Episodes

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Katherine Hennessey of Everpure to examine how agencies can strengthen cyber resilience as data continues to expand across legacy infrastructure, cloud platforms, hybrid environments, and edge locations. They discuss how better data management can help agencies reduce operational risk, recover faster, keep critical services running during disruption, and support future priorities, including AI.

As AI becomes part of federal workflows, applications, and mission systems, agencies need a security operating model that can adjust as quickly as the technology and its uses evolve. Models change, data connections expand, and agents may perform thousands of actions in the time it takes a person to complete one. Agencies therefore need to complement formal authorization with continuous evidence and live enforcement. In this podcast, Anish Patel, head of federal at Cloudflare, will discuss how a...

Federal agencies are working to turn growing volumes of data into trusted insights that can inform decisions and advance mission outcomes. In this episode of MeriTalking, Gail Emery sits down with Patrick McGarry, federal chief data officer at ServiceNow, and Paula Osborn, deputy chief data and AI officer at the U.S. Department of State, to discuss how agencies can connect data strategy to execution. They explore how agencies can build trusted data foundations, embed governance into workflows, a...

The next phase of zero trust modernization requires agencies to think beyond a single network, environment, or use case. Enterprise users, cloud applications, tactical operations, IoT devices, OT systems, and physical security infrastructure are all part of the mission fabric, and all require secure, resilient connectivity. In this episode of MeriTalking, Gail Emery sits down with Rodney Butcher, account manager at ThunderCat Technology, and John McDonald, vice president for federal sales at Ver...

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Antonella O’Brien, Consultant, CSG Federal Systems Integrators and Channel, Dell Technologies, to discuss what it really takes to enable AI at the desktop in federal environments where agencies are working to boost productivity, speed decisions, and turn AI pilots into repeatable mission outcomes. The conversation explores the workforce use cases that are best suited for on-device AI, how agencies can build trust through securi...

The biggest threat to state and local governments isn’t one budget gap, it’s compounding uncertainty: shifting funding rules, rising compliance demands, and disruptions that trigger spending now and reimbursement later. In this episode of MeriTalking, Gail Emery sits down with Melissa Moore, chief financial officer of Buncombe County, North Carolina, and James Harris, senior manager at Workday, to unpack what fiscal resilience looks like in practice.

MeriTalk’s Gail Emery speaks with Suril Desai, vice president of engineering at Acalvio, and Ralph Kahn, general manager for federal at Acalvio, about how cyber deception helps agencies detect adversaries earlier. They discuss how deception produces high-fidelity alerts, reduces security operations center alert fatigue, and strengthens zero trust by improving visibility into attacker activity.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Nicole Burdette sits down with ICF’s Kyle Tuberson to discuss how agencies can go from lab to live, supported by a consistent delivery approach in ICF’s Fathom, which bakes in security, governance, and integration with existing systems. They’ll also address the drivers for AI, from efficiency pressures to practical technology maturity, and the common barriers leaders face, from talent to infrastructure and security.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Nicole Burdette sits down with LaRel Rogers, staff product marketing manager for federal at Okta, to discuss the rise of agentic AI and its impact across government. Together, they explore how autonomous AI agents are transforming mission delivery, along with strategies for protecting critical access points and data flows between human users, AI agents, and sensitive government systems.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Gail Emery sits down with Cisco’s JT Clay and Norman St. Laurent to discuss how federal agencies can meet the modernization mandate while improving security and efficiency. Gail and her guests explore how agencies are blocking cyber threats, accelerating mission workflows, and trimming tool sprawl, plus smart tactics for measuring success and staying ahead of evolving mandates.

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Bob Kerr, product management leader at Dell Technologies’ Mission Systems, to discuss how federal leaders can evaluate public, hybrid and dedicated wireless choices – and why dedicated federal wireless is so important today. Kerr outlines why and how Dell built a 5G solution tailored specifically for federal missions.

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Jeff Brown, Google’s Global Public Sector Workspace Lead, to discuss where modern collaboration, AI, and security intersect for the federal government. They explore how agencies can evolve their collaboration strategies, embrace AI responsibly, and align with zero trust principles – all while overcoming the persistent challenges of outdated processes and fragmented technology.

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery chats with George Teas, Vice President of Solutions Architecture at Elastic, about the Federal zero trust journey. As agencies move from crawl to run, they face mounting challenges with visibility, interoperability, and scalability. Teas shares insights on how agencies can harness data across the five pillars of zero trust to overcome these hurdles—without losing ground on their existing cybersecurity investments.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Gen. Kurt L. Sonntag, a member of the EY U.S. Army Advisory Council, and Joe Blanton, director, strategic initiatives at GDIT discuss key vulnerabilities in global supply chains, the technologies driving logistics capabilities, and the significance of data management in logistics, and more.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Citrix’s David Smith, senior director, public sector sales and Gary Pentecost, senior director, account technical strategist, sit down with MeriTalk’s Gail Emery to explore why agencies should adopt a hybrid multi-cloud approach. They also provide key considerations for agencies as they develop hybrid multi-cloud strategies.

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Surya Durvasula, senior vice president and general manager, Dell Technologies, Federal, and Eric Trexler, senior vice president of public sector, Palo Alto Networks, to discuss the findings of the “Tech Tonic: FY25 Federal CIO Forecast” and provide their own recommendations on where CIOs should focus going forward.

In this episode of MeriTalking, Mike Nash, director of engineering and Kent Laursen, GDIT’s technology director for digital engineering, sit down with MeriTalk’s Gail Emery to explore how digital engineering provides benefits for Federal organizations.

Enterprise security is undergoing a significant transformation as Federal agencies adopt cloud applications and a decentralized approach to networking. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Norman St. Laurent, Federal product marketing manager for security at Cisco, to discuss the intersection of Federal cybersecurity mandates and cloud-centric modernization. They explore how agencies are evaluating cloud risk and leveraging cloud-delivered security capabilities to...

State and local governments are using more devices, applications, and tools than ever before – increasing their cybersecurity complexity. And with limited resources, many IT teams are unable to create a comprehensive view of their security posture as threats evolve in sophistication. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s John Curran sits down with Peter Romness, cybersecurity principal in the CISO Advisors Office at Cisco, to discuss how overburdened state and local government security team...

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Kevin Chin, director of generative AI, and Jackson Scott, senior research scientist for the AI/Machine learning accelerator at Leidos, to explore how agencies can overcome the challenge of fighting public perception of generative AI and prepare their systems and teams for enterprise-wide implementation of the technology.

Federal IT is experiencing an explosion of complexity. At the same time, government is being asked to innovate and move faster. To meet these requirements and reduce complexity, agencies must change the way they work – both technically and culturally. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery is joined by Brian Mikkelsen, Datadog’s vice president and general manager for U.S. Public Sector, to break down the causes of complexity and discuss how enterprise-wide visibility can enable bo...

Efficient, effective government operations depend on interoperable systems that connect employees, citizens, and partners to the resources they need – securely. But legacy identity, credential, and access management (ICAM) can result in siloed, incompatible systems and inadequate access controls. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Grace Dille sits down with Bryan Rosensteel, U.S. Federal chief technology officer at Ping Identity, to explore how Federal agencies can overcome the limitatio...

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Peter Romness, cybersecurity principal, CISO Advisors Office at Cisco, to explore how agencies need unifed cybersecurtity solutions, visibility across their enviornment, and comprehenseive threat intelligence capabilities to go toe-to-toe against bad actors – and earn the decision.