As Government Technology has tracked the growth of the chief data officer position over the past few years, one of the main roles that has emerged for this key IT leader is determining policy around how data is shared among government agencies, as well as with the public. Proper governance is essential to ensuring that the right information gets into the hands of those who can use it to improve internal operations and external interactions with citizens.

For Maine CDO Youri Antonin, his state’s decentralized structure can be a stumbling block to handling data in a uniform way, he said last month at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) annual conference, but that makes creating a strong data policy even more important. This is not unrelated to another of Antonin’s priorities: improving digital transformation that will meet citizen needs as well as internal stakeholders'.

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