ABOUT
This Master Class was developed in response to requests from graduates for a program that they could participate in after graduation – to keep abreast of the latest leadership issues impacting local government IT, and to stay connected with other CGCIO alumni.
This program is reserved for graduates of the PTI / Rutgers University CGCIO program and is being offered in-person and virtually.
The Master Class will take place on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT at the National Academy of Public Administration, 1600 K Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington DC, 20006. There are a number of hotels located in the greater Washington, DC area.
Light breakfast and lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.
Participation in the Master Class counts six hours toward recertification.
In-person Attendees Receive a Complimentary Copy of Artificial Intelligence - A Primer for State and Local Governments: Everything You Need to Know Since Yesterday.
AGENDA (All Times Eastern Daylight Savings Time)
9:30 – 10:00 am ET
Coffee/juice/pastries
10:00 – 10:15 am ET
Welcome and Introductions
10:15 am - 10:30 am ET
Update on PTI / Rutgers CGCIO program
- Alan Shark, Executive Director, PTI, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Program Leader
10:30 – 11:15 am ET
The Importance of Championship
An important, but largely unspoken, job of senior leaders should be nurturing the professional success of the standout employees around them. It’s typically not in anybody’s job description—but it should be. Creating and spreading such success involves much more than critiquing an employee’s work and offering advice and assistance when your intercession is requested or needed. A champion takes a personal hands-on interest in another’s success and advancement. A champion goes out of their way to guide them, instruct them, encourage them, introduce them to others who may be helpful to them, and provide them with a confidential sounding board when they need to vent frustrations or seek career advice.
- Adam Frumkin, CIO, Franklin County, Ohio and PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Adjunct Faculty
- Barry Condrey, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Adjunct Faculty
11:15 – 12:00 Noon ET
Understanding the A—hole Dilemma
They make life miserable: bullies, jerks, backstabbers, or to put in plainly, a--holes. We will start off with background on what drives this type of toxic personality, provide some practical advice on how to cope with and, hopefully, overcome this type of toxic behavior, and then share examples of how others have dealt with this type of personality in the workplace.
- Alan Shark, Executive Director, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Program Leader
12:00 – 1:00 pm ET
Networking Lunch and Email Break
1:00 - 1:30 pm ET
AI and the Role of the Technology Leader: Ten AI Applications That You Need to Know About
This discussion will build on our last Master Class discussion as we explore the role of the IT leader in developing and promoting AI within the organization. It is important to reach out to your customers and business partners and lead the discussion around AI versus playing catch up and responding piecemeal. Other opportunities include working with management and policy leaders on policy development for the organization and community, while at the same time develop guidelines that you can put in place for AI exploration and implementation. We will also take a look at the top 10 applications and tools that you can adopt now in your organization.
- Alan Shark, Executive Director, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Program Leader
1:30 – 2:00 pm ET
Achieving and Maintaining a Professional Growth Mindset
Growth mindset describes a way of viewing challenges and setbacks. People who have a growth mindset believe that even if they struggle with certain skills, their abilities aren’t set in stone. They think that with work, their skills can improve over time. People with the opposite belief — that abilities are what they are and won’t change — have a fixed mindset. They think their skills won’t improve no matter how hard they try.
This discussion will explore the concept of growth mindset; how mindsets aren’t set in stone and may have a growth mindset at certain times and a fixed mindset at others.
- Adam Frumkin, CIO, Franklin County, Ohio, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Adjunct Faculty
2:00 – 3:00 pm ET
Challenges of Being a Technology Leader in Local Government
For both organizations and individuals, the role of technology leader is undergoing a profound transformation, with many viewing the position of IT leader as evolving into the roles of change makers within the organization, increasingly driving business and technology initiatives. With this transformation comes challenges, to include budgeting, staffing, priority setting, and managing day-to-day operations. This discussion will explore how leaders are addressing the following challenges:
- Alignment (IT & Organization)
- Cybersecurity (The service catalog just keeps expanding, now add AI)
- Project prioritization
- Vendor Sourcing & Management (Outsourcing). Finding good reliable partners is becoming harder and harder
- Huge and costly software (ERP) projects with a high margin of failure. Cloud systems are also not the panacea we were promised
- How much attention should I be paying to AI really? Will it help me, hurt me, or force me into early retirement
- Other?
- Maria Ward, Assistant Director, Department of Information Technology, Roanoke County, Virginia
3:00 – 3:55 pm ET
CGCIOs Present: Tech Success Stories
A highlight of the CGCIO program is the presentation of student Capstones as part of graduation. We wanted to revisit the student-sharing experience and invite Master Class participants to provide brief overviews of tech projects that they have implemented, including how they applied some of their CGCIO leadership skills to ensure project success.
3:55 – 4:00 pm ET
Concluding Remarks
- Alan Shark, Executive Director, PTI / Rutgers CGCIO Program Lead
