Why This Healthcare CISO Left the Private Sector for Public Service with Curt Kwak

Curt Kwak, Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, spent most of his career protecting patient data and hospital systems before making an unusual jump: trading healthcare's private sector, including nearly a decade at Cambia Health Solutions and Proliance Surgeons, for a state regulator's desk. Curt talks candidly about leading IT and security for a state insurance regulator, why AI literacy is now a priority for his agency, and the hiring philosophy he trusts most: look past the résumé and find the human connection first. KEY TAKEAWAYS 00:00 A blunt filter for deciding how you feel about AI, before listening to anyone else's opinion. 04:32 Why leaving healthcare's private sector for a state government role wasn't actually a hard decision. 08:18 The level of due diligence in government work came as a genuine surprise. 15:49 A three-decade mentorship that started with a question that had nothing to do with business. 25:07 The one rule for anyone still on the fence about using AI at work. 31:08 A hiring philosophy that values connection over qualifications, résumés, and a polished interview story. 44:06 An unexpected personal project that Copilot helped analyze, with genuinely useful results. Thank you for listening to "Hire Learning with Oz Rashid." Don't forget to leave us a review and subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes. Connect with our host, Oz Rashid, on LinkedIn:   / ozrashid  . To learn more about MSH, visit https://www.talentmsh.com. RESOURCES MENTIONED Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, the agency where Curt leads IT and security, focused on consumer protection and insurance industry oversight: https://www.insurance.wa.gov CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives), the organization where Curt has mentored the next generation of healthcare IT leaders for nearly a decade: https://chimecentral.org “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari, the book Curt says gave him a lasting new perspective: https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humank... The Odyssey (2026 film), the film Curt recently saw in IMAX and recommends: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ody... Microsoft Copilot, the AI tool Curt used to analyze his personal collectibles portfolio: https://copilot.microsoft.com Claude, the AI model Oz says the company now uses throughout the organization: https://claude.com Claude Cowork (referred to in the recording as "Cloud Cowork"), the Anthropic tool Oz credits for his team's output over the last six months: https://claude.com/cowork #TalentAcquisition #AIinHR #WorkforceTrends