As chief deputy/deputy state chief information officer, Torre Jessup leads the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Internal Operations Division and focuses his efforts on providing enterprise application and infrastructure services to state agencies, local governments and universities across North Carolina.
Prior to becoming chief deputy state CIO in April 2024, Jessup served more than two years as NCDIT’s chief operating officer, overseeing the department’s administrative functions.
In that role, he focused on building capacity in administrative areas to better serve the agency's operational needs, investing in process improvement for statewide IT procurement and increasing the agency’s internal and external engagement. He has also served as NCDIT’s lead for the N.C. Environmental Justice Council and the Interagency Resiliency Task Force.

Phil Bertolini is a senior vice president for Government Technology, the premiere event and thought leadership content provider for state and local government technology professionals. 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.

Amanda Crawford is the Executive Director of DIR and serves as the Chief Information Officer for the State of Texas. In this role, she is responsible for the overall leadership, direction, and daily operations of DIR, an agency with an annual fiscal profile of more than $4 billion per year. DIR's responsibilities include protecting the state's data and critical technology infrastructure, managing a multi-billion-dollar cooperative contracts program, and providing strategic technology leadership, solutions, and innovation to all levels of Texas government. Under Mandy’s leadership, DIR led the state’s successful response to the 2019 ransomware attack that affected over 20 local government entities in Texas and secured the transition to the next-generation suite of managed IT services offered through DIR’s Shared Technology Services program.
Prior to leading the team at DIR, Mandy served at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas (OAG) for more than 17 years. She held various positions at the OAG, including ultimately serving for two and a half years as the Deputy Attorney General for Administration and General Counsel. Mandy also served as a faculty member for the National Attorneys General Training Research Institute’s Center for Leadership Development, teaching managerial leadership across the country.
Mandy earned her B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center. She is a graduate of the Governor’s Center for Executive Development through the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. 

Nikhil J. Deshpande is Chief Digital Officer for the state of Georgia. He heads the Office of Digital Services (DSGa) under the Georgia Technology Authority.
Nikhil envisioned and led Georgia’s user-centric digital transition to an enterprise open-source web publishing system, GovHub. Under his direction, Georgia became the first state in the United States to use enterprise Drupal and meet special needs of constituents with a range of disabilities affecting vision, hearing, motion, and cognition, making GovHub Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 AA compliant.
Nikhil strongly advocated and set the framework for the use of social media for Georgia, back when using social media for government was not common. He established a presence for the state on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to quickly address citizens’ questions and concerns.
Prior to his career in digital government, Nikhil worked in advertising and digital media.
Nikhil has two master’s degrees in visual communications and Interaction Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He served as adjunct faculty at the Atlanta campus of SCAD for 10 years, where he taught graduate classes in Interaction Design and User Experience.
Nikhil has won several national and international awards and recognition for his work in digital government. He was recently honored with Atlanta’s 40 under 40, an award recognizing 40 accomplished individuals under the age of 40.
Connect with Nikhil on Twitter or LinkedIn @nikofthehill

Alan Fuller was appointed Chief Information Officer for the state of Utah in March 2021. As CIO, Fuller oversees all IT functions for executive branch agencies in Utah with the goal to improve innovation and improve government services through the use of technology. A resident of Lehi, Utah, Fuller has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Governor Greg Gianforte appointed Kevin Gilbertson CIO for the State of Montana in March 2021. Kevin is leading the state through key transformations. The primary transformations include being one of the first states to decommission their mainframe; executing the scaled agile framework to improve IT planning and transparency; unifying key roles in the state to improve efficiency; and implementing a customer success organization to improve customer service throughout the state.

As chief privacy officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology, Cherie Givens is responsible for a strategic and comprehensive statewide privacy program that defines, develops, maintains and implements policies and processes that enable consistent and effective information privacy practices.
Givens is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and an attorney with more than 20 years of experience. She joined NCDIT in December 2021 after more than a decade supporting federal privacy programs in the Washington D.C. area – first as a federal employee and then as a contractor. 

Denis Goulet was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology for the state of New Hampshire in February 2015 by Governor Hassan. He was the re-appointed in 2019 and 2023 for additional four-year terms by Governor Sununu. Goulet has also served as A Director, Vice President, and President of the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). Goulet currently serves as a Director on the NASCIO Executive Committee.
Most recently the Director of Development for the software development firm Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Goulet has nearly 30 years of private-sector IT experience in industries such as healthcare, high technology and manufacturing.  Goulet was previously the Vice President of Information Technology from 2004 to 2010 at Progress Software Corporation, were he also previously worked as the Director of Information Systems, The Director of E-Business and the Director of IT Operations.

Graig Lubsen has been the director of communications and external affairs for the Indiana Office of Technology since 2013 where he oversees the IN.gov website, external relations and legislative affairs. During his tenure, IN.gov has been recognized as a leader in digital government. Graig earned Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Purdue University.

Ms. Simmons oversees broadband development and other projects as Georgia continues to invest in new infrastructure to bring opportunity to all constituents, no matter their zip code.
She came to GTA in July 2021 from the Georgia Department of Revenue, where she served as Deputy Commissioner and oversaw the Legal Affairs and Tax Policy Division, law enforcement divisions, and communications and legislative programs.
Ms. Simmons began her career in public service in the Georgia Office of the Secretary of State. After working in Washington, D.C., she returned to Georgia as Assistant Director of the Georgia Elections Division and then Chief of Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State.
Ms. Simmons, a native of Marietta, Georgia, holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Georgia. She and her husband, Matt, live with their daughter and son in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Jason Snyder is the Secretary of the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security. He was previously the Chief Technology Officer at Harvard University. He has more than 30 years of information technology experience in government, higher education and the private sector. He has worked at Harvard for almost ten years, as a Program Director for Identity & Access Management, as Managing Director of Architecture and Engineering, and as Chief Technology Officer since 2015. He served as Chief Technology Officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the duration of Governor Patrick’s tenure, and prior to that spent 13 years in the private sector at CSC Consulting Group. He's a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and lives in Reading.

Teri Takai is Senior 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.

Annette Taylor joined the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s Division of Broadband and Digital Equity in May 2022 as the director of the Office of Digital Equity and Literacy. Governor Cooper created the Office of Digital Equity & Literacy, in 2021, as the first of its kind in the country.
Taylor is helping expand initiatives to ensure all North Carolinians have equitable access to high-speed internet and digital literacy resources. Annette has more than 25 years of community service and civic engagement in both public and private sector roles and in the philanthropic arena directing resources to organizations across North Carolina. She previously served as the Director of Community Engagement for former U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield, leading congressional initiatives and managing relationships with key stakeholders in North Carolina’s 1st District.

Michael Toland joined OMES in May 2023 as the Chief Information Security Officer. In this role, he is charged with leading all information security efforts and compliance and privacy practices.
He brings over 20 years of experience as an information technology professional. Toland specializes in IT security operations and providing proactive defense, and he prides himself in promoting an outstanding IT security culture by facilitating training, testing and coaching.