Phil Bertolini is vice president of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. Previously, he served as deputy county executive and CIO for Oakland County, Michigan. During his 31-year tenure, Phil built a world-class IT organization in the second-largest county in Michigan, just north of Detroit. As Oakland County CIO, he oversaw more than 150 employees serving over 1.2 million residents. In 2005, he was also promoted to deputy county executive, holding dual positions until his retirement. Phil’s efforts earned the county national attention, winning numerous awards for technology innovation and excellence. He was named Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year and Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers. He was also honored by the President Obama White House as a Champion of Change.

Paul Calatayud serves as America’s Chief Security Officer for Palo Alto Networks. Prior to his role with Palo Alto Networks, Paul was Chief Technology Officer for FireMon, leading business development, corporate development, and product strategy. Paul is a two-time CISO and lead security strategy for a fortune 5 healthcare company providing cyber technology strategy for over 300K employees. Paul has held progressive roles in information security at the Department of Defense, Medtronic, Comcast, BAE Systems, Best Buy, and Vesta. Paul is also an advisor to half a dozen cyber companies, VC, and private equity firms. Paul holds multiple certifications including: CISSP, CISA, CISM, and GCIH. Paul holds a B.S. in Information Technology, MBA, Masters in Cryptography, and a PhD in Leadership.

Ted is a Philly based, out-of-the-box-thinking, industry expert, and trusted adviser with experience across commercial and government sectors. He brings a multi-cloud perspective to his current creative role within Oracle’s Government Mission Modernization team. In his spare time Ted works with world renowned artists on creative projects, is an avid poet, musician, amateur astronomer, and Raspberry Pi enthusiast who enjoys modernist cooking for his wife and daughter.

John Hampton is the Senior Director of AMD Worldwide Customer Field Support. John’s organization provides the technical interface for AMD’s commercial solutions across the datacenter, commercial client, and workstations. John has spent 20 years at the company, and is passionate about collaborating to solve the world’s biggest technology challenges.

Christopher L. Hills has more than 15 years’ experience as a Senior Security and Architecture Engineer operating in highly sensitive environments. Chris is a military veteran of the United States Navy and started with BeyondTrust after his most recent role leading a Privileged Access Management (PAM) team as a Technical Director within a Fortune 500 organization. In his current position, he has responsibilities as a Senior Solutions Architect consulting on PAM implementations and reports to the Office of the CTO as an acting Deputy CTO. In his free time, Chris enjoys spending time with his family on the water with their 32-foot speedboat in the summer and taking to the sand dunes and off-roading in the winter.

Sagay provides 12 years of expertise in enterprise IT management, and he has engaged with clients from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to define their IT needs. His vast experience comes from more than 100 enterprise implementations centered on help desk, monitoring, endpoint management, and IT security solutions. He currently serves as the Manager, Strategic Account Management team (North America) at ManageEngine, offering consulting services to enterprises in many industries. Sagay focuses on clearly identifying an organizations' IT needs and helping his clients achieve their organization's unique IT management goals.

Sara leads Chicago Public Schools on strategic and operational activities focused on executing data delivery and analytic strategies to help better serve our students, teachers, schools and communities. Sara serves as one of the executive leaders of the district's data governance council that has established an inter-departmental team of data stewards capable of ensuring that information collected by and disseminated from CPS is accurate, consistent, secure, and of the highest quality. She oversees conducting rigorous research projects that inform district decision makers, from the CEO to department heads, on questions that are central to the district vision and provide insights that allow us to best serve our student's development as learners, community members, as well as creative, safe, and healthy individuals. During the pandemic her teams have been critical to providing the district new and valuable sources of data on students and schools. Sara earned her B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Ph.D. in Child Development from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Nick is both a data scientist and an attorney, with a decade of experience as a lawyer and senior official in both state and local government. Nick has spent considerable time working on litigation related to the foreclosure crisis and advising cabinet officials on policy and legal issues. Nick also served as a chief administrative law judge, overseeing a legal appeals system for millions of people enrolled in public healthcare and many other federal human service programs.
As Chief Data Officer, Nick leverages his technical and legal knowledge to bring data to the forefront of policy-making and operational decision-making. Throughout his time in government, Nick has used data analytics to bring about quick and significant impact, streamlining processes and improving services.
Nick has a law degree and a master’s degree in computer science from DePaul University, and a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University.

Tom Lynch serves as the Chief Information Officer for Cook County Government. Prior to joining Cook County, Lynch served as Principal at SDI, a systems integrator focused on public sector clients. He also spent 25 years in IT leadership roles for the State of Illinois, Chicago Park District, and Chicago Public Schools. Across his career, Lynch led the acquisition and successful implementation of three ERP systems and two Time & Attendance systems. Lynch holds a B.A. in Political Science from Purdue University and an M.P.A. in Finance from the University of Delaware, in addition to a variety of professional certifications.

Stacey has over 20 years of experience in Information Technology Strategies, Organizational Change Management, Strategic Planning for Technology Initiatives, Project Management, Communication Technology, Financial and Budget Management and Policy Programs. Stacey has been with the City of Chicago since 2000 and the Deputy CIO since 2017.
Prior to working for the City, Stacey worked for State Farm Insurance in Chicago.
Stacey received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign and her Master’s in Education from National-Louis University Chicago.

Joseph Morris is the deputy chief innovation officer for the Center for Digital Government and a national keynote speaker on issues, trends and drivers impacting state and local government and education. He has authored publications and reports on funding streams, technology investment areas and public-sector priorities, and has led roundtables, projects and initiatives focused on issues within the public sector. Joe has conducted state and local government research with e.Republic since 2007 and knows the ins and outs of government on all levels. He received his Bachelor of Arts in government and international relations from the California State University, Sacramento.

Jonathan Nguyen-Duy leads strategy and service relationship programs at Fortinet, focusing on emerging technologies and partnerships. A widely published security expert, he has extensive experience working with global enterprises and nation-states and develops innovative security solutions that address the challenges of digital transformation – from the IoT edge to the cloud.

Carleton’s responsibilities include the day to day operations for the Department of Assets, Information, and Services (AIS) - Bureau of Information Technology. In this role he oversees the use of technology solutions to improve the delivery of services and interactions with residents, businesses, and tourists. In addition, he provides oversight in leveraging the use of data and technology to assist in meeting the business needs of City departments and leadership.
Carleton brings progressive experience in information technology and has a diverse background working in Corporate and Municipal Government settings with extensive experience in enterprise computing, strategic information technology planning, and the development and implementation of technology driven solutions. At the City of Chicago, he is responsible for teams that support technology operations, data science, enterprise applications, project management, software development, digital design, and information security.
Previously, Carleton served as Managing Deputy Chief Information Officer at the City of Chicago where he led the Managed Operations team responsible for the City’s Enterprise Application Portfolio, which includes commercially, licensed applications, as well as large, custom built legacy systems. Carleton joined the City as a Deputy CIO responsible for enterprise systems management, strategic technology planning and implementation, and stakeholder management including departments and the public. In this role, he provided his leadership in the implementation of Open311, an Open Government initiative which provides transparency and insight into the operations of City departments, services, and performance.
Before joining the City of Chicago, Carleton held various positions within technology, marketing, and sales at corporations such as AT&T, SBC, and Digital Equipment Corporation. While in those positions, he received various awards and recognition for exceeding sales and client service goals.
Carleton is a graduate of Florida A & M University-School of Business and Industry with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. He has previously served as a board member for Black Tech Mecca and the Center for Economic Progress.

Zach Patton is the chief editor of the Content Studio at e.Republic and Government Technology. He has been covering the public sector for nearly 20 years. Until 2019, he was the executive editor of Governing magazine, where he also had served as a staff writer for more than a decade.

Michael Pegues was appointed by Mayor Richard C. Irvin as Chief Information Officer for the City of Aurora, Illinois in June 2017. Michael began his career working in various IT Support roles for AT&T and PepsiCo in the Greater Chicago Area. Michael has worked for the US Department of Défense as a civilian Automation Management Officer at the US Army Logistical Readiness Canter in Vicenza, Italy. In addition, Michael has held various senior IT positions in Hewlett-Packard France, Vodafone Hungary and Morgan Stanley in Budapest, Hungary and New York, New York. Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from DeVry University and an Executive MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Central European University Business School from Budapest, Hungary.
Michael is a proud veteran of the United States Army.

Mr. Sumter is responsible for information technology, telecommunication and clinical engineering operations at the health system. His professional experience includes a distinguished career of more than 20 years with the U.S. Navy. During his naval career, he served as Chief Information Officer at multiple naval hospitals and for the U.S. Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet. Having worked with several health care and technology organizations in various roles, his leadership experience in the health care setting includes program development, organizational management, hospital operations, human resources, process improvement, and information management/technology. He has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration; a master’s degree in Computer Resource and Information Management; and a doctoral degree in Health Services. Mr. Sumter is a Certified Healthcare Executive with the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Certified Lean/Sigma Black Belt.

Teri Takai is vice president of the Center for Digital Government, 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.

Herb is a State, Local and Education Strategist. Having history in various government CIO roles he is responsible for assisting customers achieve their strategic outcomes through understanding their business issues and how policy can impact business outcomes. He has been sharing best practices learned from around the country on optimization, workforce modernization and hybrid cloud. He also is providing insight in practical implementations of AI, Smart Communities and blockchain at many government conferences. Prior to joining in 2018, VMware Herb served as the State of Wisconsin Deputy State CIO and CTO, CIO for Health and Family Services and Corrections.

Before joining Unqork, Theresa served as the Deputy County Executive / Commissioner for Economic Development & Planning for Suffolk County, New York.
Previously, Theresa worked for Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, the largest film studio outside of Hollywood, and for the City of New York where she was Deputy Commissioner and Chief Asset Management Officer, and a Senior Policy Advisor for the Deputy Mayor for Operations. She has 25 years of experience in public and private leadership, having served as an advisor for three urban mayoral administrations in New York City and Baltimore.