Jonathan Askins is the director of the Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services (TSS) Division of Information Systems (DIS) and is also the state’s Chief Technology Officer. He has more than twenty-five years of experience in business development, operations, contract negotiation, and management. Mr. Askins comes to DIS from Acxiom Corporation, where he served as a Senior Client Management Director.
He helped to guide new product strategies in the company’s government business sectors. From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Askins worked at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, where he led a cabinet-level task force to encourage investment into Arkansas’ tourism industry. In 2018, Governor Hutchinson appointed Mr. Askins to the state Data Transparency Commission, which he served as vice-chair. Askins holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, AL. He and his wife, Leigh Anna, reside in Scott.

Tony DiCuffa is a Document Cloud Solutions Consultant at Adobe. Tony spent the first 23 years of his career as a technical architect serving the Public Sector, primarily state and local governments. He has designed, built, and supported some of the largest systems in this space, across a wide array of governmental industries. Tony used this knowledge to design several technology products that are in use in many states. Tony has spent the last few years focused on a problem that continues to challenge many state and local governments: digitizing the paper and signature process. Today, Tony’s primary goal is to help his customers eliminate the cost, hassle, and environmental effects of dealing with paper.

Larry Flaxman currently serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, the largest Arkansas state agency, providing singular accountability for information security controls and compliance across all DHS divisions and offices.
As CISO, he is responsible for establishing principal security strategies, cyber framework, and execution plans to secure the agencies 7500+ employees and programs. Larry has been integral to the development of the agencies policies and procedures related to HIPAA and CJIS compliance as well as applicable state and federal guidelines on security, privacy, audit and monitoring requirements.
As part of his role, Larry leads the DHS incident response team in investigating and mitigating cybersecurity threats and is responsible for establishing and maintaining the information security training and awareness programs required for all DHS employees.
Prior to joining DHS, he served in various essential roles for both state and federal agencies for over 24 years, and comes from a diverse background of information technology and law enforcement, including expertise in digital forensic investigation and cybersecurity defense.
In his free time, Larry divides his time between his 501c(3) foundation – The Bridge of Compassion, and the obligations of being a best-selling-author widely known for applying his unique style of analytical science to anomalous topics.

Keith Glose is an Account Director at Ciena covering the Western US. In his role, Keith is focused on supporting our State Government customers, helping them achieve their business objectives and improving their networks and communities. Keith has been a sales leader for over 30 years dedicated to maintaining strong relationships and customer satisfaction.

Rosemary Hatch is a GIS Analyst with the City of Fayetteville, Arkansas where she works on projects that streamline city processes and analyze geospatial data. She has a background in water quality, environmental data analysis, and geology. Before joining the City of Fayetteville, Rosemary was the outreach and technology coordinator for the Water Resources Data System in Wyoming. During that time, she helped with management of water planning GIS and website development and provided various technical assistance to the Wyoming Water Development Office. Prior to her work in Wyoming, she spent time working for the U.S. Geological Survey in Maryland and the City of Austin, Texas Watershed Protection Department. She holds a M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary.

Steve Hulsey serves within the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration as Chief Information Security Officer. Working under the DFA Chief Information Officer, he is responsible for the management of security controls for DFA systems providing services to both other state agencies and the citizens of Arkansas, operating in cooperation with application support teams, regulatory entities, and business leadership. With a focus on continued improvement in security posture from both a technical and cultural perspective within the organization, Mr. Hulsey strives to build increasingly strong relationships between the business leaders and application support units of the department. Steve Hulsey has worked in Information Technology roles within the Department of Finance and Administration and within the Transformation and Shared Services Division of Information Systems for 23 years, ranging from Systems Administration to Enterprise Architecture.

Don Ingle, SAP’s Industry Advisor for State, Local and Education, is based in the Denver, Colorado area. With 25 years experience in public sector executive leadership, Ingle has been a driving force behind digital transformation, smarter decision-making through data- driven insights, and improved organizational efficiency, transparency and innovation.

Tawnya Lancaster has led cybersecurity research and thought leadership for 10 years. In her role at AT&T, she works with the AT&T Alien Labs™, the threat intelligence unit of AT&T Cybersecurity, and with the AT&T Chief Security Office, the business unit within AT&T that protects the AT&T global IP backbone, to identify trends in threat actor TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) and emerging security technologies and strategies. Ms. Lancaster’s recent research includes: the security implications of 5G, edge computing, and IoT; use of machine learning and analytics in threat intelligence; increasing importance of Zero Trust as a strategic approach for security; consolidation of security services in virtualized/cloud environments, including “SASE” and “XDR”; and the measurement of cybersecurity maturity across industries.

Keith Macedo serves as the City of Fayetteville Arkansas’ Director of Information Technology, overseeing the City’s Technology and GIS Divisions. Keith received his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and is also a Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) through the University of North Carolina. Keith has extensive skills and experience in technology, project management, budget management, contract negotiations, contract management and customer service. Prior to Fayetteville he served as the Director of Internal Services for the City of Keller, Texas overseeing all internal services departments. Prior to this position he worked for over a decade as Keller’s Director of Information Services and the Information Services Manager. Prior to his work with the City of Keller, he worked in IT and GIS for the City of Hurst, Texas and short stint in Kansas working on water quality projects for the EPA and NRCS.

Josh McGee was appointed as Chief Data Officer (CDO) in February of 2020. He is an economist and a national leader in the evidence-based policy space who has held a variety of leadership roles in state government, philanthropy, and non-profits. McGee is dedicated to helping Arkansas use data to deliver actionable insights that will empower citizens and make state government more efficient and effective.
In addition to serving as the state’s CDO, McGee is also the associate director of the Office for Education Policy and a research professor in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. His research investigates issues related to P-20 education, retirement policy, and economic development and has been published in popular media outlets and scholarly journals. McGee holds a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Arkansas.

As Chief Analytics Officer, McGough’s goal is growing data and analytic capacity and communities of practice for the sharing, integration, and analysis of data in support of improved policy decisions and operations. He has 20 years’ experience in data management and analytics supporting public sector entities with the Division of Information Systems. He served as lead author on the Feasibility and Cost Study on the Development of a Statewide Data Warehouse Program and as the state’s technical liaison with the White House OMB for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
McGough holds an M.S. in Information Quality and has completed the UALR Institute for Chief Data Officers, the ASU Six Sigma Black Belt, and the Coleridge Initiative Applied Data Analytics programs along with numerous credentials in data and analytics. He currently is an Information Science Ph.D. candidate conducting research to advance the field of longitudinal data analysis. He also serves on the Governor’s Technology Advisory Board and the Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) IT committee.

Hugh has over 30 years of leadership experience in IT Innovation and Strategy, Digital Transformation, and Cybersecurity. He has held senior leadership positions in several industries, including government, technology startups, dotcom, insurance, utility, higher education, and hospitality. Most recently he was the Head of Innovation and Strategy for Netsync Solutions, a consultative and collaborative provider of products and services. During Hugh’s time at Netsync, Hugh helped build their AWS practice. Hugh previously served as the CIO for the City of Dallas, where he transformed the organization with creative, innovative, and cybersecurity focused leadership. Hugh also served as the CIO and CTO for the City of San Antonio, where he pioneered many Smart City initiatives, including various IoT solutions, and acted as the innovation and cybersecurity leader for the city’s government. Hugh’s leadership has been recognized by ComputerWorld as one of its Premier 100 IT Leaders, as the San Antonio IT Leader of the Year, and by Tech Titan as Top Tech Executive.

Mr. Montgomery is a strategist and executive advisor at VMware. Chris helps public sector organizations align their mission objectives with a supporting IT Strategy that enables digital transformation. He is recognized in the industry as a cyber security expert and thought leader for organizational change management associated with technology modernization.

Mark Rago is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA). He is responsible for DFA’s portfolio of software solutions and IT infrastructure that supports the Department. Mr. Rago also oversees DFA’s annual IT budget which is used to fund several technology projects that help in the modernization of many areas of DFA. He is focused on effectively blending the human element and technology in support of DFA’s mission. His work philosophy emphasizes providing people with solutions and tools they need to perform their work. Mr. Rago has a strong commitment to building bridges between DFA’s technical community and DFA’s business process owners who use technology to perform their work. His primary goal as DFA CIO is to ensure that outcomes are achievable and are what is expected by the stakeholders of DFA.

Greg Resz is the GIS Manger for the City of Fayetteville, AR. During his 7 years there he has seen GIS grow from a stand-alone system to one that is integral to the function of every other enterprise system at the City. His favorite saying is that “GIS is the API”. While in professional baseball, Greg was always the one on the airplane or bus with a road atlas in hand, daydreaming about the places he wanted to visit and the adventures he wanted to take. When injury ended his sporting career in 2000, the Geospatial Sciences program at Missouri State University was a perfect fit for him and is where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree. Greg is an avid hiker and when he’s not out on a trail, he spends his spare time working for his company, Geo-Verify LLC, a geospatial consulting company.

Bryan Schneider is a Director in the Fortinet Capture Team. His expertise includes 20+ years of experience in Public Sector advanced solutions business development for a range of Wireless carriers, including leading strategic initiatives such as Mobile Security, Endpoint protection, Digital Transformation, Mobile Forms, LBS, Interoperability, IOT and OT, covering SLED, K12 and Federal Agencies. Bryan also brings domain expertise into Public Safety, Next Generation 911, FirstNet, Telco/ISP, CJIS, Remote WFH solutions, and Federal ZTA initiatives.

Teri Takai is the senior vice president of the Government Technology, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. She worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in global application development and information technology strategic planning. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of General Motors. A long-time interest in public service led her to the government sector, first as CIO of the State of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California and, subsequently, the CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health Plan.
Teri is a member of several industry advisory boards. She has won numerous awards including Governing magazine’s Public Official of the Year, CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government Technology magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in Leadership Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Cyber Defense professional with expertise in establishing and leading global security operations to address risks across multiple industry verticals. Trusted advisor in the data management and data services industries. Over 5 years of experience communicating cyber risk management strategy to CSO, Executive leaders and directors. Experience in security risk management services including physical and IT security, framework development, risk mitigation, executive and board governance, security organizational development, security compliance management, security policy development, and technical security architecture. As a business focused risk leader and Cyber Defense professional, I have worked from the Executive levels all the way through operations to ensure cyber risk management protects the business and builds trust in the brand. Cyber Security Professional ready to stand between businesses and threat actors. Lifelong student of developments in threat detection and mitigation. Adept at assisting with every stage of cybersecurity management, from preventive measures to disaster mitigation and recovery. Information Security Specialist with passion for aligning security architecture plans and processes with security standards and business goals. Extensive experience developing and testing security framework for cloud-based software. Versed in robust network defense strategies.

Christy Sidor Williams is the General Manager for NIC Arkansas (Information Network of Arkansas), a Little Rock-based team of 38 who work with Arkansas state and local governments to streamline processes, create cost savings and deliver public services more efficiently through technology. Hoosier by birth and proud Arkansan by choice, Christy has been with NIC Arkansas for eight years and leverages her communications background in both the private and public sectors to help make life better for Arkansans by simplifying their interactions with government. She is an avid cyclist and two-time marathoner who loves live music and exploring the Arkansas outdoors with her family.

Morgan is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity strategy, cyberterrorism, identity theft and privacy. Morgan's landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov changed how the government collected personally identifiable information. He is currently a contributor to TheHill.com on matters of cybersecurity, national security and intelligence in addition to his national news appearances. Previously, Morgan was a senior advisor in the U.S. State Department Antiterrorism Assistance Program and senior law enforcement advisor for the 2012 Republican National Convention. In addition to 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a highly decorated state trooper and detective, Morgan has developed solutions in defense, justice and intelligence for the largest technology companies in the world including Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent/Bell Labs, Unisys and SAIC.