Announcing our Future Shocks Case Study Grant Competition Recipients

Earlier this year, our Center welcomed proposals to learn of real-world examples of where government organizations have implemented strategies and capabilities that have improved their mission resilience to be “future ready” and prepared to respond to disruptive events. We sought out case studies within five key domain areas: emergency preparedness and response, cybersecurity, supply chain, climate sustainability, and workforce development. (Learn more about our future shocks initiative).

How Can Government Build Resilience in the Face of Crises?

Since the turn of the millennium, pandemics, heat waves, wildfires, floods, cyberattacks, supply chain interruptions, and other crises have deeply stressed governments, communities, businesses, and individuals around the world. This cascade of catastrophic events raises fundamental questions about how governments can anticipate, prepare for, and respond to these and other shocks yet to come.

Implementing Generative AI in Government: Challenges and Opportunities

Generative AI refers to algorithms that can create realistic content such as images, text, music, and videos by learning from existing data patterns.  Generative AI does more than just create content, it also serves as a user-friendly interface for other AI tools, making complex results easy to understand and use. Generative AI transforms analysis and prediction results into personalized formats, improving explainability by converting complicated data into understandable content.

Protecting Our Community: Actions to Build Cyber Resilience in Critical Infrastructure

Cybersecurity and government operations leaders gathered recently for an interactive roundtable discussion on “Building Cyber Resilience for Critical Infrastructure Protection.”  Convened by the IBM Center for The Business of Government, the IBM Institute for Business Value, and the National Academy of Public Administration, the roundtable identified practical actions that government agencies can take to keep the public safe and secure. 

How Can Government Strengthen Spending and Tracking of Funds to Address Emergencies?

When the government distributes supplemental funding to address various national emergencies such as the global pandemic, time is of the essence. Putting money quickly in the hands of Americans in need benefits vulnerable segments of the American population and stabilizes the nation in a time of crisis. At the same time, transparency and accountability mechanisms are essential to safeguard these taxpayer dollars and maintain public trust.

Announcing the Center’s New Visiting Fellow: Dr. Karen Hardy

With over 30 years of federal experience, Dr. Hardy brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in risk management and leadership. Her background includes senior roles at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she served as the Director of Risk Management and first Deputy Chief Risk Officer.

New Research Report Recipients

We are pleased to announce our latest round of awards for new reports on key public sector challenges, which respond to priorities identified in the Center's research agenda. Our content is intended to stimulate and accelerate the production of practical research that benefits public sector leaders and managers.

We expect the following reports to be published starting in late 2024.  Short summaries of each report follow:

A Meeting of the Minds: The Center’s New Advisory Council

The IBM Center for The Business of Government is honored to announce the formation of a new advisory council. The members of this Council are former international, federal, and state and local government executives, and leaders from academia and nonprofit partners.

Bridging the Gap: Unlocking the AI Decision Advantage for Defense

Blog Co-Author: David Zaharchuk, Research Director, Thought Leadership, IBM Institute for Business Value

The potential benefits of AI in defense are vast.  Defense industry leaders are turning to AI as a strategic capability to augment tactical superiority, enhance operational efficacy, and boost efficiency. However, realizing these advantages requires a deep understanding of the complexities involved in integrating AI into defense operations.

Reflections from a London Meeting with the Commonwealth

Last week, I had the honor of joining the biennial meeting of the Commonwealth Cabinet Secretaries and Heads of Civil Service from April 22-24, 2024, organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK. Since its founding in 1949, the modern Commonwealth has grown in both scale and influence with 56 member countries, spanning six continents and representing a third of the world's population.

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Executive Director
IBM Center for The Business of Government
600 14th Street, NW
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Washington, DC 20005
United States
(703) 627-5108

Dan Chenok is Executive Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government. He oversees all of the Center's activities in connecting research to practice to benefit government, and has written and spoken extensively around government technology, cybersecurity, privacy, regulation, budget, acquisition, and Presidential transitions. Mr. Chenok previously led consulting services for Public Sector Technology Strategy, working with IBM government, healthcare, and education clients.

Mr. Chenok serves in numerous industry leadership positions. He is a CIO SAGE and member of the Research Advisory Council with the Partnership for Public Service, Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Policy Committee for the Senior Executives Association, Member of the Government Accountability Office Polaris Advisory Council for Science and Technology, and Member of the American University IT Executive Council. Previously, he served as Chair of the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) for the government-led American Council for Technology (ACT), Chair of the Cyber Subcommittee of the DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, Chair of the NIST-sponsored Federal Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and an Adjunct Associate Professor with the U of Texas LBJ School of Public. He is also a three-time member of Cyber and Cloud Computing commissions with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Chenok also generally advises public sector leaders on a wide range of management issues.

Before joining IBM, Mr. Chenok was a Senior Vice President for Civilian Operations with Pragmatics, and prior to that was a Vice President for Business Solutions and Offerings with SRA International.

As a career Government executive, Mr. Chenok served as Branch Chief for Information Policy and Technology with the Office of Management and Budget, where he led a staff with oversight of federal information and IT policy, including electronic government, computer security, privacy and IT budgeting. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Branch Chief and Desk Officer for Education, Labor, HHS, and related agencies in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Chenok began his government service as an analyst with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and left government service at the end of 2003.

In 2008, Mr. Chenok served on President Barack Obama’s transition team as the Government lead for the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform group, and as a member of the OMB Agency Review Team.

Mr. Chenok has won numerous honors and awards, including a 2010 Federal 100 winner for his work on the presidential transition, the 2016 Eagle Award for Industry Executive of the Year, and the 2002 Federal CIO Council Azimuth Award for Government Executive of the Year.

Mr. Chenok earned a BA from Columbia University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.