As GIS Manager at the Bluegrass Area Development District from 1988-1998, Kent was responsible for the management of GIS specialists, technicians and interns. He served as the GIS Manager for the Water Resource Information System (WRIS) within the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority (KIA) from1998 until 2004 and was responsible for the technical aspects of developing and maintaining the WRIS. Currently, Kent is the Director of the Division of Geographic Information (DGI) within the Commonwealth Office of Technology. Management of the Commonwealth’s Enterprise GIS, Open Data Portal, and collaboration with Executive Branch agencies are his primary responsibilities. Creation and customization of Story Maps, implementation of KyGovMaps, maintenance of the KyTopo map series, and management of the KyFromAbove effort have been Kent’s recent focus. Kent has a BA in Geography from the University of Kentucky (UK).

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.

Andrew’s 16 years in healthcare has focused on health information technology opportunities for improved care coordination and reducing reporting burdens. Collaboration and communication are the primary strategies for accomplishing both his personal and organizational missions.

David considers himself very fortunate to have spent the first part of his work career (8 years) in the US Army helping to find and protect folks from the bad guys, and the second part of his career (the past 25+ years) helping the good guys and gals (all K-12 students, parents, teachers and administrators) by providing them with the skills, knowledge, hope and opportunity for the future. KY K-12 has been the pioneer and national leader in most aspects of education technology since 1992. David has also been a board member and volunteer youth coach for five different sports over the past 20 years, which has been his way of giving back to his state and local community. Lastly, being the father of four children, grandfather of three young grandchildren and trying his best to be a dedicated and loving son, brother, husband, uncle, nephew and cousin has taught him the most and is his greatest source of strength and motivation, while at the same time, has kept him extremely humble and grounded.

Bryna Dash is Vice President of Blackboard's Government and Corporate business since 2018. Prior to Blackboard, Bryna led IBM's Federal Cloud business. Bryna graduated from University of Maryland, College Park and earned her MBA from MIT.

Carlos Felix ensures Kentucky’s APA auditors have the IT resources to identify and eliminate risks to public resources, thus protecting the taxpayers' interest in our government. He has served the Commonwealth in various IT roles over 18 years.

As the Vice President of Digital Inclusion for Connected Nation (CN), Heather Gate is responsible for strategy development and implementation of programs that impact digital inclusion for all people in all places. Ms. Gate has more than 15 years’ experience working in digital inclusion with the mission of improving the lives of vulnerable populations across the country via technology access, adoption and use. She has extensive experience engaging with minorities, rural communities, families, and others on the frontlines of the digital divide and working behind the scenes as an advocate and tactician with local, state, and federal leaders.
Heather currently serves as the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC). She previously served on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) as the Chair of the Digital Empowerment and Inclusion Working Group (2017-2019) and Vice Chair of the full ACDDE (2019-2021)

Noel Hara is an experienced strategist that infuses technology solutions across the public sector to help solve the most challenging problems. As Chief Technology Officer with NTT DATA’s public sector, he blends over two decades of experience in the public and private sector with an insatiable curiosity for technology and applications. Since the start of the global pandemic, Noel has been responsible for adapting the company’s offering portfolio to support clients in their shift to remote working and learning while continuing to support constituents through the expansion of digital government.

Kenny Holmes became the leader for Public Sector at Fortinet in 2019. He is an expert in cybersecurity with a background in cryptography. He has worked in the Federal Government, State Governments, Research Institutions, and Universities on some of the largest security projects in the world.

Derrick is the National Practice Leader for Cyber Operations within AT&T Cybersecurity Consulting, responsible for its direction and overall business performance. Derrick specializes in collaborating with clients on strategic cybersecurity initiatives such as cloud security, Zero Trust, SASE, cybersecurity operations, and cybersecurity transformation. Derrick leads a team of security professionals in designing strategic, future vision next-generation architectures and preemptively assessing network and cloud infrastructures to identify security weaknesses and mitigate risk. Derrick is a CISSP, a CMMC Registered Practitioner, and a Forrester Certified Zero Trust Strategist with 24 years of experience behind him as he advises customers in both technical and strategic-level discussions through workshop sessions, speaking engagements, industry forums, and overall collaborations sessions. In addition to supporting customer cybersecurity challenges, Derrick is also responsible for defining and developing new cybersecurity services for Cybersecurity Consulting based on common customer needs and industry direction.

Brent Legg serves as Executive Vice President of Government Affairs for Kentucky-based nonprofit Connected Nation, where he leads the organization’s federal and state advocacy efforts to advance legislation and regulatory action that will improve access to, and the quality of, broadband services and related technologies. Mr. Legg has more than 18 years of experience working at the intersection of technology, politics, and public policy. He has provided expert testimony on broadband issues before the U.S. Congress and the legislatures of 14 states, and has authored multiple regulatory filings and reports, including the broadband plan for the State of Alaska. Prior to joining Connected Nation in 2007, Mr. Legg served as staff to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a policy advisor & legislative liaison to the secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. Mr. Legg is a magna cum laude graduate of Transylvania University with a degree in political science and was a 2002 Hansard Scholar at the London School of Economics. He resides in Lexington, Kentucky, with his wife Brianna and three children.

Carlos Luna joined NIC in 2001 and worked as the Director of Operations for several NIC state subsidiaries before becoming the General Manager of NIC Kentucky in 2020. Concurrently, Carlos served as a Hospital Corpsmen in the United States Navy Reserve and retired as a veteran in 2011.

David drives the Cloud and Hybrid-Platform Advisory, Assessment, Roadmap and Governance Portfolio for hybrid cloud solutions across Public and Private Cloud ecosystems.
David is a seasoned IT Leader with deep expertise in helping global enterprise clients meet today’s digital business challenges. David has experience across Public sector, High Tech, Products and A&D clients. Experienced in delivering large complex technology implementations, Digital Transformation, Application and Technology Outsourcing, Delivery Oversight & Governance, and Complex Program Management; supporting manufacturing, supply chain, human capital management and sales & service business functions.

Chris Seidt is a veteran city government leader and trusted advisor having worked for the pre-merger City of Louisville and the combined Louisville-Jefferson County Metro government for a combined 15 years. Chris has served under three different Mayors in his time with the city, and has served in three different departments, including the Louisville Metro Police, MetroSafe/EMA, and Civic Innovation & Technology. Chris has represented Louisville Metro on several Smart City working groups, including the Harvard Smart Cities Accelerator, the Edison Electric Institute/Smart Cities Council collaboration, and the IEEE Smart Cities Standards Working Group.

Grace Simrall was named Chief of Civic Innovation and Technology for Louisville Metro Government in August 2016. She is responsible for advising the Mayor and leading the city’s Smart City, Broadband, and Digital Inclusion initiatives, transforming the resident experience of digital government, and facilitating co-creation of breakthrough civic innovations. Under her leadership, the city has received national recognition for their innovation work including 2017 Center for Digital Government - Most Innovative City, 2018 Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge Champion City, 2018 Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge awardee, 2019 Microsoft Future of Work Initiative, 2020 What Works Cities Platinum certification status, and 2021 Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Mayors Challenge Champion City.
Most recently, the city was named a 2022 EDA Build Back Better Regional Challenge Finalist, one of 60 cities to do so out of 529 cities, based on the first-of-its-kind Brookings Institution plan commissioned by the city's Future of Work Initiative designed to benchmark the city's artificial intelligence (AI) positioning and preparedness titled "How Louisville can become a Stronger and more Equitable hub for AI and Data Economy Jobs."
Prior to this role, Simrall served as Executive Director of Innovation at Care Innovations, a joint venture between Intel and GE Healthcare, where she was responsible for the company’s innovation and analytics initiatives. In 2010, she founded iGlass Analytics, a startup focused on delivering data management and analytics solutions in the healthcare technology space.
Simrall earned a bachelor’s degree in the geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Louisville’s Speed School of Engineering.

Heather Stout is the Executive Director of the Office of Information Technology with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. She has a background in application development, project management, system modernization, business process improvement and IT personnel management. She began her career with the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2002 as Resource Management Analyst and has worked in various information system roles since that time. Heather received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Economics from Hanover College, and her M.B.A. in Information Systems from Miami University. Heather holds certifications in Foundations of IT Service Management (ITIL), Project Management Professional (PMP) and Project Management Institute Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).

Travis Wagers is the I.T. Operations Manager of the Office of Information Technology with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. He has a background in Field Services, Wintel/Linux Server Support, Networking, Security, Mobility, System Modernization, and I.T. Direction. He began his career with the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 2004 as System Support Technician providing field services for the Northern Kentucky Region of Kentucky. Travis received his Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications from the University of Kentucky. Travis is married to his high school sweetheart and has two children. In his spare time, Travis volunteers with Oleika Shriners whose mission is to help provide the highest quality medical care to children with no cost to the patient, family, or legal guardian.

Kari Welch serves as the Executive Director of the Office of Architecture and Governance within the Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT). She leads teams of highly skilled professionals that provide IT services and solutions to all Executive Branch cabinets. She works to continually improve the services offered by COT, seeking opportunities for modernization, shared enterprise IT services, and cost savings. Additionally, Kari is leading COT’s development of a new service-driven website, collaborating with agencies to make the most of existing IT investments, and creating opportunities for employee engagement, recognition, retention, and career development. Kari’s love for technology began in high school as a first-year member of Kentucky’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP). From there Kari obtained an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Engineering Technology and has over 25 years of IT experience, with 20+ years serving various roles in the public sector.