Zarina has 28 years of IT leadership experience that spans across both private and public sectors. She started with Minnesota IT Services partnering with MMB in June 2018 where she led implementations of SWIFT (the state’s finance and procurement system) and portal system upgrades. Zarina Baber Enterprise MNIT in 2020 as the Assistant Commissioner and now leads the Office of Transformation and Strategy Delivery as the State’s Chief Transformation Officer. In her current role, Zarina is leading the shift from project management to product management across the Executive Branch. She is also identified as a co-goal owner of the Customer Experience goal identified in Governor Walz’s One MN Plan. in addition, Zarina has been serving as Chief Business Technology Officer for the Governor's Office since January 2020. Prior to MNIT, Zarina’s experience included major program execution, establishing and leading Project Management Offices (PMO). As the Director of the Enterprise PMO at Ameriprise Financial Services, Zarina led the transformation of technology’s annual planning process to a rolling monthly portfolio management process. She has extensive experience leading the implementation of a $175 million electronic health record initiative at Fairview Health Services and stood up the PMO at Target Corporation. Zarina’s public sector experience includes several years at Hennepin County Medical Center, where among other things she led the implementation of a service integration initiative across nine divisions—the data sharing project included business process redesign and cross-divisional systems integration.
Outside of work, Zarina is a recognized leader in the state for some of her ground-breaking work for multiple causes. She was a recipient of the Annual Asian Pacific Leadership Award in 2001, and the recipient of AARP and Pollen’s 2017 50 Over 50 leadership award in the Disruptors category, an annual award that highlights the 50 most inspiring and accomplished leaders across Minnesota. Zarina has served on several boards including Advocates for Human Rights, an internationally renowned human rights organization. Zarina holds a BS in MIS from Carlson School of Management, U of M; MS in Technology Management from the School of Engineering, University of St. Thomas and a Master Certificate in Healthcare Leadership with Focus on Organizational Change Management from Cornell University. In addition, Zarina is a certified Project Management Professional and a Certified Scrum Master.

Amy Cheney is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Bloomington. Ms. Cheney has worked in local government for more than 25 years. She oversees an annual technology budget of $8 million and has a team of 20 technology professionals. As a member of the City’s Executive Leadership Team, she is actively involved with strategic planning for the city as a whole and the Information Technology Department. She led a team to address remote work, flexible schedules, and employee engagement and retention within the City of Bloomington. She is an active Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitator and holds a Master of Arts in Information Technology Leadership.

Ted Goessling is a Systems Architect for Minnesota IT Services (MNIT).  He participates in and leads teams that implement enterprise-level IT solutions, services, and platforms for Minnesota’s 35,000+ employees.  Current work with the Transparent Artificial Intelligence Governance Alliance (TAIGA) involves developing AI-related tools, standards, and governance.

Darrin Hanson has extensive experience working in the Cyber Security field for over two decades. He earned a B.S. degree in Computer Science in 1991 and an M.B.A. in IT Management in 2014.
In his current role, Darrin leads the Systems Engineering team focused on delivering secure networking solutions within Public Sector accounts at Fortinet. Prior to that, Darrin has held various Engineering and Management positions at Thomson Reuters, Diageo, Cisco Systems and ePlus. He has helped numerous companies from large Fortune 100 companies to small-medium sized businesses to design, deploy, and operate highly secure wired & wireless infrastructure.

Qiana Hicks is the Chief Business Technology Officer (CBTO) for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). Previously, she served as a senior leader in software engineering at Express Scripts, leading major technology transformations for the organization. She has also held senior leadership roles in Software Engineering for the Boeing Company and UnitedHealth Group.
Qiana started her IT career 23 years ago as a young mother. She has established an extensive track record in software engineering, quality assurance, infrastructure, production operations, data warehousing, and analytics. She has received numerous STEM awards, including Tech Stars, BEYA, and Women of Color in Technology, throughout her career. Drawing upon her personal experiences, education, and professional background, Qiana is dedicated to empowering young people, particularly those in marginalized communities and rural areas, by helping them overcome obstacles and to break patterns that contribute to widening achievement and socioeconomic gaps. As the CBTO for MDE, Qiana will continue that work, leveraging information and technology to drive positive changes in education.
Qiana is a graduate of Minneapolis Community & Technical College and holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, as well as a master’s degree in business administration.

John Israel is the State of Minnesota's Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). At MNIT, he leads the executive branch cybersecurity teams, the Minnesota Cybersecurity Task Force (MCTF), and collaborative efforts to engage with entities statewide to build effective cybersecurity strategies across all levels of government in the state.
John has over 25 years of IT experience leading, building, and growing cybersecurity and IT functions in municipal, county, and state entities integrating highly technical functions into strategic organizational operations. Before joining MNIT in 2008, John led IT operations for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Most recently, John served as the state's Interim CISO overseeing cybersecurity operations for the state and multiple grant-funded outreach programs that provide cybersecurity support and resources to counties, port cities, and tribal nations throughout Minnesota. John has held many leadership roles in our organization.
In his roles at MNIT, including Deputy CISO and Security Operations Center (SOC) leader, John has been instrumental in building the state's security operations teams. This includes the state's first Security Operations Center (SOC) and the cybersecurity threat intelligence sharing capabilities within the Minnesota Fusion Center hosted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In 2019, John received the Visionary Security Operations Leader of the Year from the Cyber Security Summit.
John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia University in Saint Paul, a Master of Science degree from Norwich University in Vermont, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification from ISC(2).

Jonathan has over 30 years of IT and business operations leadership experience that spans across private and public sectors. He is currently serving at the State of Minnesota’s, MNIT agency as Director of Transformation and Strategy Delivery. He has led strategic planning for corporate and IT as well as business and IT transformation initiatives for a multi-billion dollar, multi-national travel & hospitality and marketing corporation.  And most recently facilitated the creation of MNIT’s 2023 – 2027 Strategic Plan. In his early career, he served in an international manufacturing company, leading manufacturing operations, supply chain operations, procurement, production planning and Total Quality Management.   He has led ERP implementations and CRM process system improvements that included customer experience process culture shifts. Jonathan has stood up and consolidated large PMO’s and corporate Transformation offices that were responsible for business and IT strategic initiatives.  He has managed Operational Excellence teams leading Six Sigma and kaizen initiatives that spanned sales, marketing, supply chain, manufacturing, IT operations and IT services. He values humility in the workplace, with a keen focus on the customer experience journey.

With 20+ years of experience in Identity and Access Management, Cullen Landrum is a Senior Sales Engineer at SailPoint. Cullen specializes in the area of Identity Security. Prior to joining SailPoint Cullen worked for several software companies including Aegis Identity, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems supporting Higher Education, Federal, State and Local. Prior to that Cullen worked at EDS where he spent 10+ years as a developer on everything from mainframes to Tandem to Java. Cullen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Colorado, is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and is a member of Information Systems Security Association (ISSA).

Hugh Miller joined Lumen Technologies as a Senior Director on the National Technology Strategist team in September 2023 and brings 30 years of experience as an Innovation, Cybersecurity, and Digital & Cloud Transformation leader. He has held senior leadership positions in several industries, including government, technology startups, dotcom, insurance, utility, higher education, and hospitality. Prior to Lumen, Hugh was an Executive Government Advisor for Amazon Web Services, where he interfaced with government leaders throughout the US providing strategic and innovative ways to transform communities with cloud technologies. Hugh spent almost 18 years of his career in the public sector including serving as the CIO for the City of Dallas and City of San Antonio where he focused on transforming government by bringing a creative, innovative, and transformational focused leadership. He also spent time as a CIO consultant to many public sector organizations where he helped them focus on community resiliency, innovation, sustainability, and equity. In his CIO roles he has led three of the ten most populated US cities. Hugh also shares his technology and leadership insights as a speaker throughout the country and has been recognized throughout the tech industry with several awards.

Kim Roberson is a Deputy Chief Business Technology Officer at Minnesota Information Technology Services (MNIT), where Roberson collaborates closely with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to blend business and IT solutions. Roberson is a member of the Minnesota Transparent Artificial Intelligence Governance Alliance (TAIGA) program team and specializes in IT strategy, application management, data management, and applied intelligence. With over 25 years of experience in IT, Roberson has worked in both the public and private sectors. Roberson has a passion for public service and has made significant contributions to IT operations since joining the State of Minnesota in 2006. Notably, Roberson served as the IT project manager during the response to the I-35W bridge collapse in 2007. Roberson's inclusive leadership was recognized when she was named MNIT’s Manager of the Year in 2018. A graduate of the 2021 State Senior Leadership Institute, Roberson is committed to driving innovation and promoting equity in technology for all. 

Soroush has 10 years of consultative sales experience partnering with public sector entities at the federal, state, & local level to improve processes & outcomes. An engineer by schooling, he uses an analytical approach to understand both the current and desired future state, and further partners to map out how real world problems can be solved through technology solutions. As a supporter of social impact, sustainability, and community development, he is passionate about working with government agencies to provide a better world for their constituents.

Tyrone (Ty) Spratt, Chief Business Technology Officer (CBTO) with MNIT Services at DCYF for the last month. Ty was part of the implementation team to create DCYF. Previous to partnering with DYCF, Ty was CBTO for MNIT MDA, BAH and DLI. Serving in that role for 11 years. Ty has 20 years of government experience holding various business and IT positions within DHS, DNR and MNIT. Ty has also had stops in city and county government and private sector experience with UnitedHealthCare. Known for his collection of colorful ties and irrepressible laugh, Ty has been part of many large IT endeavors including SWIFT, IT consolidation, Workers’ Comp system modernization and the MN Frontline Workers Pay Program. Ty earned his undergrad and MBA from Metropolitan State University. Active in his community, Ty is a basketball coach for the Anoka Ramsey Athletic Association and lives in Coon Rapids with his wife Betsy and two sons Isaac (19) and Samuel (17).

Adam Taha leads the Enterprise Translations Office (ETO) with a dedication to enhancing language accessibility across Minnesota’s government agencies. A US Army veteran who served honorably, Adam brings a rich academic and professional background to the role, including an MBA and a Master's in Homeland Security & Cyber Forensics from Penn State University. His extensive experience in language capability development and AI integration further strengthens his leadership at ETO. Adam is a recipient of the One Minnesota Budget Implementation award for his division’s AI integration. Under his direction, the ETO has been nominated for the NASCIO award, highlighting Minnesota’s commitment to cutting-edge technology in public service.

Maria S. Thompson is the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Lead for Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this role, she brings over 20 years of experience in information technology, strategic planning, computer network defense and risk management. Prior to her role with AWS, Maria served as North Carolina’s first State Chief Risk and Security Officer. There she was instrumental in establishing the Whole of State Approach to Cyber. This included the development and implementation of the state’s first Cyber Disruption Plan, and the Joint Cyber Task Force (JCTF). Maria also served 20 years in the United States Marine Corps and retired as the cybersecurity chief/information assurance chief for the Marine Corps. Other security roles held includes certification and accreditation (C&A) lead for the Multi-National Forces – Iraq and senior security engineer in a joint military organization and Security Operations Center lead for a federal agency.

Jaime Wascalus began her career as an application developer in Washington, DC, and moved into leadership roles after discovering the joy of working with and guiding smart, creative, and diverse teams. In 2022 she joined the City of Saint Paul's Office of Technology and Communications as Director and CIO, and is now leading teams of talented and dedicated public servants who support a city that works for all. 

Kenneth Wood is the Director of Worldwide Sales for IBM Quantum Public and Academic Sector.    Mr. Wood provides leadership and direction to the quantum sales and technology service resources located in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific.   Under his direction, the IBM quantum team has finalized many high-profile partnerships for technology access, joint research, and partnership agreements with the likes of NQCC in Harwell, STFC in Hartree, US Air Force Research Lab, CERN, University of Tokyo, Keio University, Fraunhofer, Yonsei University, University of Copenhagen, Arizona State University, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Labs, and many others.
Mr. Wood received his BS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University, and holds a Professional Engineering license. 

Jay Wyant is Minnesota's first Chief Information Accessibility Officer, or CIAO! He leads the Office of Accessibility at the State of Minnesota. The Office of Accessibility works with Minnesota state agencies to imbed accessibility into the State’s culture. We collaborate with agency and MNIT partner Digital Accessibility Coordinators to empower agencies with effective and sustainable polices, processes, tools, procedures that ensure digital government operations and services are accessible and usable for all.
Prior to becoming CIAO, Wyant worked in a wide range of industries and careers, including marketing director of one of the nation’s largest captioning services providers, product marketing director of an internet computing startup, head of a webcast services provider, author of telecommunications technology training programs, and teacher of U.S., Modern European, Japanese, and Chinese history to high school students.