Aaron is currently a senior systems engineer serving the State Government sector. In this role he designs next generation network technology solutions to help State IT organizations, individual agencies and departments of transportation provide high quality constituent experiences while containing cost.

Joel Beaton has 20+ years of Professional Services experience with Fortune 500 and global Public Sector clients. He has worked at the intersection of business strategy and emerging technology to help clients conceptualize, and drive shareholder / stakeholder value. He has expertise within enterprise IT, service delivery, and management consulting.

Brian Cohen is the Vice President of the Center for Digital Government and Center Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government and education. Prior to joining the Center, Brian was Vice Chancellor and University CIO for the City University of New York (CUNY).
As the Vice-Chancellor and University CIO at CUNY, Brian directed the Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS), developed, and managed the enterprise IT vision, strategy and day-to-day technology operations of the University. His areas of focus included academic and business systems, cloud strategies, IT policies and procedures, Cybersecurity, project management, IT resiliency and disaster recovery, and network and telecommunications.
Brain also served in leadership roles with the City of New York. Among his many accomplishments, Brian developed the City of New York’s E-Government strategy, implemented the City’s award-winning nyc.gov website, and managed the City’s effort to address the Y2K technology challenge.

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.

Tom DeLuca is CTO for Baltimore County government with a special interest in IT security, systems, and infrastructure to support the needs of County agencies and constituents. Tom has spent the last 6 years working in local government IT, prior to that Tom spent 18 years in healthcare IT at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore with a focus in Medical Imaging and enterprise medical image management. Tom has earned a Master’s of Science in Information Systems Management while working in roles that included enterprise application management, customer service management, interface design, database engineering, and systems engineering.

Derek is Director, NorthEast Region – Public Sector and Education Sales at T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS). In that position, he leads a team of Sr. Managers who have teams across 21 States focused on T-Mobile’s State, Local, City and Education (K12/Higher Ed) business. In addition, Derek represents T-Mobile and Military Veterans by working in partnership with other private sector firms to share best practices around hiring and supporting those who defend our country. Derek is Chair of T-Mobiles Veterans and Allies Network for NYC. He spent 12 years serving his country; two years in the U.S. Navy and 10 years in the US Army Reserves where he graduated with honors from Primary Leadership and Development Course earning the rank of Sargent. Derek received his Business Degree from Goldey-Beacom College where he concentrated on Sales and Marketing. Derek currently resides in New Jersey with his wife Jennifer, their two daughters, Delaney and Carly, Son Jakob as well as their dog Angie.

Chas Eby is the Deputy Executive Director of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, where he oversees all programs, operations, and administration. Previously, he held the positions of Director of Disaster Risk Reduction and External Outreach Branch Manager at the Department. Prior to joining Emergency Management, he was the Chief Planner for Emergency Preparedness at the Maryland Department of Health and served as the Pandemic Influenza Coordinator during the 2009-10 H1N1 influenza pandemic.
Chas holds a Master of Arts degree in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. He previously graduated from Boston College. Chas has completed the FEMA National Emergency Management Executive Academy and is an adjunct professor teaching both public health preparedness and homeland security planning and policy at Towson University. He was a 2019 Henry Toll Fellow at the Council of State Governments and a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in 2014. Chas completed a detail as the State of Maryland's lead for COVID-19 mass vaccination sites, which administered over 1.2 million vaccinations during the spring and summer of 2021.

Stefanos Ghebrehawariat currently serves as the Assistant Cabinet Secretary for Data and Application programs within the Maryland Department of Information Technology. Mr. Ghebrehawariat has over 19 years of experience leading operations teams in the delivery of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, application, and client delivery services. Prior to joining the State of Maryland, he held various roles within multiple large IT Integrators supporting Federal Government agencies and private sector organizations in a prime contractor role. Most recently he led the transition and operations of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) OneNet Enterprise Operations Center. The DHS OneNet Program provides technical support to the mission critical OneNet network to enable information sharing between DHS Components, Trade Partners, and other government agencies to include shared internet, intranet, and extranet services. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland, as well as PMP and ITIL certifications.

Wanda Gibson has enjoyed an accomplished career as a technology executive in both private and public sector organizations, joining Prince George’s County as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director for the Office of Information Technology on July 8, 2019. In her role, Wanda is responsible for technology policy, governance, strategy and innovation, and the enterprise-wide technology environment and infrastructure, applications, data, web, and cyber security. Prior to joining Prince George’s County, Wanda served Fairfax County, Virginia as the Chief Technology Officer/Chief Information Officer and the Director of the Department of Information Technology for twenty years, responsible for technology policy, innovation and management of a comprehensive portfolio of IT investments, systems, and services in all IT disciplines for all agencies and on-line services for constituents. She developed a nationally recognized IT Security Office and Court Technology Office, and managed IT governance that included the citizen committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors, and the executive IT steering committee.
Wanda is a leader and advocate in regional collaboration, having served on many IT committees and professional groups including the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments CIO Committee (Chair 2006-present), National Capital Region Homeland Security Advisory Council, National Capital Region Interoperability Working Group, Virginia IT Leaders, Government Management Information Society, and National Association of Counties (NaCO) Tech Collaborative, and also served as a member of boards for the Commonwealth of Virginia IT Symposium (COVITS), Federal Office Systems Expo (FOSE), annual Federal Cyber Security Conference. Wanda is a Public Technology, Inc. (PTI) Fellow.

Paul Girardi heads a team of cybersecurity professionals that support the AT&T Global Public Sector. In this role, he leads a team of cyber professionals that consult, engineer, and operate security solutions. Mr. Girardi, who has been with AT&T since 2002, brings a wealth of experience to his work for federal clients and combines it with a passion for technology, innovation and service. He leads a team of cybersecurity professionals that support the Federal, State, and Local Governments. In this role, he manages a team of cybersecurity professionals: verifying compliance through certification, audit, and penetration testing; developing security solutions that protect against the latest cybersecurity threats; delivering reliable security services through security and network operations; and providing insights into emerging threats on the Internet. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Girardi led Business Development and Capture Management for the AT&T federal sector. In that role, he led an organization that explored the needs of federal customers and addressed them by advocating their requirements within AT&T, sourcing expertise and technology from centers of excellence that his team called upon to help develop solutions for federal agencies. Previously, Mr. Girardi was Executive Director of Engineering at AT&T Government Solutions. In this capacity, he led a nationwide team of engineers who specialized in developing, selling, and delivering integrated IT solutions to the Federal Government. During his tenure, the organization helped Agencies harness converged Internet Protocol (IP), IPv6 and wireless technologies in support of effective business transformation. Before joining AT&T, Mr. Girardi held an executive position at Qwest Communications where he was responsible for business development for the northeast territory of Qwest Solutions. Prior technical leadership positions at Lucent, Sprint and Rhythms have also contributed to his twenty plus years of Information Technology (IT) experience in both engineering and sales leadership roles. Mr. Girardi holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; a Master’s of Science in Systems Engineering in Command, Control, and Communications from George Mason University; and a Bachelor’s of Science in Physics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Ms. Gomez-Martin currently serves as Maryland’s first State Chief Privacy Officer. She has specialized in designing, implementing, and supporting large scale cybersecurity and privacy initiatives within the public and private sectors. Ms. Gomez-Martin has a Master in Security and Intelligence (Cybersecurity Policy) and a Juris Doctorate.

Shawn Kingsberry is a vice president in the Digital Innovation Factory at SAIC. He leads teams focused on developing cyber solutions that protect our nation’s interests by enabling situational awareness, active cyber defense, and threat detection and remediation. Kingsberry has more than 30 years of experience in information technology.

Mr. Koshanam is an excellent Information Technology Leader with passion for bringing transformation and consumer engagement into Government and Public Service, led State IT organization to achieve national recognition for Digital Innovation and Enterprise Automation by CIO 100 in 2019 and 2020, with 25 years of diverse experience as a senior executive, program manager, technologist, and an entrepreneur, having wide experience in various functional domains such as the Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Transportation, Security, Compliance and Government.
Mr. Koshanam has led largescale, multi-million-dollar technology programs in public and private sectors. As the CIO of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE), he is instrumental in establishing, developing and leading an agile IT organization that rapidly implements cost-efficient health exchange technology solutions to meet policy mandates, enhance consumer engagement and excel in operations. Mr. Koshanam developed and inculcated a high- performing and supporting team culture that led to the transformational technological journey from a barely functional exchange solution to a robust digital platform delivering high value and active engagement with consumers and partners.
Under Mr. Koshanam’s leadership, MHBE continues to innovate, evolve and extend its technology to provide best in class health exchange solution utilizing cloud infrastructure, open source technology, integrated web and mobile platforms, data driven operations, robotic process automation, and artificial intelligence solutions.

Ashley Laymon serves as the Chief Experience Officer at The Maryland Department of Information Technology (DoIT). As the Chief Experience Officer, Ms. Laymon oversees the DoIT Customer Experience Office which includes the Portfolio Office, Project Management Office, and the Enterprise Program Management Office. These offices are the driving force behind DoIT’s goal of minimizing IT redundancy, reducing overall IT costs, driving business value for the customer agencies, promoting modernization, and ensuring compliance with state IT policies and standards.
Ms. Laymon was also one of the chief architects behind DoIT’s innovative intake process for non-routine service requests from partner agencies, which increased automation, and executive-level visibility into agency demand and created the ability to produce reporting on delivery metrics.
Ms. Laymon previously worked as a director at Conduent where she provided contract oversight and business development for multiple Maryland agencies including overseeing large contracts for the Maryland Department of Human Services. Ms. Laymon has her Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University. She also has her Project Management Professional certification, Technology Business Management Certification, and an Information Technology Infrastructure Library, ITIL® Foundation Certification.

I have been in the communications and collaboration technologies industries for over 25 years. Primarily focused on public sector accounts for the last 20+ years. I specialize in both on premise and cloud platforms for calling and contact centers, video conferencing, cloud platforms for meetings, events, and citizen interaction.

David McCurdy is an Executive Government Advisor at Amazon Web Services (AWS) guiding state and local government executives through strategy, policy, and governance challenges to help accelerate their cloud journey. David brings 20 years of experience transforming technology across government, healthcare, and telecommunications industries. Previously, David spent five years as Chief Technology Officer at the State of Colorado leading digital transformation and 10 years at Catholic Health Initiatives leading technology transformation.

Patrick McLoughlin, GISP, is the Chief Data Officer for the State of Maryland, where he is responsible for setting statewide data management and analytics practices. He has 17 years experience in both the public and private sectors with a Bachelor of Science from Salisbury University.

As a State and Local Government strategist Jon serves as a subject matter expert and thought leader to support transformation in state and local governments throughout the country. Before Dell Technologies, Jon served as Chief Customer Officer of the NC Department of Information Technology, and CIO, Office of the Governor.

Ms. Pierce works with agency decision-makers to develop, deliver, and manage eGovernment websites and applications. With over 20 years of experience in information system management and application development, she provides hands-on leadership, manages all NIC Maryland office's operational aspects, and ensures high agency and user satisfaction.

Kenyatta Powers-Rucker is the first African American female to hold the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Maryland Department of Human Services (DHS). She functions as a senior-level technology executive combining project management, technical expertise, and business proficiency to develop, execute, and manage strategic, statewide technology projects for the Department.
Kenyatta has served DHS for over 20 years as both a consultant and an employee, providing technical expertise to the Department. As CIO, Kenyatta manages the Office of Technology for Human Services (OTHS) and governs a 40-million-dollar budget in support of DHS Enterprise IT environment for the Department that includes over 200 IT staff, 30 applications, with 8500+ end users across 100 locations across the state.
Kenyatta serves as an essential component and advisor for the Maryland (MD)THINK initiative, the most ambitious technological project in the State’s history. MD THINK revolutionized how DHS engages with the citizens and served a crucial role in the ability of DHS to deliver services during the height of the pandemic. MD THINK is the realization of an incredible transformation resulting in the replacement of siloed applications and legacy products with scalable solutions, modern architecture, and data modeling platformed and hosted by Cloud Services.
Kenyatta fiercely believes that the world needs a diverse workforce and therefore, is an advocate for bringing awareness to women and the underrepresented to the Technology Industry. She aims to bridge the gender gap by sharing her journey and experiences to inspire women and the underrepresented on their career path. She is a motivational speaker and mentor and aims to increase the number of minorities in the digital space by empowering them to become innovators in Information Technology. Her goal is to pave the way by helping to break down barriers, open doors and uplift the next generation.
In addition, Kenyatta founded Taste of Technology, a program that is designed to expose and provide awareness to the underrepresented youth to the different careers, opportunities and role models in Information Technology. The Taste of Technology program provides information on trainings, conferences, available programs, jobs and other opportunities to expand knowledge and expertise in Information Technology. The goal is to provide an environment to inspire the underrepresented to become innovators and technology professionals through targeted exposure programs and mentoring collaboratives.
Kenyatta is a 3x best-selling contributing author, a member of several Executive Information Technology (IT) Advisory Boards, has received many awards and accolades including winning the 2021Technical.ly Baltimore CTO of the Year award in addition to being featured in several magazines.

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.

With over 40 years of a wide variety of experience in technology and management, Bill Ryan has dedicated his career to Anne Arundel County, Md. Most recently, as chief information officer, Bill was responsible for all operational and strategic information technology functions for the county, providing services to county, library, school board and community college employees at over 300 facilities. One of Bill’s primary and highly visible tasks was ensuring that all county government entities and citizens received the full benefits of a multi-year, robust fiber-optic network implementation — owned and operated by the county.

Renee Tarun has over 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity and information technology fields with leadership experience in development and engineering, operations, strategy, policy, and portfolio management, across the intelligence community, law enforcement, and private industry. As VP of Information Security SO at Fortinet, she focuses on enterprise security, compliance and governance, and product security. Prior to joining Fortinet, she served as Special Assistant to the Director, National Security Agency (NSA), for Cyber and Director of NSA's Cyber Task Force, in which she advanced NSA's execution of its cybersecurity and cyber-related missions by overseeing resources; defining and integrating mission capabilities; and shaping agency strategy and national level policy at the White House. Renee is also a board member for the George Mason University Volgenau School of Engineering, creating synergy between the school and the professional community by addressing workforce development demands, industry expectations, and employment trends. She is married with two children.