The monthly digest highlighting opportunities to connect, collaborate and convene with NGA and governors’ offices
The Main Event
NGA Leads Convenings in New Orleans
Policy Summit Supports Collaboration on States’ Top Policy Priorities
Last month, NGA convened governors’ senior policy and legislative staff (pictured) in New Orleans for NGA’s Annual Policy Summit. The event, driven by NGA’s Center for Best Practices, supported sharing cross-state, bipartisan perspectives on top policy priorities and implementation challenges for issues ranging from disaster response, rural development, and the economic impacts of AI to healthcare access, energy affordability and more.
As part of the policy summit, NGA also convened the Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute and the Governors’ Health and Human Services Policy Institute.
Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute to Boost Student Achievement, Create More Universal Career Pathways
NGA’s annual Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institutebrought together 34 leaders from 21 states and territories to shape policy and strategies that will help learners succeed. The institute’s work is helping define a broader vision of readiness, spanning academic foundations like improved math and reading skills; workforce preparedness; civic engagement; and lifelong well-being from early childhood to careers. More details can be found here.
Governors’ Health and Human Services Policy Institute Meet to Strengthen Healthcare Delivery and Sustainability in States
At NGA’s annual Governors Health and Human Services Policy Advisors Institute, leaders from 34 states and territories shared perspectives on issues including healthcare affordability, maintaining program integrity in health and human services delivery systems and sustaining overdose prevention efforts. More information about the institute can be found here.
Spotted @ NGA
NGA Holds Leadership Forum for Chiefs of Staff
NGA, in collaboration with Stanford University, welcomed governors’ chiefs of staff (pictured) to the Hoover Institution last week to participate in the State and Local Leadership Forum. The meeting focused on several timely topics, including emerging technology, international relations, challenges for global stability, energy and regulatory reform. The meeting included discussions with Sec. Condoleezza Rice, Gen. Jim Mattis and Ambassador Michael McFaul.
Off the Wire
NGA Convenes Skills in the States Symposium
NGA hosted its Skills in the States Symposium May 19-21, bringing together governors’ workforce policy staff, state agency leaders, private sector partners and national experts to advance skills-first hiring and talent management strategies in states. Workforce leaders from 17 states joined the three-day conference.
NGA partnered with Walmart and Jobs for the Future to launch its first Skills-Driven State Community of Practice in 2022. NGA’s Center for Best Practices launched the next phase of Skills in the States in collaboration with Business Roundtable in 2025, expanding the initiative beyond public-sector adoption to foster a learning community of public and private sector leaders committed to implementing skills-first hiring and talent management strategies. In February 2026, NGA partnered with Walmart and the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) to launch Powering Trust in Skills, releasing Governing Talent Marketplaces: A Guide for State Leaders. The initiative and guide provide practical tools to move from skills-based vision to durable, scalable implementation.
NGA Holds Infrastructure Coordinators Workshop
NGA hosted its 11th Infrastructure Coordinators Workshop, bringing together over 30 governor-appointed infrastructure coordinators and advisers from 21 states and territories. With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) set to expire in September, state and territory officials met with a range of stakeholders, including Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation leaders and industry partners, to develop plans to sustain momentum.
NGA Explores Governors’ Rural Healthcare Workforce Policies
NGA released “Governors’ Policy Actions in Rural Health Workforce” to detail examples of the levers governors are using, such as budget proposals, executive authority, and cross-agency coordination, to recruit, train, and regulate the rural healthcare workforce. NGA also explores the applications governors submitted through the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to invest in their rural health workforces through innovative approaches.
NGA Resource Tracks Gubernatorial Elections
NGA maintains this resource to provide information about the 2026 gubernatorial elections.
There will be 39 gubernatorial elections in 2026, with 18 incumbent governors running for reelection. Twenty-one incumbent governors are either term-limited or not seeking reelection.
Governor Spotlight
