David is the CEO and co-founder of MyGovGuide, a data and business intelligence company that is focused on accelerating public sector business development and processes through a state-of-the-art public sector actionable business intelligence software solution leveraging automation and generative text artificial intelligence. David is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Allegiant Strategies Group a strategic consulting and government relations firm specializing in Business to Government (B2G), Business to Business (B2B), and Business Growth services which he founded in 2020 after serving over 17 years in executive government roles including 4 years as an Airborne Officer in the United States Army. David is a servant leader with a passion for helping others grow and develop winning teams. He believes in the power of the team and mentoring others to see and become the best they can be in every situation.

Jen currently serves as the Director of Partnerships and Outreach for the Florida Digital Service (FL[DS]). She started her career in public service in 2015, following successful stints in banking and hospitality. She joined the FL[DS] staff in 2020 (a mere six months after the legislature created this new entity).
A born problem solver, Jen thrives on making continuous process improvements and using her analytical skills to help grow initiatives across the enterprise. Jen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She also earned a Project Management Certification from Florida State University and is a Project Management Institute Authorized Training Partner Instructor. Jen is an advocate for life-long learning for personal and professional growth, with a focus on soft skills that transcend disciplines.
Originally from Colorado, Jen has called Florida home for almost two decades. She is an avid Florida State Seminole’s fan who never misses a home game. In her spare time, Jen loves strength training, live concerts, and, above all else, spending time with her husband and daughter.

Ms. Dudley has over 39 years of Information Technology experience and is a 36-year IBM veteran. She currently serves as Director, Technology Sales, for IBM’s strategic State and Local Government clients. Her focus is intense customer focus and successful mission-software alignment. Prior to that she served in the position of Client Executive for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for IBM Federal. There she was responsible for bringing forth customer centric and leading-edge information technology solutions to include Software, Hardware, Services, and Research. As a leader in the Intelligence Community, Ms. Dudley supported specific solutions around engineering, simulation, and modeling.

Danny Frazitta is a Government and Public Services (GPS) Senior Manager within the Human Capital offering portfolio with 15+ years of experience solving client challenges across human resources, finance, change management, and IT. He has worked on some of our largest Human Capital transformations including the stand-up of the Department of Commerce Enterprise Services project in 2015 where he developed the Department’s business case for change and the program’s initial operating budget. Danny has spent the last ten years working across federal and state and local projects supporting clients in Massachusetts, California, Tennessee, and Arkansas to develop future state strategies and to solve their existing business operations challenges with a focus on process and workforce improvement.

Russell has been helping governments innovate and improve their operations through the cutting-edge application of technology for more than 25 years. Working in both the public and private sectors, he has created, implemented and supported advanced applications and technology for local governments serving hundreds of thousands of citizens and customers across the United States.
Most recently, he has concentrated on implementing an aggressive roadmap for digital business improvement as the CTO and Director of Technology and Innovation for the City of Tampa- Florida’s tech capital. With a priority on getting the right tools and technology for expanded service, improved reliability, and open data sharing for the departments he serves, the City has implemented and upgraded more systems in the past five years than the 15 before.
Russell has a bachelor of business administration degree with a major in management from Florida Atlantic University. He trained in performance management with a past Florida Governor’s Sterling Award winner and is a past examiner for Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx), an organization that assists governments, hospitals, manufacturers and other businesses to implement the continuous improvement management model using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. He is also a 2018 honoree of the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s CIO of the Year award and a 2022 Florida CIO of the Year 2022 enterprise finalist.
When he’s not at work, he’s probably out on a long run, training for the next Gasparilla Distance Classic.

Nick Lenaues is a Managing Advisor for Red Hat in State and Local Government. He has helped the Public Sector succeed with Application Modernization, Cloud, Automation at Scale and Software Defined Everything. Prior to Red Hat, Nick has been instrumental in driving customer success across Public and the Private Sector with emerging technologies to evolve towards secure software supply chain, implementing infrastructure as code, cloud automation, API Management, CDN/Cache, load balancing, infrastructure automation and security and compliance. He is a regular public speaker for Red Hat in State and Local Government at various events nationally. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a BSEE with AI concentration and initially was in software development, then product management before switching over to his current professional passion of advising around emerging technology and why it even matters.

Bryan has over 25 years of sales, business development, and sales management experience. He has worked extensively in both domestic and global markets building direct and channel sales organizations for both the commercial and government markets. Bryan is now responsible for managing the State, Local & Education business in the South region for HP’s Public Sector team.
Bryan holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Georgia State University. He also serves on the Government Technology IT Leadership Advisory Boards for Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

Brent is a uniquely qualified professional with 25 years of experience in technology consulting, business analysis, solution design, and process implementation. He is a proven leader with strong expertise in next-generation contact centers, SaaS/CaaS, security solutions, networking, and telecommunications. He works to solve customer problems from all perspectives, while ensuring his clients are getting the correct solutions along with the strategic vision to advance their business. He is tasked with communicating and educating clients about Lumen portfolio offerings across the distinct platforms and works tirelessly with his clients and account managers both pre- and post-sales while managing relationships. Brent has a diverse background working in a myriad of industry verticals, consulting, designing, and delivering solutions. He is trained and certified across the three Genesys platforms; Engage, PureConnect and GenesysCloud as well as Fortinet.

For the past 8 years Jim Taylor has served as CEO for the Florida Technology Council. In this seat, Jim’s voice acts as an unbiased resource for industry leaders, state legislators, state agencies and municipalities working to create a stronger, safer, more efficient Florida.
Jim was appointed as the Florida technology industry representative for the Governor Ron DeSantis Reopen Florida Taskforce; served on the Florida House of Representatives Cybersecurity and EMP Legislative Workgroup, and is an appointed member of the State of Florida Credentials Review Committee, as well as the State-lead for Florida’s Credential-Occupation Correlation & Gap Identification Workgroup. Jim is a recent graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy
In the field of cyber security, as a recent graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy, Jim provides FBI Cybersecurity Symposiums and trainings for education institutions, private and public sector leaders, and students across our state. He and the Florida Technology Council are helping organizations navigate the new cybersecurity challenges of a distributed workforce through their partnership with the Cyber Readiness Institute.
Jim Taylor is one of only four leaders in the state of Florida to receive the “Government Technology National Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers Award” for efforts advancing technology in state government.

Michelle Taylor is the Chief Information Officer since January of 2020 for the local government of Leon County, Florida, where she previously served as the Director of IT Operations. Prior to her career with Leon County, Michelle held technology positions with The Florida State University’s College of Law, Department of Biological Sciences, and College of Education. Michelle received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from The Florida State University and is a Certified Government Chief Information Officer through FSU’s Florida Institute of Government. Michelle has three decades of experience in successful IT hiring.

Matthew Thompson, CISSP, is an industry-recognized thought leader in the area of Identity and Security Management and currently leads Socure's Public Sector business while also serving as the President of the Board for the Kantara Initiative, the leading global community commons improving trustworthy use of identity and personal data through innovation, standardization and good practice. Matt is an innovator in the digital identity space with several patents and having co-founded ID.me, which was named to the “100 Brilliant Companies” list in 2014 by Entrepreneur Magazine. Matt has spent more than a decade working in the public and private sectors to promote privacy-enhancing, secure, interoperable, and user-friendly ways to give individuals and organizations confidence in their online interactions, which garnered him recognition by One World Identity as one of the “Top 100 Leaders in Identity” in 2017 and 2018.
Graduating as the Top Cadet from the Virginia Military Institute and as the President of the Armed Forces Association from Harvard Business School, Matt is a proven business leader, successful entrepreneur, Ironman triathlete, and decorated combat veteran. He served as an Army Special Operations Officer, completing four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with multiple awards for valor and distinguished service. Matt’s civilian experience includes positions at McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, Capital One and IDEMIA.

Susan Whitmire serves as the Chief Information Officer for the newly formed Florida Gaming Control Commission, fulfilling a career-long goal of being a CIO in the great State of Florida. Serving Florida for over 37 years, Susan has held many roles in technology including the State Director of Project Assurance and Chief of State IT Strategy Management.
A certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and certified Scrum Master (CSM) with experience planning and managing all components of complex projects Susan enjoys managing programs with high impact and risk components but finds her greatest joy in developing her team.
Susan says her greatest accomplishment is the leaders that she has nurtured and grown. These leaders are her resume. Taking risks on people and growing new talent ensures continuity for the future, a lesson she learned early on from great leaders who took a chance to help her succeed.
Susan loves to travel, but this past year Susan’s adventure has been closer to home building a new agency from the ground up. While she had planned to retire at the end of 2023, she is having so much fun, she is sticking around to finish what she started. Retirement will have to wait.

Mike specializes in partnering with State Leaders to empower better communications and remove digital gaps in their communities.