State Controller Betty T. Yee was elected in November 2014, following two terms of service on the California Board of Equalization. As Controller, she continues to serve the Board as its fifth voting member. Reelected for a second term as Controller in 2018, Ms. Yee is only the tenth woman in California history to be elected to statewide office.
As chief fiscal officer of the world’s fifth-largest economy, Ms. Yee chairs the Franchise Tax Board and serves as a member of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) Boards. The nation’s largest public pension funds, these two boards have a combined portfolio of more than $800 billion.
Ms. Yee serves on dozens of boards, commissions, and financing authorities affecting policies ranging from land management, affordable housing, and alternative transportation to crime victim compensation and health and educational facilities.
As chair of the State Lands Commission, she provides stewardship of public-trust lands, waterways, and marine resources through economic development, protection, preservation, and restoration consistent with the state’s environmental needs. In this capacity, Ms. Yee led the adoption of the Commission’s first-ever strategic plan, focusing on addressing sea-level rise and oil decommissioning, with a commitment to environmental justice and tribal consultation. She also spearheaded the shuttering of the last state oil platform in the Santa Barbara channel.
A native of San Francisco, Ms. Yee has more than 35 years of experience in public service, specializing in state and local finance and tax policy. Ms. Yee leads an experienced, full-time team of public service professionals who are responsible for financial reporting, audits, and issuing more than 49 million payments annually to vendors, local governments, school districts, taxpayers, and state employees. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, she has worked to streamline the State Controller’s Office manual processes and reimagine the agency as a workplace of the future.
Ms. Yee previously served as Chief Deputy Director for Budget with the California Department of Finance where she led the development of the Governor’s Budget, negotiations with the Legislature and key budget stakeholders, and fiscal analyses of legislation. Prior to this, she served in senior staff positions for several fiscal and policy committees in both houses of the California State Legislature.
Ms. Yee also serves on the Ceres Board of Directors, a global nonprofit organization working to mobilize many of the world’s largest investors to advance sustainability and take stronger action on climate change.

Patti Bayross joined NYCHA as Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President in May 2020. Patti comes to NYCHA with more than 27 years of information technology experience in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.
Most recently, she was Chief Customer Officer/Deputy Commissioner of Customer Experience Management for the City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT). In this role, she helped establish DoITT’s first department dedicated to customer engagement and the customer experience, centralized customer communications, modernized the service desk, and launched new digital tools to enhance the customer experience.
Prior to DoITT, Patti served as the Chief Information Officer/Assistant Commissioner of MIS for the City’s Administration for Children’s Services where she led a department of more than 175 IT professionals and managed the agency’s $45 million IT budget.

Beth Blauer is the Associate Vice Provost for Public Sector Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. She is the former the Executive Director and co-founder of the Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University (Civic Impact). As a dedicated public servant and international expert on government performance programs for more than fifteen years, Beth Blauer spent her career working to improve people’s lives by bringing data into governments’ decision-making processes.
Blauer founded Civic Impact, originally as the Center for Government Excellence, in 2015 and since then, has successfully worked with over 140 mayors from around the globe to advance the use of data and evidence. She has built the organization to be a leader in data-driven insights for city leaders and public sector practitioners across the country and around the world.
Prior to leading the Centers for Civic Impact, Blauer designed and launched Socrata’s GovStat platform for federal, state, and local governments.
Having entered public service as a juvenile probation officer in Maryland, Blauer was quickly promoted within the department, quickly becoming the Chief of Staff. It was in this capacity she began working on the creation and implementation of “StateStat.” In 2008, then Governor Martin O’Malley asked Blauer to lead his nationally recognized StateStat program.
Blauer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland and holds a JD from New York Law School. She is a recipient of the 2012 CAP award for her work on Maryland’s StateStat.

Diane W. Doersch serves as a Technical Project Director at Digital Promise. She came from a career in public education, first as an elementary school teacher, then a middle school computer applications teacher, and finally director of technology in a Wisconsin school district with approximately 6,000 students. She then served as Chief Technology and Information Officer in one of the five largest school districts in the state. In that role, Diane helped develop a statewide data warehouse consortium for school districts, worked to transform her school district with laptops for educators and 1:1 devices for students, and earned her Certified Educational Technology Leader (CETL) certification. Diane is serves on the boards of the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and #EquityEDU, and is an officer of Women in Technology (WIT) Wisconsin. She earned her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point and her masters degree in educational technology from Lesley University.

Dr. Glidden is helping to deliver on Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. An internationally recognized expert on Digital Government, Dr. Glidden specializes in identifying and piloting emerging technologies such as AI, Cloud and Blockchain in the GovTech space. Julia pioneered the concept of Cognitive Government and has delivered many of Europe's leading innovation projects. She is currently serving as an expert advisor to the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the European Commission. In addition to being named in Apolitical's inaugural list of the Top 100 most influential people in digital government, Julia was recognized as one of the Top 40 GovTech Influencers in the 2019 e-Governance Global Industry Landscape Overview.

Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea made history when she was sworn in on January 6, 2015, becoming the first Hispanic elected to statewide office in New England. A proven leader who is taking on some of the toughest issues and getting results, she was re-elected to serve a second term in office on November 6, 2018. Secretary Gorbea believes government should work for people. As Secretary of State, she has promoted increased civic engagement and government accessibility.
During her time in office, Nellie has transformed the Department of State from a filing cabinet to a nationally recognized hub of information that works for people. She has modernized Rhode Island’s elections infrastructure, and increased cybersecurity measures. She has developed online resources and reduced red tape to make it easier for small businesses to start and grow. As a result of her work, a record number of new businesses were started in Rhode Island in 2021 despite the pandemic. Nellie has a lifelong passion for encouraging civic participation.
In 2017, she worked to pass automated voter registration, making Rhode Island the ninth state in the country to do so. She also improved Rhode Island's elections infrastructure by implementing online voter registration and securing funding for modern voting technologies like electronic poll books. She has positioned the state as a national leader in elections cybersecurity. Her work to increase voter engagement, especially among new and young voters, is already seeing results. Rhode Island saw a 64 percent increase from 2014 to 2018 in the number of voters ages 18-20 voting in the general election. Additionally, the November 2020 election saw record turnout with more than 521,000 Rhode Islanders casting ballots.
Understanding the importance of preserving and highlighting Rhode Island's rich and diverse history, Secretary Gorbea has found a new home for the State Archives to help Rhode Islanders understand and appreciate their state's great history. She has also developed civics and history resources for teachers to use in the classroom, including collections of primary source archival documents, a Rhode Island historical timeline, and infographics about how government works in Rhode Island. These efforts are complemented by experiential learning offerings such as the High School Elections program, which offers schools the opportunity to hold their student government elections with real ballots and voting machines.
Secretary Gorbea worked to modernize Rhode Island's notary public laws to allow for electronic notarizations for the first time in Rhode Island. Her legislation also afforded more protections for consumers. She launched a new online Business Assistant to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start businesses in the state and continues to streamline processes in the Business Services Division.
In 2016, Secretary Gorbea ushered in tough legislation to crack down on violations of lobbying rules and make Rhode Island's lobbying registration system a model for the nation.
Before entering public service, Nellie founded the Rhode Island Latino Civic Fund and served on numerous other community boards. Prior to running for office, Nellie was the Executive Director of HousingWorks RI which provided compelling information on the need for affordable housing for the economic development of the state.
Originally from Puerto Rico, Gorbea is a graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and holds a master’s degree in public administration from Columbia University. She lives with her family in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Secretary Gorbea is currently a candidate for Governor of Rhode Island.

Karrah (Miller) Herring is a native and resident of South Bend, Indiana and proud graduate of the South Bend Community School Corporation. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Communications/Public Relations from Purdue University (’05) and her Juris Doctorate from Valparaiso University School of Law (’11).
On November 19, 2020, Indiana governor, Eric Holcomb announced his appointment of Karrah to his cabinet as Indiana’s first-ever Chief Equity, Inclusion and Opportunity Officer for the state. In this role, she works with the governor and his team to improve state government operations as well as remove hurdles in the government workplace and services the state provides. Within the first 6 months, Karrah has engaged with over 200 stakeholders, built the infrastructure of the office, and in conjunction with other agencies rolled out the State of Indiana's first ever equity website and Equity Data Portal. Her team's two-year strategic plan will focus on equity in Community, Economic and Workforce Development.
Prior to joining Governor Holcomb's team, Karrah worked for the University of Notre Dame for a decade and served as the Director of Public Affairs in the Office of Public Affairs and Communications. Her team assisted with cultivating campus relationships with community nonprofits, businesses and state and local government officials. Additionally, Karrah oversaw the university’s $250,000 annual United Way campaign, Public Affairs engagement stories, and assisted with engaging faculty, staff and students with service initiatives in the region. Prior to her role with Public Affairs, she served on the University of Notre Dame’s Office of Human Resources Senior Executive Leadership team as the Director of the Office of Institutional Equity. Her team focused on workplace culture compliance including Title VII, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act, workplace investigations of harassment and discrimination and workplace culture training efforts.
Karrah has received a number of awards and recognition and was most recently named by the South Bend Regional Chamber as the 2021 Woman of Influence. Karrah serves on several boards and committees and speaks at events across the country. She is the assistant pastor of her family's church, Faith Alive Ministries in South Bend, where she supports her brother, the senior pastor, Pastor YPJ, and their parents Bishop Eddie and Diana Miller.
Karrah is married to Ray Herring (University of Notre Dame ’09) and they have three children, Bryce, Brianna and Ja’Mari.

Kelly leads a team of 20 in eight offices across the country, a $150M active grant portfolio, and $30M in annual grant-making. The Community and National Initiatives team invests in the future of more engaged and informed 26 Knight cities, with investment strategies including downtown and neighborhood revitalization, smart cities, public spaces, and economic opportunity.
Kelly most recently served as Chief Analytics Officer for the City of New York and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics. Her New York City team focused on delivering insights for a more equitable and efficient city. Her office launched the NYC Recovery Data Partnership, a first-of-its-kind effort for community, non-profit, and private organizations to share data with the City to aid in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.
Previously, she was a director at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and worked in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she advised the chief technology officer and chief data scientist of the United States. She built and co-led the City of Boston’s analytics team, working alongside front-line workers to gain a deeper understanding of how to collect data to make informed decisions and recommendations.

Candice is the Vice President of the Federal Civilian Business, a Strategic Missions & Technology Team. She drives the strategy and execution of the sales and delivery teams as they support and transform 14 Cabinet level agencies of the US Government and Tribal Nations.
Prior to joining as Federal Civilian Lead, she was the Chief Operating Officer (COO), in Microsoft US Regulated Industries (USRI). In that capacity, she lead the strategic operations team supporting a $16B business. Before USRI, Candice was part of Microsoft’s worldwide team, where she led our government industry business in Asia. Passionate about creating a positive societal impact, Candice played a key role in enabling our $2.1B in revenue, Asia Public Sector field organizations to differentiate Microsoft through transformative mission-led interactions with government stakeholders.
Candice holds a Bachelor’s degree in computer information technology from Western Michigan University, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Information Management from the University of Texas at Austin. Candice resides in Leesburg, Virginia with her husband Scott, their son Josh, Grandpa Jim (with sidekick Midnight, the cat) and their 1 year old too-much-energy Sheepadoodle, Oreo.

Kristine Martinez leads LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions Federal Government sales practice. With two decades of experience supporting the Public Sector in achieving their human capital goals and objectives, she oversees all aspects of sales and account management.
Before joining LinkedIn, Kristine held senior leadership positions across the SaaS and information services industry. Most notably, she served as Vice President, Account Management and Customer Success at FiscalNote providing information services focused on connecting people and organizations to Government. And, as the Regional Manager of Federal Sales and Account Management of Thomson Reuters providing “Big Data” solutions for federal government human resources and legal professionals.
Kristine is a graduate of the University of Colorado and resides in Washington DC.

Eva has contributed to the growth and success of many large Technology initiatives in three different educational systems. As a current board member of Texas Education Technology Leaders (TETL), the Texas chapter of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), Eva provides guidance on privacy, security policies, trends and best practices to districts across the state.
Since 2012, she has been part of the Information Technology department at San Antonio Independent School District. As Senior Executive Director of IT, she has developed and led the financial and implementation strategies for the district to maximize funding through Bond, Erate, Grants, Corona Relief Funds (CRF) to purchase classroom technology in over 2,500 classrooms, upgrade network infrastructure and made 1 device available for every 1 student.
In an effort to provide students connectivity at home, Eva also serves as a steering committee member on the Digital Inclusions Alliance of San Antonio (DIASA) and has established strategic partnership with organizations including City of San Antonio to build a LTE network. She is a proud alumni of San Antonio ISD and enjoys serving the community by providing access to innovative digital resources.

In this role, Ms. Moan leads the Information Security team to protect, defend, and strengthen the security posture of the NYPD against cyber threats. Throughout her career, Ms. Moan has taken a holistic and mission driven approach to cybersecurity.
Prior to joining the NYPD, Ms. Moan was the Division Chief of Enterprise Engineering for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in Washington, DC. Her portfolio included security, network, and systems. She led the security architecture and engineering team, building and deploying emerging technology to enhance cybersecurity defenses for the Department.
During her time at DHS, she served as the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) Technical Representative to the CIO, providing subject matter expertise on securing cloud technologies for use by the federal government. She also was the Intelligence and Operations Briefer for the Secretary of Homeland Security. At other points in her career, Ms. Moan held roles supporting the DoD and US-CERT. Ms. Moan holds an undergraduate degree from American University and a graduate degree from Pennsylvania State University.

Driving alignment and execution of company strategy and priorities in the US Subsidiary, Sydne Mullings leads a multi-disciplinary team across account-based marketing, industry marketing, customer experience, and analytics. Her focus is awareness and demand generation, contact acquisition, customer engagement and marketing insights that inform business strategy. During her 13 years at Microsoft, she has held several leadership roles focused on building a culture of customer-centricity and shaping customer engagement for future growth within Microsoft US and Worldwide.
Sydne holds a Master of Science Degree in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Politics from Penn State University. She has spent the last 20 years delivering exemplary customer outcomes, driving global business transformation, and focusing on operational excellence in the Healthcare, Financial Services, Professional Services and Manufacturing industries.
Sydne is a passionate champion for diversity and inclusion. She has sponsored a number of initiatives focused on building bridges by the sharing of joyous traditions in various cultures as well as launching sustainable programs that support hiring, onboarding, and development of diverse individuals.
Outside of Microsoft, Sydne is actively involved in many groups and charitable organizations. Sydne is an elected official in the state of Washington serving as a School Board Director for the Issaquah School District. Sydne is also an advisory board member for After School All Stars Puget Sound which focuses on enrichment programs for underserved Youth. Sydne is originally from Chicago and now resides in Seattle’s Eastside with her family.

Lydia Payne-Johnson is a dynamic, multi-talented executive with more than 40 years’ experience in compliance, cybersecurity risk, data governance, and consumer marketing. She is passionate about helping women adopt strategies that will drive them to embrace their true capacity for self-love and acceptance in order to find their voice in the workplace.
Lydia is a published subject matter expert, noted industry panelist, speaker and has been a mentor with the Executive Women’s Forum.
Lydia holds J.D. from New York Law School and a B.A. in Music from Hunter College. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP), a graduate of the Executive Leadership Program of the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business, KPMG’s Executive Leadership Institute for Women and the Securities Industry Institute of the Wharton School of Business. She is a past recipient of the YWCA Women’s Achiever Award and the Harlem YMCA Black Achiever Award and is profiled in the book, “Doing It For Ourselves: Success Stories of African-American Women in the Workplace.” Lydia resides in Herndon, Virginia.

Lydia leads the sales teams supporting the adoption and sales of Microsoft’s solutions across K-12 organizations and higher education customers in the United States.
Before joining Microsoft, Lydia was group vice president of Worldwide Alliances, Channels Programs and Communications at Oracle Corp. In this role, she had global responsibility for Oracle Partner Network (OPN) programs, strategy, marketing and communications. Her organization supported Oracle’s channel ecosystem with an emphasis on driving partner profitability and satisfaction.
Lydia is a member of the EDUCAUSE Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Board and has been named as one of CRN’s “Top 100 Women of the Channel” 2009–2013 and named to its advisory board. She is also committed to empowering the next generation of leaders and supporting her local community. She serves on the board of several community nonprofits including Friends of Marblehead Public Schools, MassCUE, and the Marblehead Family Fund.
Lydia holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Trinity College-Hartford. She is a sports enthusiast, an active triathlete in the summer and an alpine backcountry skier in the winter. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Deborah is an accomplished C-level influencer, with a broad range of experience in government, policy, cybersecurity, privacy and information technology. She is an experienced and highly respected thought leader who has held executive roles for over two decades. She recently retired from her position as New York state’s chief information security officer (CISO) after over 35 years of public service.
In that role, as part of New York state’s information technology transformation and consolidation initiative, she helped redesign how the state protects its data. As state CISO, she directed the state’s comprehensive cybersecurity governance, risk management and compliance program, providing strategic leadership and vision and assuring business-aligned, risk-based investments that maximized business opportunity and minimized cybersecurity risk. She also directed the NYS Cyber Command Center, hotline, procedures for reporting and response to cyberthreats and digital forensics.
She holds multiple industry certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP); Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC); SANS Strategic Planning, Policy and Leadership (GSTRT) Global Information Assurance Certification; and Project Management Institute certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Molly Mitchell Spearman was elected as the 18th South Carolina State Superintendent of Education on November 4, 2014 and re-elected on November 6, 2018. Native to Saluda County, Mrs. Spearman’s childhood laid the foundations of family, faith, and hard work that transcended into her professional career as an educator and civil servant.
Superintendent Spearman’s career has spanned 18 years as a public school music teacher and an assistant principal. In addition to teaching and administration, she has served four terms as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, six years as Deputy Superintendent of the South Carolina Department of Education, and ten years as the Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. She holds a B.A. Degree in music education from Lander University, a Master’s Degree in education supervision from George Washington University, and an Education Specialist degree from the University of South Carolina.
As the South Carolina Superintendent of Education, Mrs. Spearman has the experience and relationships needed to move South Carolina’s education system forward. Superintendent Spearman strongly believes the foundation for student success lies in effective classroom teachers and principals who facilitate personalized learning for every student, every day. Her vision is for every South Carolina graduate to be prepared for the next step after graduation. Superintendent Spearman is excited to keep a positive and forward-thinking approach to South Carolina education to promote better schools and brighter futures.

Dr. Nicol Turner Lee is a senior fellow and the director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. She leads Brookings artificial intelligence work focused on eradicating systemic biases in machine learning systems. Dr. Turner Lee has a forthcoming book titled, Digitally Invisible: How the internet is creating the new underclass, forthcoming from Brookings Press, 2021

Jacky Wright is the Chief Digital Officer and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft US, where she inspires and leads teams to help businesses leverage technology to drive innovation, adopt sustainable and accessible business models, and digitally transform.
Jacky is widely recognized as a transformational global leader, innovative technologist and recognized STEM advocate. She uses her broad platform to drive thought leadership not just for the positive impact of digital transformation for business, but also for social, economic, and environmental change.
As a woman of color, her passion, advocacy and influence to create a truly inclusive world is demonstrated in the various forums where she regularly speaks on diversity, digital inclusion and the power of inclusive leadership.