Across the public sector, the conversation around modernization is shifting—from digitizing services to fully integrating data, technology, and cybersecurity into a unified vision of government. State leaders are rethinking how to break down silos, build shared data systems, and deliver citizen experiences that are as seamless as the private sector. Yet the path to this transformation demands more than just technology; it requires leadership alignment, structural reform, and a commitment to data as a strategic asset.

In this second installment of a three-part interview series, Dr. Matthew McCarville, State CIO for the State of Nebraska, joins Dr. Adita Karkera, Chief Data Officer for Government and Public Services at Deloitte, to explore how Nebraska is pioneering this shift. The discussion highlights how centralized IT leadership, shared data infrastructure, and a whole-of-state cybersecurity framework are helping the state not only modernize operations but also safeguard its digital future.

The first part of this interview focused on the strategic interplay between data and technology and the vital role of clean, actionable data in driving the public sector.

Building a centralized, data-driven government

McCarville’s role as State CIO places him in a unique position within Nebraska’s administrative structure. Reporting directly to the governor as one of 24 cabinet members, he leads an agency under the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) — a setup similar to his earlier experience in Florida. “I am on the cabinet for the governor,” he explains. “Every month we have a cabinet meeting. I’m treated as an independent agency direct report to the governor, from a budget perspective and from the cabinet member peer perspective.”

By regulation, all cabinet agencies are required to use McCarville’s office for IT services unless they have a unique, agency-specific need. However, as modernization accelerates, those exceptions are quickly fading.

“We’re finding as we modernize government that everything becomes shared,” he notes. “All this software-as-a-service, ticketing platforms, modernization, multi-cloud strategies, data warehouses — are multi-agency things.”

The goal is to integrate and synchronize systems that have historically operated in silos. Currently, citizens applying for benefits such as unemployment, Medicaid, or food assistance must navigate separate applications and databases — each overseen by different agencies that do not communicate with one another, says McCarville.

He sees immense potential in bridging these gaps. “We are all better off modernizing together and using our data, as it is the most valuable asset this state has,” he emphasizes. “How do we synchronize all this data on the back end and also synchronize the user experience on the front end for the constituents in our state?”

Breaking down silos and encouraging collaboration

For McCarville, addressing the issue of shadow IT and departmental silos is a top priority. Fragmented procurement practices across departments have created inefficiencies and duplication. Yet, he views Nebraska’s recent budget deficit as an unexpected catalyst for positive change. “It has forced the view of centralization and efficiency. They can’t all afford to go rogue and do things on their own anymore.”

Instead of imposing mandates, McCarville is leveraging financial necessity to encourage collaboration. “It’s not a mandate on centralization,” he clarifies. “We did that about a decade ago for infrastructure, and it didn’t go well. Now we’re doing it because of the budget deficit.”

By promoting shared systems and data consolidation, he’s helping agencies identify redundancies and reduce costs. For instance, Health and Human Services discovered it had “20 of the same kind of platform from different vendors, and none of them talk to each other.” Unifying these systems not only saves money but also improves data quality and reporting accuracy. “Every agency is better off having the most up-to-date information on our citizens,” he says.

This approach also undercuts inefficiencies. By centralizing systems and data, Nebraska is reclaiming both financial and operational control.

Advancing a whole-of-state cybersecurity model

Cybersecurity represents another cornerstone of McCarville’s modernization agenda. When he assumed the role, the state had minimal cybersecurity infrastructure. “We had one individual who had been here for a couple of years. He was a policy analyst only — no budget, no direct reports, no cybersecurity tools,” McCarville recalls. “We managed cybersecurity from an infrastructure perspective. Firewalls, that’s how we thought of cybersecurity.”

In just 18 months, his team has transformed that landscape. Nebraska has become one of the first states to adopt a comprehensive “whole-of-state” cybersecurity model — an approach that integrates state agencies, counties, schools, and universities under a shared framework.

“We have roughly 290 K-12 educational service units, 93 counties, and 90% of our state is rural. How do we take care of those who do not have the funding to do it on their own?” McCarville asks.

The solution lies in cost-sharing and resource pooling. “By sharing the cost, end-to-end from a resource perspective all the way to a platform and data perspective, we are not only diluting the cost for the state to operate and have best-of-breed cybersecurity, but we are also allowing the counties to be brought up together,” he reveals.

One of the most significant milestones in this initiative is the creation of a joint Security Operations Center (SOC). “We took a 5,000-square-foot area of our office in the CIO building and modernized that from a storage room with no carpet and no paint into a modern state-of-the-art room with screens all over the place,” he says. “Tools, metrics, analytics, KPIs, and multiple vendors are in there, best of breed, joint SOC, whole-of-state end-to-end,

Through partnerships with educational institutions and infrastructure initiatives like Network Nebraska — the backbone that connects the state’s K–12 schools — the cybersecurity program also supports training and awareness at the grassroots level. “We are bringing in IT people who have been tapped on the shoulder and educating them,” McCarville shares. “Bring them in with a multi-vendor ecosystem so the vendors can get them trained and certified in all of these different platforms,” he concludes.

CDO Magazine appreciates Matthew McCarville for sharing his insights with our global community.