Registration and Morning Refreshments in the Exhibit Area

Grand Pacific Ballroom Lobby

Opening Remarks

Anchorage/Fairbanks

Commissioner Paula Vrana, Department of Administration, State of Alaska

Keynote – Have You Ever Jumped from an Airplane? (The Journey of Delivering a Complex Project in the Public Sector)

Anchorage/Fairbanks

Large-scale public-sector technology projects are complex, often requiring IT leaders to address technical debt and legacy issues before envisioning future advancements. Launching new projects involves evaluating everything from the RFP process to relationship management, and regulatory compliance. Join Saby Waraich as he shares actionable insights from his journey of transforming a struggling digital transformation project into a success. Discover the strategies he employed to overcome these challenges and understand the true essence of 'jumping out of an airplane' in the context of leading successful digital transformations.

Saby Waraich, Chief Information Officer/Chief Information Security Officer, Clackamas County College

Networking Break in the Exhibit Area

Grand Pacific Ballroom Lobby

Concurrent Sessions

Balancing Innovation and Responsibility in AI Adoption

Juneau/Haines

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing government operations, offering new efficiencies and capabilities. How can agencies adopt AI while maintaining security, compliance, and public trust? This session will explore practical AI use cases and strategies for overcoming skepticism through preparedness and upskilling. Industry leaders will share insights on responsible implementation and low risk, easy to adopt tools, helping attendees navigate the evolving landscape of AI adoption.

Moderator: Neil Smith, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Department of Administration, State of Alaska

Patty Robinson, DNR Department Technology Officer, Office of Information Technology, State of Alaska

Creative by Necessity: Innovation in a Time of Constraint

Kenai Room

Budget cuts aren’t the end of progress; they’re the spark for reinvention. In an era of tightening resources, Alaska agencies are getting creative with what they already have: reimagining procurement, leveraging underused tools, and deepening partnerships for smarter, faster service delivery. This session explores how public sector IT leaders are reframing constraints as catalysts! Whether it’s finding hidden value in existing platforms or applying an agile approach and data-driven decision-making to make a difference.

Moderator: Leonard Robertson, IT Director, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, State of Alaska

From Legacy Systems to Cloud-First Efficiency

Danali Room

Cloud adoption continues to enable agencies to modernize operations and improve service delivery. How can public sector teams migrate legacy systems to cloud platforms while maximizing scalability and cost efficiency? This session explores best practices for cloud readiness, migration planning, and harnessing cloud-native services. You’ll hear practical insights to streamline deployments and drive transformative impact.

Moderator: Steve Stewart, IT Director, City of Wasilla

Lunch

Anchorage/Fairbanks

General Session – Bits and Bytes

Anchorage/Fairbanks

In these TED- style lightening talks, we’ll hear public sector and private sector use cases, success stories and lessons learned.

Neil Smith, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Department of Administration, State of Alaska

Short Break

Please proceed to the concurrent sessions.

Concurrent Sessions

Bridging IT Strategy with Business Needs

Juneau/Haines

Collaboration between IT and business leaders is essential for crafting governance driven solutions, that solve the right problems. How can teams collaborate early and often to balance urgency, complexity, and long-term value when selecting technologies? This session dives into the intersection of business processes and IT strategy, exploring service design, performance management, lifecycle planning, and governance practices that ensure accountability.

Aaron Bontrager, System Engineer, Fortinet

Accessibility for All

Kenai Room

Join our dynamic session to discuss federal and state accessibility initiatives. What are your organization’s accessibility priorities? How will you achieve maximum accessibility to support your constituents and avoid fines? With compliance deadlines coming up fast, we’ll spotlight successful website transformations with inclusive design. We’ll look at challenges faced by state and municipal IT organizations and explore successful use cases.

Exclusive Briefing for Industry Partners

Danali Room

Hosted by Niel Smith, Deputy Chief Information Officer, State of Alaska

Networking Break in the Exhibit Area

Grand Pacific Ballroom Lobby

General Session - The Government Experience Revolution – Reimagining Personalized Government Delivery

Anchorage/Fairbanks

Constituents today expect the same level of seamless, personalized service from government that they receive in the private sector. The Government Experience Revolution is transforming how agencies deliver services, moving from one-size-fits-all approaches to data-driven, user-centric experiences. This session will explore how governments are leveraging AI, digital identity, and advanced analytics to anticipate citizen needs, streamline interactions, and build trust through personalization.

Sean McSpaden, Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Networking Reception in the Exhibit Area

Grand Pacific Ballroom Lobby

Network with your colleagues and discuss technology solutions with the event exhibitors.

End of Conference

Conference times, agenda, and speakers are subject to change.