristin Del Rosso

CTO - Public Sector, Sophos

Industry Leadership of the Year

Kristin Del Rosso is the Public Sector CTO for Sophos, with a background in security product management and threat intelligence. With a range of corporate experience, she has successfully launched and grown a variety of security and intelligence offerings, as well as focused on hands-on malware reverse engineering, malicious actor tracking, vulnerability research, and OSINT investigations.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Vishal Hanjan

Regional Vice President of Sales - State & Local Government and Education, Appian

Industry Leadership of the Year

Vishal Hanjan is the regional vice president of sales for state and local government and education at Appian. Hanjan has been with Appian since 2021, and came to the company from Civix as well as PCC Technology Inc.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Dean Johnson

Senior Executive Government Advisor for Public Sector, Ensono

Industry Leadership of the Year

Dean Johnson is the Senior Executive Government Advisor for Public Sector, North America at Ensono. In this role, Johnson is responsible for accelerating the acquisition, growth and management of Ensono’s State, Local and Education vertical. Johnson has an extensive background within the SLED vertical and across the IT industry. He has a reputation for driving digital transformation, cultivating strong relationships, and enabling innovation. John has more than 35 years of experience providing information technology services for both the public and private sectors. Prior to Ensono, Johnson was Chief Operating Officer for the Georgia Technology Authority where he worked closely with various state agencies and service provider partners to identify, recommend, develop, implement, and support cost-effective technology solutions that adhere to statewide enterprise standards and meet future business needs.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Kim Majerus

Vice President for Global Education & U.S. State and Local Government, Amazon Web Services

Industry Leadership of the Year

Kim Majerus leads the U.S. education, state and local government business at Amazon Web Services with more than 20 years of experience. Majerus is an expert in improving citizen services in justice and public safety, health and human services, and more. Committed to workforce development, Majerus collaborates with government leaders to provide cloud computing education for thousands of their citizens.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Sean McCann

Regional Vice President of Sales - U.S. SLED, Zscaler

Industry Leadership of the Year

Sean McCann is the regional vice president of sales for U.S. SLED at Zscaler. McCann has been with the company since 2020. He came to the role after nearly four years at Palo Alto Networks, and previously worked for VMware and CA Technologies.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Brent Mitchell

Vice President of State, Local & Education, Google Public Sector

Industry Leadership of the Year

Brent Mitchell is the vice president for state, local and education at Google Public Sector. In this role, he leads a team of professionals that assist state and local governments with modernization efforts to drive efficiencies, increase citizen engagement and deliver better outcomes. Mitchell is also working with state and local government leaders to help them embrace generative artificial intelligence in their roles.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Lisa Panepinto

Senior Vice President & General Manager of Government Services, Comcast Business

Industry Leadership of the Year

Lisa Panepinto is the Senior Vice President & General Manager of Government Services for Comcast Business. Panepinto was previously the Senior Vice President of Operations and the executive director and Vice President of Performance Management at the company. Before joining Comcast Business, Panepinto was at Comcast Cable in various roles, and has been since 2000.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Francisco Ramirez

Chief Architect - State and Local Government, Red Hat

Industry Leadership of the Year

Francisco Ramirez is the Chief Architect for State and Local Government at Red Hat. Before becoming chief architect, Ramirez worked in various role for Red Hat. Ramirez has also worked for Dell EMC, General Dynamics Information Technology, Symantec and others.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Matt Schneider

Vice President - Public Sector Sales, Cloudflare

Industry Leadership of the Year

Matt Schneider is the vice president of public sector sales at Cloudflare. Schneider has previously held leadership roles at Palo Alto Networks, VMware, Cisco and AT&T.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Jeff Shultz

Public Sector CTO, Socure

Industry Leadership of the Year

Jeff Shultz is the public sector CTO for Socure. Before joining Socure, Shultz spent a year as a senior technical adviser to the General Services Administration, and before that worked for various companies in the private sector.

2024 StateScoop 50 Awards

Bulent Taskan

Senior Executive Advisor - State and Local Government and Education, World Wide Technology

Industry Leadership of the Year

Bulent Taskan is a senior executive advisor for state and local government and education at World Wide Technology. Taskan has worked in the private sector supporting state and local government for several years, including roles at Lumen Technologies, CenturyLink, Level3 and Windstream Communications.