Dan Thurmon is the founder and President of Motivation Works, a company that helps leaders and their organizations move confidently through change and transformation so that they achieve and contribute MORE. Dan is an expert speaker and performer. He has delivered thousands of presentations across six continents for audiences including world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, educators, and even troops on the front lines of battle. In 2011, he was inducted into the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame. Dan recently served as the President of the National Speakers Association. During his tenure, he led the Board of Directors and the 3,000+ member organization through a critical transformation, which included new governance, a new mission, higher member value, and greater financial accountability. He’s authored two books: Success in Action and Off Balance On Purpose. Dan produces an ongoing weekly video coaching series and podcast in which he shares leadership principles and life-enhancement strategies in under three minutes. He is a health and fitness advocate. In his 50s, Dan continues to train and perform advanced acrobatics, and enjoys hobbies such as golf, mountain unicycling and the flying trapeze.

Teri Takai is the Co-Director 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. She is a member of several industry advisory boards. Teri 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.

Phil Bertolini is the Co-Director 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.

Dustin Haisler is the Chief Innovation Officer for e.Republic. As Chief Innovation Officer, he has a strategic role to help shape the company’s products, services, and future direction. Primarily, he leads e.Republic Labs, a market connector created as an ecosystem to educate, accelerate, and ultimately scale technology innovation within the public sector. Dustin began he career at a very young age as the finance director and later CIO for Manor, TX, a small city outside Austin. He quickly built a track record and national reputation as an early innovator in civic tech, for which he was named a Government Technology Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver in 2009. A member of Code for America’s original steering committee, Dustin pioneered government use of commercial technologies not before used in the public sector – including Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification. Dustin went on to the private sector to help broaden the adoption of these and other civic innovations. His work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Inc., and the Today Show on NBC. An in-demand speaker, he has given two TEDx speeches – one on Disrupting Government (TEDxAustin) and the other on Disrupting Education (TEDxLivermore).

Prior to Governor Kelly’s appointment as Secretary of Administration, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace served as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Kansas. Dr. Burns-Wallace started her career as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Burns-Wallace has been selected for various leadership opportunities, awards and honors throughout her higher ed and government career, including the 2018 White House Champions of Change College Opportunity, and earning a Superior Honor and three Meritorious Honor awards from the U.S. State Department. Dr. Burns-Wallace serves as a national trainer and curriculum developer for various national professional development organizations, non-profits, and higher ed institutions on issues ranging including micro-aggressions, multigenerational workplace differences, diversity and inclusion, change management, professional development pathways, and strategic planning. Service is also a cornerstone of her journey. Dr. Burns-Wallace currently serves on Stanford University’s Board of Governors, and has previously held board roles in numerous local, regional, and national organizations, and international selection committees including Gates Millennium Scholars, Dell Foundation Scholars, and Rhodes, Marshall, and Fulbright fellowships. Dr. Burns-Wallace holds a dual bachelor’s degree in International Relations and African American studies from Stanford University, a Master in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony Huey is a highly popular international speaker and communications consultant who offers session attendees pragmatic communications tools, tips and techniques they can use immediately in their professional and personal lives. His career includes tenures as a news reporter, magazine senior editor, crisis management specialist, media relations consultant and executive speech coach. Anthony heads Reputation Management, LLC, one of the nation’s leading communications training and crisis consulting companies. He has presented nearly 2,700 keynote speeches, workshops and seminars. His direct client work includes a wide variety of advertising, public relations and communications initiatives for hundreds of trade associations, municipalities and companies.

Will Arnold is a managing director in Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Government & Public Services practice with more than 15 years of experience. Will serves as Deloitte’s Digital Service Delivery offering leader focused on service delivery transformation in the “next normal”. Will specializes helping clients with their organizational and workforce transformations and is a leader in Deloitte’s Commonwealth of Kentucky transformational work.

Melanie Bitzer was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Revenue in January, 2019 after serving with the agency for more than 20 years. Melanie has served in numerous areas and positions at DOR, including manager of the Legal Enforcement Branch, assistant director of the Division of Collections, and most recently as Taxpayer Ombudsman. Prior to joining DOR, Melanie worked in the private sector for 14 years.

Jean Brooks is a Senior Administrative Officer in the Department of Information Technology for the city of Lexington, Kentucky. She has 19 years of experience in the Department of Information Technology, where she serves as an IT project manager and manager of the software support group. Prior to joining the city, Jean worked in financial accounting at the University of Kentucky Federal Credit Union as the accounting manager, and ultimately moved into information systems management for the Credit Union.

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.

Lawrence leads the public sector business consulting practice for Workday and has more than 17 years of experience in public sector technical consulting in Human Resources, Financial, Payroll, and Time and Attendance systems.

Beth Hertweck is currently the Acting Director for the Division of Registration and Data Integrity with the KY Department of Revenue. Beth has over 13 years of Department of Revenue experience, all in the Division of Registration and Data Integrity. She most recently held the position of Assistant Director. Prior to accepting a position with the Department of Revenue, Beth worked in the banking and accounting industries.

Carlos Luna is the General Manager of NIC Kentucky, a Frankfort based subsidiary of NIC, Inc. that manages and hosts Kentucky.gov, a collaborative, public-private partnership between the Commonwealth of Kentucky and NIC Kentucky. Carlos joined NIC in 2001 as a Customer Service Representative for its NIC Technologies subsidiary in Washington, DC.
Advancing through a series of six promotions since then, Carlos’s leadership expanded beyond the boundaries of eGovernment services and he led many online solutions making government services available without leaving home. Most recently, as the Director of Operations for NIC Kentucky until this year, he led his team in providing the Commonwealth of Kentucky several contactless solutions during COVID19.
Carlos’ management not only benefited NIC over the years, but his devotion to helping his fellow mankind steered him to join the United States Navy Reserve as a Hospital Corpsmen in 1989 serving for twenty-two years before retiring in 2011.

Don May is a member of the National Principle Architect team for AT&T. He is responsible for the business development, innovation, and strategy for the State Local and Education (SLED) customers in TN, KY, GA, NC and SC. The Principal Architect seeks immersion into the client’s ecosystem, develops an expertise of the client business issues and assists the customer in building their complex technology roadmaps.
Don has over 25 years of IT Management and Security experience in the SLED and Enterprise Sectors. He is currently an advisor to AT&T’s National Cares Act Team where he solutions and tests remote workers/students, contact tracing, IOT, Video Analytics, and Security solutions.
Don is a Liberal Arts Graduate from Louisiana Tech University where he majored in Computer Science and Accounting. He has completed Professional Education courses in Digital Transformation: Security, AI, IOT, Cloud and Blockchain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kelda Stetson is a Granicus Vice President and helps government organizations and programs connect with their audiences, better serve the public, and drive measurable outcomes.
Kelda brings over 20 years of experience to Granicus and during her tenure has held numerous roles in support of customers. She is passionate about the role technology plays in creating better citizen experiences and is here to share examples of how governments across all levels of governments are utilizing the new influx of funding to deliver on their missions.

Tom Yeatts is an experienced IT executive with a proven track record of delivering results. Before joining ServiceNow as SLED CTO, Tom served as deputy CIO for Howard County, MD. His responsibilities included designing the architecture and delivering IT projects in support of the county’s vision to connect its citizens and workforce on a secure and stable environment. Tom graduated from Virginia Tech and resides in Maryland.