#212: From COBOL to Salesforce: Washington State Liquor Board’s 9-Year, Multi-Million Modernization + Army Leadership Lessons

A recovery test that only checks for success can’t prove much. Neither can a leader who only says “trust me.” The University of Wyoming is rolling out an AI platform for faculty, staff, and students, and owned up when one of the trainings went too fast. Grand Valley State’s IT team runs on values that spell ACT, and Miloš Topić is now on record to finish his leadership book sometime in 2027. And Commvault’s Jared Whitehurst thinks a lot of recovery tests are checking for the wrong thing. I sat down with Amy McLaughlin, Miloš, and Jared at EDUCAUSE 2026 in Denver to talk about all of it. And yes, we also get into ResOps, the minimal viable campus, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, why the network comes first, and my first time wearing a cowboy hat on camera (courtesy of Jared).

For the past decade, Ramsey County’s CIO, Chetan Ganatra, has been trying to prove that government doesn’t have to be slow and risk-averse, first at the state and now at the county. It started with a 2017 Star Tribune series on abuse complaints in senior care and his parents living alone in India. When he arrived at the county four and a half years ago, at least 7 to 10 escalations hit his inbox every day. The systems are about the same today. The inbox isn’t. I talked with Chetan about all of it. And yes, we also get into the first team, why the state felt like a vaccine lab, what he gets out of the GOVIT Leadership Summit & Symposium, and more! Timestamps 0:00 Government doesn't have to be slow 5:20 Why Chetan joined government 9:30 State lab vs. county front line 12:15 Breaking down IT silos 13:30 Minnesotans and hard conversations 15:20 Service teams, not tech teams 16:20 Measuring the culture shift 20:20 Accountability isn’t a dirty word 21:10 Air cover and psychological safety 22:50 Numbers only tell part of the story 24:30 Why go to GOVIT? Connect with the Guests 💼 Chetan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ganatrachetan/ Connect with Me 📬 Newsletter: https://techtables.com/ 🎙️ Podcast: https://www.techtables.com/episodes/ 😃 Guests: https://www.techtables.com/guests/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtoste/

Recorded on-site at EDUCAUSE 2026 in Denver, inside the Info-Tech Research Group booth, this episode brings together John O'Brien (President & CEO, EDUCAUSE) and Mark Roman (Managing Partner, Education, Info-Tech Research Group). John has led EDUCAUSE since 2015, and Mark was a CIO for a long time before working with colleges and universities around the world. John and Mark dig into where people still matter when the answers come from machines. John raises a question that could reshape higher ed: if human connection becomes the premium experience, who gets access to it, and who is left with only automated alternatives? Mark makes the case that a CIO who sees across the whole institution could rise to COO, and the conversation lands on the messy middle of learning that AI lets students skip. Timestamps (00:00) Intro to John O'Brien and Mark Roman (02:55) College Isn't About the Knowledge (05:50) Moving Up Bloom's Taxonomy (10:40) Earning a Seat at the Table (11:40) Skipping the Messy Middle (14:20) The Future of the CIO (17:05) The AI Slop Divide (18:50) What John Is Proudest Of (21:00) From Young Professional to Board Chair (25:30) An Appeal to Kindness (25:45) Promoted, Still Doing the Old Job (26:35) Start With Values Connect with the Guests 💼 John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnobrienphd/ 💼 Mark's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markromanlinkedin/ Connect with Me 🌐 Full episode & transcript: https://podcast.techtables.com/educause-john-obrien-ai-slop/ 📬 Newsletter: https://techtables.com/ 🎙️ Podcast: https://podcast.techtables.com/ 🤝 Community: https://techtables.com/communities-local-government 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtoste/

In this episode, Rob Reynolds (CIO, Orange County, North Carolina) talks about coming from a big Navy family. His dad served in Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), the unit Rob calls the first Navy SEALs, and in the '60s his team was first out to the space capsules to get the astronauts out. Rob followed his dad into the Navy, then spent about 30 years in IT, including 2 turns as a CISO. Rob shares what happens when you give people the tools, from the AI sandbox behind a staffer's tax calculator idea, to users trained to flag the message that looks like it came from Rob, to a $10M ARPA broadband buildout that has people calling Rob to say thank you. Orange County also placed #8 in its population category (150,000–249,999) in the 2026 Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government and NACo, recognition Rob credits to his team's work modernizing county services. Timestamps 0:00 A Commodore VIC-20 at age 12, then 2x CISO, now county CIO 1:24 His dad's UDT team got astronauts out of Gemini-era capsules 11:36 An OpenAI Teams subscription, branded as the county's AI Innovation Lab 13:44 Copilot Chat for every county user, and learning circles next 17:04 The AI tax calculator: a former tax staffer's idea, live in 1 day 25:33 When "Rob" asks for gift cards, users know to raise their hand 26:36 An annual cyber survey, timed to October, sets the quarterly training 28:19 Even when AI is battling AI, it all goes back to people 31:31 Short training, no jargon, and CISA lunch-and-learns for staff 32:29 The $10M ARPA broadband buildout reaching about 6,000 unserved homes 33:52 The calls Rob gets from families whose kids can now do classes online 36:52 Why Rob still remembers the names of people who pulled him up Connect with the Guests 💼 Rob's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robreyn/

Recorded on-site at CalSTRS in West Sacramento, this episode brings together Ashish Jain (Chief Technology Officer, CalSTRS), Prashant Mittal (Chief Information Officer, California Department of Motor Vehicles), and Hillory Courtney (Managing Partner, Info-Tech Research Group). Ashish and Prashant go back to 1999. Prashant once reported to Ashish, and Ashish attended Prashant's wedding in India, although Prashant jokingly questions if that really happened. Together with Hillory, the three share about how trust shapes every call they make, from DMV changing course on its modernization, to CalSTRS keeping AI out of decisions, to how Info-Tech helped them both turn ideas into action. Guests: Ashish Jain, Chief Technology Officer, CalSTRS Prashant Mittal, Chief Information Officer, California Department of Motor Vehicles Hillory Courtney, Managing Partner, Info-Tech Research Group Timestamps: 0:00 Back at CalSTRS: the trust Prashant says bonded IT and business 2:25 Friends since 1999, and why that trust mattered when Prashant joined CalSTRS 9:09 "Your issues and your risk are my issue and my risk" 16:01 Wait for the business to ask, or act first? Prashant's five-minute pitch 26:03 Six weeks, 200-plus new hires, and the moment Prashant changed course 30:00 "I can't buy a tool and drop it on the table" 33:00 "AI is not making a decision for us" 51:20 Trust took years to build: why CalSTRS won't go all-AI with members 55:17 Different missions, 60 to 70% of the same problems: why agencies compare notes 57:09 "The idea is great, but now you have to operationalize it"