Original Broadcast 2/11/26
Presented by Ping Identity & Carahsoft
State government is in the middle of a major shift: residents now expect services to feel as easy and intuitive as the best private-sector experiences. In Episode 1 of State Gov Today, leaders from Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas share how they’re modernizing platforms, strengthening cybersecurity, and using data and AI to create services that work the way people actually live.
Across every conversation, a consistent theme emerges: modernization isn’t about adopting new tools for their own sake. It’s about designing government around outcomes — faster service delivery, better access, stronger trust, and platforms that scale statewide without creating friction for citizens or agency teams.
Kristin Darby, Chief Information Officer, State of Tennessee
Kristin Darby explains why citizen-centric government isn’t something you add at the end of a project — it must be built into the design from the beginning. She describes how citizens don’t think in agency silos. They think in life events and needs, like
Darby also outlines how Tennessee is using AI as an enabler of modernization. Instead of waiting for every legacy system to be replaced, Tennessee can layer AI and improved user experiences on top of existing infrastructure. She emphasizes equity as a core principle, highlighting broadband investment and Tennessee’s TN.AI strategy as key efforts to ensure all Tennesseans — rural and urban — have access to secure AI-enabled government services.
Key Takeaways
Citizen-centric design starts with how residents live, not how government is organized.
AI can modernize services without requiring full replacement of every legacy system.
Cybersecurity and customer-centricity must be foundational, not add-ons.
Ames Fowler, Manager of Sales Engineering, State, Local and Education, Ping Identity
As governments modernize services and push toward seamless digital experiences, Ames Fowler explains why identity should be treated as the common thread across every interaction — not as an afterthought or an isolated login system. Fowler describes a citizen-centric journey as one that honors residents’ time, reduces friction, and protects identities, while still meeting the growing security challenges posed by sophisticated threats like AI-enabled fraud, bots, and deepfakes.
He emphasizes that not every interaction should require login. Instead, government services should request only the information needed for the task at hand, elevating security only when digital risk is present. Fowler describes modern identity strategies built around centralized identity directories, orchestration tools, progressive profiling, fraud prevention, and identity verification that supports continuous trust throughout an interaction.
Fowler also highlights the challenge of designing for modern communities. Citizens have different access needs, different devices, different levels of connectivity, and in some cases, limited documentation. He explains how identity systems must adapt to digital equity realities, offering multiple validation paths, including biometrics, digital credentials, and even trusted delegation for citizens who cannot easily validate identity themselves. Ultimately, Fowler says scaling digital identity requires leadership, coordination across agencies, and a mindset shift: identity is a program, not a project.
Key Takeaways
Identity should be centralized and treated as the platform that connects citizen services across agencies.
Security and convenience can coexist by applying contextual security and progressive profiling.
Digital equity requires identity systems to support multiple validation paths, not one-size-fits-all solutions.
Dan Cronin, Chief Information Officer, State of Oklahoma
Dan Cronin describes Oklahoma’s modernization push as an effort grounded in prioritization and value realization. His focus is improving operational efficiency, reducing cost, and ensuring state IT delivers services at the best price point with the right technology. Citizen-centric government, he explains, is about making interactions smooth, intuitive, and easy to navigate, regardless of the complexity of the systems behind the scenes.
Key Takeaways
Modernization is driven by value: better service delivery at the best cost.
Making complexity invisible requires process simplification and empowerment, not just new systems.
Data and AI readiness depend on building a scalable statewide platform.
Anh Selissen, Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Transportation
Anh Selissen explains that citizen-centric government begins with listening — not just to internal business needs, but to what the public actually needs from a transportation agency. For TxDOT, citizen experience is measured through real-world outcomes: reducing congestion, improving road safety, and modernizing operations that support infrastructure delivery across a massive state.
Key Takeaways
Scaling requires ROI, success metrics, and responsible expansion through pilots.
AI success depends on clean, standardized, secure enterprise data.
Citizen-centric transportation technology must focus on outcomes like safety and congestion reduction.