Technology Leadership Briefing | People-Centered Governance for Local and State Government

With Jeff Scheetz, CIO, City of Avondale, Arizona

Governance has traditionally been viewed as the department that says "no." It creates policies, restrictions, and approvals that many organizations see as barriers to getting work done.

Jeff Scheetz believes that's the wrong way to think about governance.

In this Technology Leadership Briefing, Alex Jarett sits down with Jeff Scheetz, CIO of the City of Avondale and a Technology Executives Club® Board of Advisors member, to discuss how people-centered governance helps organizations innovate responsibly while bringing departments together around a shared vision.

Rather than slowing innovation, Jeff explains how the right governance framework creates the guardrails that allow organizations to move forward with confidence, embrace new technologies like AI, and better serve the people who depend on them.

Key Takeaways

Governance Should Enable, Not Restrict

Governance has often been treated as a set of barriers or a default "no." People-centered governance turns that around by creating a collaborative framework that helps the organization move forward with the right guardrails in place.

AI Requires Business Collaboration

When AI adoption accelerated almost overnight, the City of Avondale did not simply shut it down until every question had been answered. Instead, they created a cross-functional AI working group that included department leaders, security, legal, and business users to develop a responsible path forward.

Guardrails Create Confidence

The resulting AI policy was not written as a list of restrictions. It became a framework for responsible use, with clear guardrails, approved use cases, and room for departments to safely experiment and learn.

A Practical Example

Jeff shares how one department is using AI to summarize hundreds of pages of internal documentation while still keeping a human in the review process before any information is used.

Collaboration Changes Everything

Departments now bring new technology initiatives to a governance committee early instead of competing independently for budget and resources. The result is greater transparency, stronger prioritization, and better collaboration across the organization.

Planning for a Fast-Changing World

Public-sector budgets are often planned sixteen to eighteen months in advance, making early collaboration and governance even more important as technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace.

The Bottom Line

Governance is not about control.

It is the framework that helps Technology Leaders innovate responsibly, protect their organizations, align stakeholders, and move the entire organization forward together.

View all of Jeff Scheetz's Leadership Briefings here.

Hosted by: Alex Jarett, Founder & CEO, Technology Executives Club®
Featured Guest: Jeff Scheetz, CIO, City of Avondale, AZ 

Watch the full briefing now.

View all of Jeff Scheetz's Leadership Briefings here.