Georgia Technology Summit 2025: Jason Sankey with City of Atlanta

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Georgia Technology Summit 2025 at the Woodruff Arts Center. This is Business RadioX. And now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here broadcasting live from Georgia Technology Summit 2025. So excited to be talking to my next guest, Jason Sankey with the City of Atlanta. Welcome.

Jason Sankey: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Lee Kantor: Um, so as the CIO of the City of Atlanta, what? Tell us a little bit about what that job did. Uh, what do you do in there? It sounds like an overwhelming job. I wouldn’t even know how to begin.

Jason Sankey: It does keep me quite busy. So I actually, uh, have two roles with the city. Uh, so as chief information officer, I oversee all technology for all departments throughout the city. And I also am commissioner of the Department of Atlanta Information Management. So if you think about that, it’s more technology operations, making sure that we have the infrastructure everyone needs in order to move day to day business forward.

Lee Kantor: So what’s your backstory? How do you even get a job like that? Like what do you need to know to even get a job like that? I can’t even wrap my head around it. It seems so, so many moving parts.

Jason Sankey: Well, the first thing you need to know. Technology.

Lee Kantor: I’m sure that helps.

Jason Sankey: It does, it does. It helps quite a bit. Uh, but I’ve been a chief information officer for the past decade, uh, at three different organizations. Uh, and prior to that, I was, uh, on the private sector side of the world with Citigroup. So I was a vice president at Citigroup for about a decade. Uh, prior to joining the public sector. Um, but it’s really understanding not only technology, but strategy building our strategy around, in this case, Mayor Andre Dickens. Uh, he has four goals for the city. Uh, one safe city. A City of opportunity for all, a city built for the future and an effective and ethical government. And when I think about that, technology is truly the nucleus of how we drive that vision forward. So it’s understanding that strategy, understanding the goals and then executing on them.

Lee Kantor: So when you get into this role, how do you kind of get started on this going from private sector to public sector? It just seems like a whole different way and a different speed of doing anything.

Jason Sankey: Oh, completely different from a private sector perspective, especially working for Citibank. Uh, understanding that the end goal is the bottom line, the end goal for what we do with the city is all about community and all about lives. So if you think about technology and the services that we provide, I’ll use 911 as an example. Uh, a second loss is a second that we can potentially put someone in danger. So making sure that from a community standpoint that everything runs smoothly And that services are, as expected to make sure that we’re really pushing the city of Atlanta forward.

Lee Kantor: So how do you go about recruiting talent into the public sector versus you would recruiting talent for the private sector?

Jason Sankey: So there has to be a passion for the public sector. Uh, we’re not as competitive as the Microsoft and Googles of the world, and they’re here in Atlanta. Uh, so they’re kind of a competitor, although they’re a partner when it comes to solutions. Uh, they’re a competitor when it comes to recruiting talent. So it’s really helping this incoming class of talent to understand that what you do truly makes a difference. And that is a different feeling than adding to a bottom line of a sell sheet.

Lee Kantor: So. So what are their characteristics or traits of an individual that has that mentality and that mindset of serving versus, you know, making as much money as possible?

Jason Sankey: I think it’s it’s exposure. So we have through the mayor’s, uh, summer youth internship program. We bring in interns every year, and they actually get a chance to experience what we do and how we do it. And that opens that dynamic. And I tell people this, I say, if I can go back in time and I can start my career over, I would actually start my career in the public sector because of what we do. So I think it’s that exposure. So through internship programs, we also have, um, a rotational program that we started up here recently that gives people just the opportunity to see what we do and how it impacts people, uh, through a fellowship. Uh, those are the the opportunities that really open people’s minds to, uh, a greater form of giving.

Lee Kantor: And because the impact is different. Right. Like that’s at the heart of this, the impact they’re making in the public sector is affecting a lot, a lot of people in more personal ways, I would think.

Jason Sankey: Indeed, indeed. And from a compensation perspective, we are competitive. We’re just not as competitive as those top tier organizations.

Lee Kantor: And the stock options probably are different.

Jason Sankey: Very different, very different.

Lee Kantor: Uh, tell us about why you got involved with the Tag board of directors.

Jason Sankey: So when I came to the city of Atlanta about four years ago, believe it or not, uh, it feels like 40, but that’s a good thing. Uh, depending on the day of.

Lee Kantor: The government time.

Jason Sankey: Yes, indeed. Indeed. Worse than dog years. But, uh, I met the president and CEO of Tag, uh, Larry Williams, and he talked to me about the opportunity, and I got a chance to see what tag was doing throughout the state of Georgia and really the impact that it has from a technology perspective. Uh, not only on, uh, the events like this great summit that we’re doing today, but also on the community. And I said, let me let me try it out. And then I decided to join the board after a little while, and I’m so happy that I did because of everything that I’ve been able to accomplish over these past three years through Tag and the relationships I’ve built and really the network, I would say my network is stronger here in metro Atlanta, and I’ve been here for going on four years. Then where I came from, where I had a very large network as well, but I was there for much longer, about ten years. But through Tag, I was able to build these relationships that I can’t say enough about.

Lee Kantor: So, um, what do you think makes Atlanta different than maybe the other places you’ve been to?

Jason Sankey: I think it is just more forward thinking, right? So I lived in New York City for a while. I lived in Columbus, Ohio for a while, and the strategies were different here in Atlanta. I could just see the the mindset of small business development, of entrepreneurship, of the drive that I think, uh, the, the metro Atlanta area brings to the community. I haven’t seen anything like it. Even when I lived in New York, people moved very fast. And they they chase different things. But the communities that come together here in Atlanta are like nothing else.

Lee Kantor: How do you see the kind of public, private collaboration that happens here? I believe that that’s kind of unique from the rest of the country, and the way that the business community works with the government sector, and how everybody seems to kind of work together in a pretty efficient manner, relatively.

Jason Sankey: Yeah. We can’t do what we do from a city perspective without our partners. We just can’t do it. We don’t have the scale. Uh, in some cases we don’t have the capability. Right? So as we look at generative AI and what the speed, I’ll say the speed of how fast, uh, that capability is growing without our partnerships that we have, uh, we wouldn’t be able to keep up. So I think it’s core to really driving things forward. And one thing that businesses realize over the years, in this case, if the city of Atlanta is successful, we’re all successful.

Lee Kantor: So if there’s talent out there that wants to explore the, uh, public sector, what’s the best way to connect with you or somebody on the team to at least learn more?

Jason Sankey: So we have our internship program that’s kicking off in May. Um, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. Uh, you can connect with our team, uh, on LinkedIn. Department of Atlanta information management. Uh, and always look at our, our website. We’re always recruiting new opportunities and would be happy to, uh, have more conversations on opportunities to to join the public sector.

Lee Kantor: Well, Jason, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Jason Sankey: Thank you. Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor back in a few. At Georgia Technology Summit 2025.