The NASCIO Top 10: How States Are Redefining IT Strategy for 2026

Craig P. Orgeron, CPM, PhD

Executive Director, Department of Information Technology Services & Chief Information Officer, State of Mississippi

Craig P. Orgeron has extensive information technology experience in the private, federal and state levels of the public sector. Currently, he serves as the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services and CIO for the State of Mississippi, a role he held previously for nearly a decade. Craig began his career as a communications-computer systems officer in the United States Air Force. He has served as an executive government advisor with Amazon Web Services, president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and on the Executive Committee of the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). He holds a bachelor’s degree in MIS, a master’s degree and a doctorate in public policy and administration from Mississippi State University and is a graduate of the Harvard University Business Analytics Program (HBAP).

Bry Pardoe

Chief Information Officer, State of Pennsylvania

Teena Piccione

Secretary & State Chief Information Officer, State of North Carolina

Teena Piccione (pronounced pitch-OWN-ee) joined the N.C. Department of Information Technology in January 2025.

As Secretary and State Chief Information Officer, she leads the agency responsible for strategic IT planning and the procurement and delivery of IT services and solutions as well as cybersecurity and efforts to expand broadband access and affordability across North Carolina.

Prior to NCDIT, Piccione was the managing director for Cloud and Customer Engineering over Telecommunications, Media, Entertainment and Gaming at Google. She has also worked at RTI International as executive vice president and chief technology officer, at Fidelity Investments as senior vice president and chief operating officer, and at AT&T as vice president and leader of the Big Data Center of Excellence.

Piccione has also served on the N.C. Information Technology Strategy Board's Digital Transformation Committee where she advised NCDIT on vision, mission and goals for digital transformation and helped develop a digital transformation roadmap for the state.

Teri Takai — Moderator

Chief Programs Officer, Center for Digital Government

Teri Takai is the Chief Programs Officer of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. She worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in global application development and information technology strategic planning. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of General Motors. A long-time interest in public service led her to the government sector, first as CIO of the State of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California, and subsequently the CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health Plan. She is a member of several industry advisory boards. Teri has won numerous awards including Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year, CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.