Quad Charts be Damned: Data Meets the Mission

For years now, the question for federal agencies has been the same: is your data ready for AI? In Episode 9 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean sit down with Andrew Churchill, who leads Qlik's Public Sector Business across the US and Canada, to dig into whether the answer is finally shifting from "not yet" to "we're getting there" — and what's actually driving it. Andrew shares how policy moves are pushing the idea that data belongs to the mission, not the system owner; how AI is automating the mundane data prep work; and why the trust score on the data behind an AI recommendation is becoming the single most important factor for senior leaders making decisions. Brian, Sean, and Andrew unpack the agentic identity challenge nobody's talking about, the IBM Think team that burned 20% of its annual Mythos token budget in a single weekend, why a federal employee who knows the mission plus AI beats a forward-deployed engineer every time. Why federal data progress is a war of inches and why leaders need to turn the people delivering small wins into heroes — quad charts be damned. Plus, live music recommendations for the DC region. ----------RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEFeatured Guest- Andrew Churchill, VP Public Sector, Qlik- Qlik Public Sector- Qlik Data Literacy Program (free resources)- Qlik FedRAMP authorization statusHegseth's Advana Memorandum- Advana restructuring memo and program overhaul (Jan 2026) - Hegseth's "Transforming the Warfighting Acquisition System" memo (Nov 7, 2025)DoD AI/Data Programs Referenced- Advana (DoD enterprise data and analytics platform)- Project Maven (DoD computer vision/AI)- Project Bravo (Air Force innovation initiative)Federal Data Policy- DoD Data Strategy- Federal Data Strategy (strategy.data.gov)- Data.govLive Music Featured- Tedeschi Trucks Band - Bound for Glory  - Tedeschi Trucks Band Live from Red Rocks - Full Concert- Point Break Music Festival- Warped Tour DCReferences & Concepts- Gartner BI/Analytics Magic Quadrant- Stuart Wagner (Navy, former Air Force CTO)- Lori Mangold (Booz Allen, former Army Chief G3/5/7) Previous Events- Transforming Data Into a Strategic National Asset w/ NASA CDO- Qlik Public Sector SummitLife's a Game of Inches- "Al Pacino" Epic Monologue from Any Given Sunday The Hosts & Show- Swish  - GIST 360Come find Brian, Andrew, and Sean at a show this summer. Quad charts not required!CONNECT WITH USGot an idea for a future episode? Want to be a guest? Let us know.Brian Lake - [email protected] Applegate - [email protected] wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or gist360.com.