The Government Huddle with Brian Chidester

The One with the U.S. Army Special Forces Walk-On

Nate Boyer, former United States Army Green Beret, college and professional football player, philanthropist, veterans advocate, actor and director joins the show to discuss what he believes builds great teams and what you can be doing today to strengthen your own squad. We also talk about his new movie and foundation, his formula for healing up from challenging situations, and what he learned from playing under two hall of fame football coaches.

The One with the Bureaucracy Hacker

Nick Sinai, co-author of the book “Hack Your Bureaucracy”, former deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States, and venture capitalist joins the show to talk about his recent book and explain the real-world experiences working in both the federal sector and the private sector that informed the 56 tactics shared in the book. We also discuss his role in driving open data usage during his time in government and what sparked is passion for innovation at all levels.

The One with the Maximus Cybersecurity Experts

Bruce Matthews and Kynan Carver, cybersecurity executives at Maximus and experts in threat intelligence and security technology join the show to discuss the progress that has been made since the release of the cybersecurity executive order. We also talk specifically about advances made at DHS and the DoD, how the CMMC program is evolving in support of the defense industrial base, and they make predictions for what 2023 will bring to this area of focus.

The One with the Former Commonwealth of Virginia CIO

Nelson Moe, Former Chief Information Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia and Strategy Principal for Iron Bow Technologies joins the show to discuss some of the lessons he learned during his career as a technology leader in government. We also discuss how he went from being a submarine captain to a role in government technology, important considerations CIO’s should be thinking about regarding cybersecurity, and how the pandemic influenced his approach to partner and vendor relations.

The One with the DOL Emerging Technology Chief

Krista Kinnard, Chief of Emerging Technology at the United States Department of Labor joins the show to discuss some of the priorities she has in this position, and challenges that she faces, being the first person to occupy this job. We also discuss her thoughts on what emerging technologies can have the biggest impact on government, if she believes the metaverse will become a public sector focus, and best practices on driving adoption of digital technologies across an enterprise.

The One with the USAF Kessel Run Co-Founder

Bryon Kroger, Former Co-Founder and COO of the U.S. Air Force’s Kessel Run Program and the Founder and CEO of Rise8 joins the show to discuss why adopting a “think big, start small” strategy to software transformation is so important to success. We also discuss the story behind Project Kessel Run and how it has influenced other software factories across government, his thoughts on driving change at large bureaucracies, and what he believes needs to change for next-generation technologies to get into the warfighter’s hands faster.

The One with the Workforce Innovation Leader

Kelley Steven Waiss, Head of Workforce Innovation at ServiceNow and the author of the book “The Inside Gig: How Sharing Untapped Talent Across Boundaries Unleashes Organizational Capacity” joins the show to discuss the changes in the government workforce and predictions for the future. We also look at tactical ways that agencies can redistribute the talent they already have in their organization to eliminate some of the gaps they might have, how to identify employees that may want to expand their roles, and how technology has really changed an organization’s view on talent.

The One with the USAF A-10 Fighter Pilot

Tammy Barlette, a Mindset and Performance Expert and Retired Lieutenant Colonel and fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force joins the show to discuss ways we can all work to be better leaders based on experiences she has had in the cockpit. She also discusses what separates the best of the best of the best in fighter pilot training, some of the more common issues she sees when working with people that they are struggling with from a mindset perspective, and how she deals with imposter syndrome.

The One with the Ukraine DX Deputy Minister

Alex Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Head of the Diia City project joins the show to discuss why their digital efforts have been key to helping combat Russian aggression and how their focus has evolved from before the Russian invasion to the present. We also talk about what it is like to live in Ukraine on a day-to-day basis, their success in partnering with the private sector so rapidly and lessons learned that can help other governments, why cryptocurrency has been so vital to their strategy, and how they see blockchain becoming a mainstream government technology.

The One with the AWS US Public Sector Leader

Dave Levy, Vice President of U.S. Government, Nonprofit, and Healthcare at Amazon Web Services (AWS) joins the show to discuss why some agencies still continue to struggle with cloud adoption due to cultural, budgetary and workforce constraints and how AWS is helping them overcome these challenges? We also discuss how the recent Executive Order on “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery” stands to reshape the way government agencies design and deliver services to the public and how agencies should approach their modernization efforts to meet the EO’s mandates.