Bruce Hermes is an award-winning government IT leader, currently serving as IT Director for Austin Transit Partnership, where he is working alongside the architects and engineers working to fund, design, and build Austin’s light rail. His previous work includes his recent two years as CIO for the Texas Department of Agriculture, ten years at the City of Austin, where he led the 9-1-1 center and served as deputy chief information officer, helping to streamline work in the project management office and IT operations. Before serving the City of Austin, Bruce spent a full career at various Texas state agencies, including time as the IT director at the Texas Office of Court Administration, where he led creation of the world’s first paperless appellate court collaboration and case management system. His earliest work in IT was as a software developer.

Jay Waldo has served in Texas state government since 2000. First at the Department of Agriculture and then the Comptroller of Public Accounts. Prior to working in Texas, Jay worked as a software engineer and consultant in private industry. While at the Comptroller’s Office, Jay has enjoyed a variety of roles including overseeing business process improvement for the agency, and then transitioning more and more into technology. Jay is currently the Chief Information Officer at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. He is a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.