Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Curt Wood serves as the Cabinet Secretary and Commonwealth’s Chief Information Officer, overseeing the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS).
Before joining EOTSS, Secretary Wood served in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) as the Undersecretary for Forensic Science and Technology and as Chief Information Officer. At EOPSS, Mr. Wood was responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight to various EOPSS departments, including the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the State Crime Laboratory, the Office of Technology and Information Services, the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, and the State 911 Department.
Secretary Wood has an established track record of public sector innovation, especially in using technology to improve service delivery. During his tenure at EOPSS, he directed the successful transition from the Commonwealth’s legacy E-9-1-1 system to the more advanced and robust Next Generation 9-1-1 platform, which enhanced public safety’s response to emergency calls for service. He also oversaw the multi-million dollar modernization of the state’s mission critical criminal justice information systems and services.
Secretary Wood received his master’s in Criminal Justice Administration from Anna Maria College and a bachelor’s in Communications from Salem State College.

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.

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.

Rachel Bain has been the Assistant Secretary for Performance Management and Innovation since 2014. In that role she oversees the performance and accountability system for MassDOT and the MBTA. OPMI work products range from public performance dashboards (www.mbtabackontrack.com) to internal analytics tools, to MassDOT’s annual performance report (Tracker). In 2020, Ms. Bain was appointed the Chief Data Officer for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Earlier in her career with MassDOT, Ms. Bain served as the Deputy Registrar for Operations the Registry Division and MassDOT’s project lead for the Big Data in Transportation Initiative. Ms. Bain spent 6 years in the Office of Transportation Planning, in a variety of roles that included working with the Commonwealth’s 13 MPOs, and managing policy and planning efforts.

David has 20+ years’ experience across a broad range of industries including retail, construction, technology start-up, internet services and state government. Prior to joining MassDOT in 2016, he held several technology based positions at Monster Worldwide with the last seven years as Vice President of Global Business Technologies and Operations. David has a background in finance, project management and technology and holds an MBA from Salem State University.

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.

Gary Buonacorsi has nearly two decades of experience in the IT industry as a transformational leader for Government agencies and Fortune 500 companies. As Tanium’s SLED Chief Technology Officer, Gary is responsible for thought leadership in the public sector, SLED business strategy, and guiding customer security and operations transformations. Additionally, he defines long-term goals for the State and Local Government vertical, leads industry discussions, and conducts conference keynotes and seminars.
Gary comes to Tanium with a wide range of experience. Most recently he served as the State and Local Government CTO for Dell Technologies. Additionally, Gary’s career includes positions as CTO and CIO at the States of Nevada and Texas, along with Senior Director and Managerial roles at Dell EMC, Oracle and Merck-Medco.

The Executive Office of Technology Services & Security provides secure and quality digital information, services, and tools to constituents and service providers when and where they need them.
As a member of the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security Senior Leadership Team, I oversee the Office of Operations and Service Management and lead the agency's efforts in focusing on unifying and enhancing our service delivery and customer support functions in line with our technology modernization efforts.

Alan is Executive Vice President of e.Republic and Publisher of Government Technology magazine and Techwire. In this role, Alan is involved in the annual production of dozens of events as well as the strategic direction for Governing, Government Technology, Emergency Management, the Center for Digital Government and the Center for Digital Education. Alan is also the senior executive that has overall charge of e.Republic’s research organization which includes, custom research, the Digital Government and Digital Education Navigator tool and the Content Studio (webinars and custom content).
Alan has been a guest lecturer at universities and a frequent speaker for key government and industry organizations. For over 35 years, Alan has worked with industry, education and government officials to help them better understand the importance and use of information technology. Alan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento.

David Egts is the Chief Technologist of Red Hat’s North America Public Sector organization where he directs a global team of technical experts and field product management to help government clients improve service delivery the open source way. The Office of Chief Technologist, which he leads, adds value to flagship Red Hat technologies such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, OpenShift, and Linux containers. His team helps Red Hat achieve ideal product-market fit by ensuring current and future government requirements are factored into existing products and R&D efforts with a focus on security, compliance, standards, efficiency, and technological improvements. The government readiness activities performed by his team positively impacts public and private sector organizations in the US and internationally with a particular focus on Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UK.
David’s dynamic outward-facing role as a coalition builder reinforces and expands Red Hat’s relations with key government and open source community stakeholders nationally and internationally. He is a trusted Red Hat media spokesperson whose deep technical dives, C-suite policy discussions, and keynote speaker abilities enhance Red Hat’s technical reputation and positioning.
David received industry-wide recognition as a FedScoop 50 Industry Leadership awardee and a finalist for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards. He is a Red Hat Chairman's Award recipient and has won multiple highest employee honors from previous employers Silicon Graphics and Concurrent Technologies Corporation. He is a past Co-Chair on the Board of Directors for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Software & Services Division (SSD) and is an active member of the Agile Government Leadership Association and the AFCEA DC Emerging Technologies Working Group. David is a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) and a three-time graduate from the University of Pittsburgh with a BS and MS in Computer Science and an Executive MBA (Katz Graduate School of Business). LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidegts/

Shonte Eldridge currently serves as an Executive Government Advisor with Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this role she is responsible for engaging State and Local Government leaders to build cloud frameworks that reduce cost, improve service delivery, change customer experience and transform the enterprise into a modern, inclusive, equitable and innovative enterprise. Prior to joining AWS, Ms. Eldridge worked in the public sector for over 20 years and held various C-suite positions including the Deputy Chief of Operations for the City of Baltimore, Chief of Policy, Planning and External Affairs for the Office of the States Attorney for Baltimore City and Chief of Policy for Maryland’s Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. During her time in government she was known for using technology to solve some of the largest operational and social challenges her state and local governments faced, as well as changing the culture to more readily accept and try new technologies. Ms. Eldridge’s work in the industry has appeared in numerous national publications and is often called upon to speak and conduct workshops on the importance of creating holistic digital transformation strategies and how to implement technology that improves operations and delivers a better customer experience.

Rick’s professional focus is helping security teams develop strategic cyber risk management plans that help our clients comply with federal, state, and local governance mandates. As the co-practice lead for BerryDunn’s Information Technology Security practice, Rick provides our clients with strategic cybersecurity services including strategic planning, cybersecurity maturity modeling, risk assessment, and remediation planning.
He leads multiple cybersecurity projects across many disciplines. An expert in cyber risk management and cyber threat intelligence, Rick works with state and large metropolitan governments nationwide, helping clients reduce cyber risk through strategic and operational planning. As a member of BerryDunn's Recovery Advisory Team, he helps clients develop security strategies for remote workers and improve incident response capabilities.

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).

Yvonne is a lifelong resident of the Commonwealth with over 30 years industry experience and marked success including: Harvard University’s Xplor International 1994 “Innovator of the Year” Award for contributions on the ground-breaking CUPID Project. Yvonne’s volunteer work is extensive and acknowledged: Recipient of the Edwin L. Cooper Award by the Mayor’s Office of Boston in 2007; Judge for FIRST Robotics for six years; Advisory board for 3 vocational graphic communications programs in the Commonwealth; 3-time Mentor for the U.S. State Department Global Women’s Mentoring Partnership; Ambassador for Live Green Connecticut for 5 years. In 2019 Yvonne was appointed to the board of the Massachusetts Genealogical Counsel (MGC) a not for profit, all volunteer organization. She proudly serves New England & New York for Xerox.

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.

Seth Jamison serves as Director, Principal Systems Engineering at Pure Storage, where he is a senior technical advisor to engineering, product management, sales, marketing and presales leadership in the field.
Since 2013, Seth has held various individual and presales leadership roles within Pure Storage. Seth has been a trusted advisor to his customers since moving into the data storage industry in 2000. Prior to Pure Storage, Seth spent eight years with Dell Inc., most recently as a Field CTO / Enterprise Technologist in the Office of the CTO.
Based in Northern New England, Seth lives with his wife and two children and enjoys the outdoors in both the mountains and the surf.

Sudheer Matta is VP of Product Management at Juniper-Mist, responsible for product strategy and business development. Previously, Sudheer was Director of Global Enterprise Networking Sales at Cisco, responsible for sales of Cisco’s Enterprise Wired and Wireless networking products. Before this role, Sudheer was Senior Director of Product Management, WLAN Systems for Juniper’s Campus and Branch Product lines. He also led Cisco’s Product Management for Wireless LAN Controllers and WLAN Architecture. Sudheer has spent 10 years in the IEEE and Wi-Fi alliance; Most recently he was the Chair of the Wi-Fi Alliance Healthcare Task Group, and Vice-chair of Wi-Fi Alliance Network Management Task Group. He was the standards lead at Trapeze Networks and for Cisco Product Management. Sudheer has 6 assigned and 2 pending patents including the patent for the widely implemented Band Steering technology. In his engineering roles, Sudheer was the primary architect of the 802.11 implementation in the Trapeze Networks Access points.

Rowan Miranda is Senior Managing Director for Government Strategy at Workday. In this role, he provides Workday and its clients with state & local/federal government expertise in key functional areas such as budgeting, financial management, HR/payroll and procurement. Prior to joining Workday, Rowan led Accenture’s Finance & Performance Management practices for the state/local, federal and higher education industries. Rowan has served as a CFO in city/county government and the higher education sectors. Rowan has also served on the graduate faculty of a number of prominent universities teaching public management and public finance. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Chicago.

Joseph Morris is vice president of Research and a national keynote speaker on issues, trends and drivers impacting state and local government and education. He has authored publications and reports on funding streams, technology investment areas and public-sector priorities, and has led roundtables, projects and initiatives focused on issues within the public sector. Joe has conducted state and local government research with e.Republic since 2007 and knows the ins and outs of government on all levels. He received his Bachelor of Arts in government and international relations from the California State University, Sacramento.

Destah is a technology and innovation enthusiast with a career built around driving business disruption, customer advocacy and connecting good ideas and good people. A veteran of several of the smallest Silicon Valley Startups as well as some of the biggest behemoths, he has picked up enough knowledge and information to be relatively dangerous. From his humble beginnings as an Electrical Engineer he has touched the data networking, wireless data, and machine learning technologies as a customer facing evangelist and problem solver.
When using his powers for good, he is identifying emerging technologies and finding synergistic solutions for customers and professional colleagues. The latest shiny objects to have caught his fancy are XR (mixed reality), Cybersecurity, and IoT/Smart City technologies.

Aaron has over 25 years of private industry experience leading technical planning and design for businesses requiring solutions in the IAAS and SAAS corridor. He has recently left the private sector and joined the Executive Office of Health and Human Services as Program Manger for IT efforts supporting the modernization of the technical workplace. In this role, he collaborates with technical leads and stakeholders throughout the secretariat to ensure scope and deliverables are defined and delivered. Aaron has been a resident of Massachusetts for most of his life and has enjoyed the opportunity to work for the Commonwealth.

Nicholas Speece is the technical leader for the Snowflake Federal team. His vast experience of more than 20 years covers the areas of cyber security, enterprise data center hardware and software, software development, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. He is a ten-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a dedicated technologist.

Thomas Steegmann is a Principal Architect for AT&T Public Sector Solutions supporting the mid-Atlantic region. Tom has been in the telecommunications industry for 20+ years, focused on next generation, enterprise solutions encompassing data communications and complex integration across multiple environments. Tom is currently focused on helping his Government customers modernize their workforce and infrastructure via mobility and cloud technologies, including IOT and Smart Cities.

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.

As Executive Editor at e.Republic, Steve is responsible for the coordination of editorial strategies and standards across all the firm’s media platforms. He directs the editorial teams that produce Government Technology, Emergency Management and Digital Communities and their respective Websites, in addition to developing and maintaining corporate policies and standards for editorial. Steve has over 20 years of writing and editing experience including more than 17 years covering technology in the state and local government market.
Steve joined e.Republic in 1996. During his tenure, e.Republic’s print and electronic media have received many awards for editorial excellence, including “Magazine of the Year” from ASBPE for Emergency Management in 2013, “Best New Web Site” from ASBPE for emergencymgmt.com in 2009, ”Best Overall Publication” at the Maggie awards for Government Technology in 2008 and “Magazine of the Year” from ASBPE for Public CIO in 2007.

Bill Walter is the US Director for Government and GPOs at Pitney Bowes and has been with the company for more than 35 years. He started his career in Portland, Oregon as a Meter Sales Representative specializing in state and local government and over time has held progressively more responsible sales and managerial positions. With both industry and contract expertise including leading Pitney Bowes government contracts, including NASPO, Sourcewell and BuyBoard, he attends some of the largest industry trade shows and is a past industry co-chair of Postal Customer Councils.

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.

Dr Tom Zougas manages the global consulting services team for data analytics at Altair. His team consists of consultants and specialists who deliver: business and engineering focussed data science engagements, data preparation projects (installations, configurations, data processing workflows), and technical support for our data analytics clients.
He has 25 years of experience in technical consulting, in the areas of data science and custom database development. He has lead numerous projects in marketing, CRM, credit risk for Fortune 500 companies around the globe. Dr Zougas has worked at: TransUnion Canada as Senior Manager for Data Science; Angoss as Director of Analytics; IBM Global Business Services as Senior Managing Consultant; RIM as Manager for Advanced Analytics; SAS as Principal Consultant; and Procase as Team Lead on custom Oracle based applications. He obtained his PhD from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering focussing on software implementation of nonlinear finite element analysis.