Overview

As artificial intelligence reshapes the public sector, state and local CIOs face a critical challenge: preparing their workforces to adopt and scale AI responsibly and effectively.

This webinar focuses on the workforce side of AI transformation — offering practical insights for navigating new talent requirements, filling skills gaps, and promoting cross-department and cross-agency collaboration. Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross and others will share how they are preparing employees to work alongside AI, from reskilling initiatives and change management to ethical implementation and cultural readiness.

Designed for state and local government technology leaders, this session explores how to:

Align workforce planning with your AI strategy
Identify and develop the skills needed to support AI initiatives
Foster collaboration between CIOs and HR to drive organizational change
Support staff through AI adoption with clarity, transparency and training

Speakers

Ted Ross

CIO, City of Los Angeles

Ted Ross is CIO for the City of Los Angeles and General Manager of the Information Technology Agency (ITA). His department of 450 employees delivers enterprise IT services to 48,000 employees across 41 City departments and digital services to over 4 million residents. Appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2015, Ted has over 21 years of private and public sector technology experience, earning various awards along the way, including #1 Digital City, Top 25 Doer & Dreamer, and CIO of the Year according to LA Business Journal. Ted has been featured in Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist, as well as, a presenter at many conferences, such as the Andreessen-Horowitz Tech Summit, Milken Institute, and India’s NASSCOM.

Natalie Sisto

Accenture Global Health & Public Service, Talent & Organization Industry Group Lead

Natalie J. Sisto leads Talent & Organization services for the Health & Public Service industry group at Accenture. A mission-inspired and results-driven leader, Natalie brings extensive experience serving a diverse set of clients globally, including higher education institutions, nonprofits, and federal and state government organizations. As a Managing Director, she partners with clients to reinvent work and talent practices, develop strategies, design operating models, and foster economic and workforce development. Her work focuses on clearing organizational obstacles and unlocking team potential for sustained mission impact

Amir Abbasi

Sr Manager, Solution Consulting, Workday

Amir is a seasoned digital transformation leader and native of Los Angeles, known for helping hundreds of organizations adopt technologies that fundamentally transform how they operate. His extensive experience includes deploying large-scale reporting and data warehousing initiatives, implementing end-to-end process automation, and, most recently, integrating AI capabilities to drive significant organizational efficiencies. He is currently responsible for leading a team of Enterprise Architects who advise State & Local Government entities on maximizing the Workday platform and its embedded AI capabilities. Amir focuses on aligning technology with workforce readiness to help agencies succeed in the new age of AI-driven government.

Justin Marlowe — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Justin Marlowe is a research professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. His research and teaching are focused on public finance, and he has published five books — including the first open-access textbook on public financial management — and more than 100 articles on public capital markets, infrastructure finance, financial disclosure, public financial technology, and public-private partnerships. He is an admitted expert witness in federal and state courts, and has served on technical advisory bodies for the state of Washington, the California State Auditor, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the National Academy of Sciences, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and many other public, private and nonprofit organizations. Prior to academia, he worked in local government in Michigan. He is a Certified Government Financial Manager and an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, and he holds a Ph.D. in political science and public administration from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Webinar

Building a Future-Ready Workforce: Strategies for AI-Driven Government