Mike Ansley joined NIC in 2011 and serves as the General Manager of NIC Colorado, a Tyler Technologies company. He leads a team of technologists who provide more than 950 digital transformation products and services to more than 300 state and local government partners across Colorado.

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.

David Bessen joined Arapahoe County Government in December 2011 as the Director of Information Technology. At the County, he has established IT governance, converted the IT Department to a bimodal operation and focused on using innovative technologies to drive government efficiencies and foster collaboration. In 2018, his department’s work was awarded a CIO Digital Edge 50 Award, recognizing the County’s game-changing use of technology that benefits citizens in both Arapahoe and other Colorado counties. Prior to joining the County, he was in the media (newspaper and website) industry where he served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer (from 2005-2010) at MediaNews Group, the second largest newspaper chain in the U.S. and IT Director (from 1996-2005) at Copley Newspapers in La Jolla, CA. His responsibilities ranged from managing transactional systems for advertising and subscriptions, to ERP implementations, web content management systems, business intelligence, networking, and Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning. David has also consulted in the publishing industry, as well as designed and managed projects for Fortune 350 firms. In 2020, he was named a Finalist for Colorado CIO of the Year.
David began his career in publishing technology as the founder of a small typesetting company specializing in academic journal publishing. Later, he worked as a support analyst and software trainer with Bestinfo, the software company that developed one of the first commercial-grade publishing systems that operated on a personal computer. He then worked for Management Processor Integrators as Vice President of Operations, consulting on electronic page-building projects at TV Guide and Copley Newspaper’s Fox Valley Press near Chicago.
In his former career, Dr. Bessen was a professor of ancient, medieval, and Renaissance history at several Midwestern colleges.

Amy Bhikha’s passion about the impacts data can have on people’s lives led her to the role of Chief Data Officer at the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT), overseeing data strategy, integration and GIS. Throughout her career, Amy has been motivated by the illustration of data in understandable and innovative ways and is excited to provide strategic guidance on how data can best be used to benefit Coloradans. Prior to joining OIT in February 2021, Amy was Sr. Principal, Business and Technology Advisory at Stonebridge Consulting. She has 20 years of experience in data management where she established a company-wide culture of using data as a strategic asset, including creating a cross-functional data governance organization, multi-faceted data management team and project management organization (PMO).
Amy holds a master’s degree in technology leadership from George Washington University, a post-baccalaureate certificate in computer and information sciences from Robert Morris University and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Grove City College. Prior to her 2008 move to Colorado, she lived in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Canada and Norway. She enjoys hiking, skiing, camping and international travel.

Hilaire Brockmeyer is an imaginative, courageous, citizen-focused public sector product manager. She is driven to produce outstanding community results and human-centered technology solutions in Arapahoe County, Colorado. She is currently focused on creating and enhancing the digital channel for constituent services and enthusiastically engaging citizens and businesses in creating simple, personalized, and relevant experiences.
Hilaire has over 17-years of experience in the federal, state, and local government including IT, operations, and finance. Her background is in using a sociological perspective to improve the lives of individuals and families and promote business success through delivering the services people need, when, where, and how they need them. She is captivated by implementing human-centric design principals to add and enhance digital services and improve trust in government.
She is a quirky visionary who enjoys collaborating with diverse populations to inclusively co-create solutions. Outside of work Hilaire enjoys woodburning fireplaces, cooking and eating elaborate international cuisines, immersive travel experiences, gardening, dive-bars, learning from others. Hilaire is as likely to be found planning a trip to a unique destination as she is watching a Harry Potter marathon in her basement. Just don’t get in her way on the highway, she likes to drive fast.

Natriece Bryant is the Deputy Chief Customer Officer for the Governor’s Office of Information Technology. In her role she provides executive leadership for 17 State agencies across Colorado and manages planning, and integration of technology strategies for the State of Colorado. In this role, she works to identify business technology standards as well as policies, projects, programs and roadmaps for Colorado in the technological realm. Natriece works in partnership with other leaders in the organization to define Enterprise technology strategies for Colorado as well as define OIT’s value proposition as it relates to proving technology to all Coloradans.
Previously, she served as the Deputy Executive Director for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs where she oversaw budget, finance, communications, accounting, procurement, executive communications, 2020 Census, public relations and outreach for the department. She was also in charge of operations for five divisions within the organization that include disaster recovery, housing, local government, board of assessment and appeals and property taxation. She served as the States’ designee appointed by former Governor Hickenlooper as the Census 2020 Complete Count Committee Chair for the State of Colorado.
Prior to joining the State, she served as a Victim Specialist and Program Administrator for elder and domestic violence victims for the Denver City Attorney’s Office. She started the Elder Cohort in Denver which was made up of local District Attorney’s, local law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations, victim service units and the general public.
Natriece holds a BA in Communications from the University of Colorado; Master of Arts in Sociology and a Master’s in Criminal Justice (MCJ) from the University of Colorado – Denver; and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Regis University.

Russell Castagnaro is Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology Director of Digital Transformation. His mission is championing solutions, processes, and technologies that make government services more accessible, usable, and responsive to the public, business, and internal agencies. Russell is also responsible for myColoradoTM and Colorado Digital IdentityTM - Colorado's mobile identity solution.
Previously he was the CEO of Wampei, Inc, a company dedicated to bringing electronic peer-to-peer payments to any business, regardless of credit, race, religion, age, origin, and with or without a bank or third-party.
His experience ranges from one of the first US eCommerce applications in the 1990's to ePhilanthropy solutions to eGovernment solution portals. Throughout it all, the commerce component was always there. From 2003 through 2016, Russell headed the team that ran eHawaii.gov. His team implemented over 120 services for the Hawaii State and County government that process over $2 billion per year, launched hundreds of state government websites, and won over 25 national and international awards.
Russell’s OIT projects have included the EthDenver Forward Colorado blockchain hack-a-thon, myColorado, Colorado Digital ID, enabling 100% remote work for state employees, implementation of virtual call centers, chatbots, and electronic signatures.

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.

Alan is Executive Vice President of e.Republic and Publisher of Government Technology magazine and Techwire. In this role, Alan is involved in the annual production of dozens of events as well as the strategic direction for Governing, Government Technology, Emergency Management, the Center for Digital Government and the Center for Digital Education. Alan is also the senior executive that has overall charge of e.Republic’s research organization which includes, custom research, the Digital Government and Digital Education Navigator tool and the Content Studio (webinars and custom content).
Alan has been a guest lecturer at universities and a frequent speaker for key government and industry organizations. For over 35 years, Alan has worked with industry, education and government officials to help them better understand the importance and use of information technology. Alan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento.

Laura Dunwoody has over 20 years of experience leading service delivery teams in both the private and public sectors. As the City & County of Denver’s Director of City Services, Laura is uniquely positioned to lead Denver Colorado into the self-service age of customer experience. “I believe we have entered a unique time in the customer experience arena. Customers want to self-service and consider a call/email to initiate an action a customer service fail. It’s not enough to answer a call/email quickly and accurately. We have an incredible opportunity to reduce costs and raise customer satisfaction by providing digital transformation solutions direct to users.”

Bob has over 27 years of leadership within the telecommunication, information technology, and transportation industries, with a focus on the convergence of transportation and technology, and a passion for rural broadband that is accessible and affordable. Currently, Bob serves in a leadership role with the Colorado Department of Transportation leading the Intelligent Transportation and Network Services division. Bob has been elected three times since 2011 to serve as Arvada City Councilmember At-Large. He also had the honor to be appointed to several committees including the FCC Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, Chair of the State of Colorado Broadband Advisory Board and the past Chair of the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

With over 20 years of experience working with government jurisdictions around the country, Keith is passionate about using technology to improve the lives of citizens. He is currently the IT Division Manager of Business Relationship at Arapahoe County. His current focus is building a formal digital services team at the County.

Daniele Loffreda is marketing lead for Ciena’s Virtualized Edge Solution State/Local Government and Education (SLED) and Healthcare in Ciena’s Solutions Development organization. In this role, he leads Ciena’s initiatives applying next-generation networking technologies to help these sectors deliver higher quality experiences to their constituents through disruptive technologies, optimized cloud strategies, virtualized infrastructure and improved data security.
Daniele has more than 25 years of experience helping customers leverage information, communications and technology solutions to provide greater value, streamline their operations and generate higher returns on network investments. In addition to his role at Ciena, Daniele has worked in pioneering roles at AT&T, Sprint and Fujitsu. He has presented at numerous industry conferences and published articles and posts on next-generation network connectivity as a critical foundation of enterprise transformation.

Aaron is a Systems Engineering Manager (SEM) at Palo Alto Networks. Prior to his SEM role Aaron was a security focused Systems Engineer for 12 years, helping customers with their journey toward a zero-trust environment. Before becoming a Systems Engineer, Aaron spent 15 years implementing and maintaining cyber security solutions for multiple organizations, to include Higher Education, Service Provider, and Department of Defense.

Anthony (Tony) Neal-Graves joined the state in March 2017 to lead the Broadband Office after an accomplished career in the communications and semiconductor industries. He is responsible for driving the state’s broadband strategy and execution, utilizing public and private sector partnerships to deploy high-speed broadband in communities throughout Colorado.
Prior to his appointment at OIT, Tony was vice president and general manager of Industrial and Energy Solutions at Intel Corporation. He developed the company’s strategy for investing in the Industrial Internet of Things, and marketed and created a new division with industry-specific expertise in manufacturing and energy. Tony’s Intel experience includes being Vice President General Manager of Intel China and Vice President General Manager of the PC Client Group, China. His career includes over twenty years in communications with numerous leadership positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, AT&T, and Lucent Technologies.

Karen Niparko is the Chief HR Officer and Executive Director of the Office of Human Resources for the City & County of Denver. She oversees all aspects of the City’s human capital strategy including talent branding, recruitment, retention and rewards, learning and development, equity/inclusion/diversity, HRIS and analytics/innovation for Denver’s 15,000 employee workforce. Her HR team partners with University of California at Berkeley on the city’s EDI initiatives and actions. In addition, she led the city’s workforce response and recovery to the COVID-19 pandemic and related strategies, plans, policies, programs and serves on the Mayor’s long-term recovery committee.
Karen sponsors the city’s biennial Employee Engagement Survey and employee top recognition programs. In her role, Karen works closely with the Mayor’s office and City Council on behalf of human capital initiatives and her team is focused on talent acquisition, increasing employee engagement, retaining the best talent, performance excellence and innovation.
Karen holds an MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder Leeds School of Business, a BA from the University of Michigan and C-level executive programs at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. With her adult children, she chairs the Niparko Family Foundation, a charitable organization focused on the elimination of domestic violence, human trafficking and supporting education and self-sufficiency.
Karen speaks publicly on various strategic HR initiatives at conferences and webex and is a contributor to various leadership and HR publications and whitepapers. She was appointed by Governor Polis to serve on the State of Colorado Personnel Board. She also serves on the CO board of IPMA-HR and Denver HeadStart. She is a participating executive in the Bloomberg/Harvard University City Leadership Initiative with Mayor Hancock, and serves as a committee member at the Rose Andom Center for victims of domestic violence. She formerly served as a committee chair of the e-commerce committee of the Governor’s Strategic Workforce Development Council, developed the University of Colorado Graduate School’s talent connection and served as chair of INROADS diversity internship programs.

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.

Rick brings the Fortinet OT-CI team more than 37 years of cybersecurity and global partnering experience working across foreign, domestic, and commercial industry sectors at the National Security Agency (NSA). As Fortinet’s Operational Technology North American CISO, he delivers cybersecurity defense solutions and insights for the OT/ICS/SCADA critical infrastructure environments. Prior to Fortinet, Rick led development of cyber capability across Endpoint, Infrastructure, and Industrial Control System technologies at the agency. Previously, Rick also served as an executive leader supporting the Information Assurance Directorate at the NSA. Earlier in his career, he served in a broad range of leadership and Engineering roles including Chief of Staff for the NSA Cyber Task Force and a 5-year forward liaison charged with directing integration of cyber and cryptologic solutions for U.S. Air Force Europe, Ramstein AFB, Germany.

Mark Schwartz joined AWS as an Enterprise Strategist and Evangelist in July 2017. In this role, Mark works with enterprise technology executives to share experiences and strategies for how the cloud can help them increase speed and agility while devoting more of their resources to their customers.

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.

Trevor Timmons has served the Colorado Secretary of State as Chief Information Officer since 2007 after eight years as Deputy CIO .and Director of Software Development. Key focus areas for the department include elections and voter registration in Colorado, as well as duties supporting profit and nonprofit business activities in the state. The department has gained a reputation as a leader in innovation, online service delivery, and information security. Trevor is honored to be part of an organization that is focused on excellence, service, innovation, and an ever-present sense of our mission.

As Executive Editor at e.Republic, Steve is responsible for the coordination of editorial strategies and standards across all the firm’s media platforms. He directs the editorial teams that produce Government Technology, Emergency Management and Digital Communities and their respective Websites, in addition to developing and maintaining corporate policies and standards for editorial. Steve has over 20 years of writing and editing experience including more than 17 years covering technology in the state and local government market.
Steve joined e.Republic in 1996. During his tenure, e.Republic’s print and electronic media have received many awards for editorial excellence, including “Magazine of the Year” from ASBPE for Emergency Management in 2013, “Best New Web Site” from ASBPE for emergencymgmt.com in 2009, ”Best Overall Publication” at the Maggie awards for Government Technology in 2008 and “Magazine of the Year” from ASBPE for Public CIO in 2007.

As Head of Industry for Public Sector, Heather Whitlock works with public sector customers to enable engaging digital document experiences for employees and citizens. She has spent her career helping people and organizations define their vision, design strategic objectives, and implement solutions to achieve meaningful outcomes. Prior to joining Adobe, Heather spent more than 20 years as a senior executive in management, technology, and operations consulting leading complex business transformation, human capital, systems integration, and application services programs across global teams. She is a passionate people ambassador with a desire to solve problems, strengthen communities, and help the public sector serve the mission.