Episodes

A conversation with Sophia Moshasha, Vice President of the DC chapter of the VR/AR Association Sophia Moshasha is on a mission to accelerate the adoption of immersive and emerging technologies. Behind the scenes, on camera, and center stage, she propels multiple initiatives dedicated to elevating education and engagement with XR across diverse industry domains. Sophia serves as the Vice President of the DC chapter of the VR/AR Association, the global industry association for VR and AR, connect...

A conversation with Dr. Stephanie Deitrick, Chief Data Officer at City of Tempe, AZ.  Tempe is one of the first cities to establish a ethical AI Policy for the city government and approved by the City Council. Dr. Deitrick played the leadership role in crafting this unique and comprehensive AI policy. Learn what led to its creation and what comes next, and how her skill sets in decision support, data-driven decision making, GIS and data analysis contributed to her quest. In addition to her r...

CBS, NBC, CNN continue to cover the significance of cities hiring “Chief Heat Officers”. The first in the Nation was Phoenix. Prior to all the national attention we had a chance to interview David Hondula for this podcast. Weather is an awe-inspiring phenomenon that captures the attention of everyone at some point in their lives, but it’s also powerful and can be deadly as well. When we think of life-threatening weather, hurricanes, severe storms, and flooding come to mind first, but did you kno...

A conversation with Dr. Jonathan Reichental, author of the best-selling book, Data Governance for Dummies – a compelling book and discussion for all. Jonathan is a multiple-award-winning technology and business leader whose career has spanned both the private and public sectors. He’s been a senior software engineering manager, a director of technology innovation, and has served as chief information officer at both O’Reilly Media and the City of Palo Alto, California. Reichental is currently the...

A Conversation with Robert Ferdan CGCIO, IT Director, Alameda County Mosquito District. Few realize that there are over 700 mosquito abatement districts (MADs) across the US – most with a critical IT component. These quasi-governmental organizations play a vital role in controlling the world’s most deadly disease-carrying insect. The Alameda County (CA) Mosquito Abatement District long ago secured the unique address www.mosquitoes.org which simply adds to the cleverness of this fascinating worl...

Season 3: Episode 10, May 18: A conversation with Eric Skomra, State & Local Government Chief Technology & Innovation Strategist Central US and Canada, for Dell EMC.  Eric has a unique view of the state and local technology having served as the CIO for a city, a county, a hospital, as well as CIO for the largest county in Ohio at Franklin County Data Center. He also was the state CIO for the State of Ohio Medicaid Agency. Add to all his public sector experience he has spend some time in the ...

A conversation with Kerry Goode, Chief Information Officer, and DeWayne Kendall, Chief Technology Officer, for the City of Durham, North Carolina Kerry and DeWayne share how they perfected a working model that initially was designed to address key IT staff shortages and has grown to much more. Originally a presentation at PTI’s recent Local Government CIO & Tech Leader Summit, this presentation was so interesting it was converted into a Sharkbytes.Net podcast. What they did for the City of Durh...

A conversation with Dr. David Bray, Distinguished Fellow at the non-partisan Stimson Center as well as non-resident Distinguished fellow, Business Executives for National Security, and former CIO of the Federal Communications Commission. Dr. Bray served as the Chief Information Officer for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for 4+ years where he witnessed first-hand the problems of disinformation and the rise of botnets and “cyborgs” – hybrid human and AI posters of disinformation that...

A Conversation with Joe Morrisroe, Deputy Commissioner and Executive Director, NYC311, Office of Technology and Innovation - City of New York.  New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of New York City's 311 service, the platform that provides New Yorkers seeking information and assistance from the city agencies direct answers and support to their needs. Since it launched in March 2003, 311 has received more than 525 million contacts — through phon...

This might be one of the first – podcast interviews with AI. This episode takes a unique approach as host Alan Shark chats with both AI powered platforms, Alexa and ChatGPT. Topics explored are the differences between Alexa and ChatGPT, defining generative AI, some noted shortcomings, future directions with AI, tips for improved communications with AI machines, and a discussion on applications for state and local government. Hear firsthand as this might be a first podcast between man and machine...

Small nonprofits have their own challenges when it comes to safeguarding their enterprise. Eddie Dinkins operates a small managed service provider company called Silicon Beach Computer Services and Coastal Eddie Technical Services. He served as Network Manager at the University of California San Diego, and later moved on as a systems consultant to many firms and individuals in the greater San Diego, specializing in the financial services industry. He also has served as a marketing consultant, he...

Jonathan is a multiple-award-winning technology and business leader whose career has spanned both the private and public sectors. He’s been a senior software engineering manager, a director of technology innovation, and has served as chief information officer at both O’Reilly Media and the City of Palo Alto, California. Reichental is currently the founder of advisory, investment, and education firm, Human Future, and also creates online education for LinkedIn Learning. He has written three books...

A conversation with Doug Robinson, Executive Director and Alan Shark, Executive Director, CompTIA Public Technology Institute. Now in its twelfth year, this webcast attracted over 500 registrations. The audio portion is offered here as a podcast and this episode focuses on local government and general Q&A. Learn what these thought leaders see in the year ahead for state and local government tech.

A conversation with Doug Robinson, Executive Director and Alan Shark, Executive Director, CompTIA Public Technology Institute. Now in its twelfth year, this webcast attracted over 500 registrations. The audio portion is offered here as a podcast and this episode focuses on state trends. Learn what these thought leaders see in the year ahead for state and local government tech.

A conversation with Darryl Polk, Chief Technology Officer, County of Riverside, CA and CGCIO graduate. Darryl, once a public safety dispatcher and having spent many years as the Director of Innovation & Technology (CIO) at the City of Rancho Cucamonga is now with the County of Riverside where he has uncovered an unsettling situation regarding ownership of cloud data and the ability to move to another vendor if need be. How good are cloud managed contracts and beyond the “happy talk” what perils...

A year-end summary with host Alan Shark, CompTIA Vice President, Public Sector and Executive Director for the Public Technology Institute.

A conversation with Ruth Buckley, Director Cork City Council and CIO. Ruth Buckley has been with the City of Cork Ireland. As a member of senior management team for over 20 years she has led an ambitious digital transformation program, the delivery of a Digital strategy for the city and is a founder of the Cork Smart Gateway. As of founder member of I Wish, Ruth fully supports women in technology and diversity in the workplace. Ruth holds two internationally recognized project management certi...