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.

Shonte Eldridge currently serves as DocuSign‘s Senior Director of State and Local Government Strategy and Solutions. In this role, she is responsible for identifying industry trends and creating strategies that help government leaders simplify how they do business. Shonte has over two decades of experience in various state and local government C-Suite positions and is most known for using technology to solve complex operational challenges. She has received numerous awards for her work and was named one of the 25 women to watch by the Baltimore Sun newspaper and magazine in 2020.

Roger Gibson is the Chief Operating Officer at the New Jersey Office of Information Technology. He is responsible for overall management and administration of the mainframe operations, managed hosting, network operations, telecommunications, internal security, enterprise services, and public cloud operations teams with NJOIT. Roger previously served NJOIT as Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Cloud Operations before accepting the COO role in October 2019. Before joining NJOIT, Roger held a number of roles with the State of New Jersey, Department of the Treasury, Division of Purchase and Property, including Hearing Officer, Assistant Technology Licensing Officer, and Assistant Division Counsel. In these roles, Roger heard and resolved protests related to public procurements conducted by the Division for review and issuance by the Director of the Division, served as the primary negotiator and designated signatory for technology-related license agreements, and provided advice and counsel to the Director of the Division consistent with advice issued by the Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Law. Roger also served as a voting member on the evaluation committee for the NASPO ValuePoint Cloud Solutions contract lead by the State of Utah. Before joining the Division of Purchase and Property, Roger was a Deputy Attorney General in the Division of Law, where he litigated disability public pension matters, represented the State of New Jersey in procurement and contract matters, and served as general counsel to the State Lottery Commission and the Division of State Lottery. During law school, Roger served as an intern with the Honorable Justice Virginia Long, J.S.C. (Ret.), on the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and thereafter held a clerkship with the Honorable Marie E. Lihotz, P.J.A.D. (Ret.) on the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. Roger received his B.A. in Criminal Justice with a minor in Business and Gerontology from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and J.D. from the Widener University School of Law, Delaware.

Chuck Grindle, Ph.D. (Colonel, retired, U.S. Army) is an Information Scientist who joined Amazon Web Services in March of 2020 as an Executive Government Advisor and has since transitioned to lead the AWS Professional Services in the East. Chuck specializes in information security, policy and strategy. He previously served as Kentucky’s Chief Information Officer. Chuck graduated from Washington and Jefferson College and was commissioned into the Army as a Field Artillery Officer and then transitioned his career to Information Technology. In addition to holding key military positions in IT, he has taught academic courses on a variety of subjects including security issues and cyber operations. He earned his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Science and holds a second Master’s Degree from the U.S. Army War College in Strategic Studies.

Jerry He is Executive Director at CARTS, a NJ-based nonprofit advancing safe, equitable, affordable, sustainable, and high-quality #MobilityForAll.
Jerry has led and overseen CARTS and Princeton University Transportation Research Group’s autonomous mobility, EV charging, urban design, and direct community engagement initiatives. He is a co-host of the 4th and 5th Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summits. While at Princeton, Jerry was also an assistant instructor for courses on urbanism, transportation systems, and e-commerce.
Currently, Jerry leads the public engagement and technical support of the Trenton MOVES initiative, the first large-scale autonomous vehicle-based urban transit system planned in America. He is professionally trained as a computer scientist and urban planner at NYU (B.A.) and as an architect at Princeton (M.Arch). Before CARTS and Princeton, Jerry worked on urban planning and big data at NYCDOT, AKRF, and Oracle.

Hagen leads an NJOIT division that architects, designs, implements, and operates several service offerings for our executive branch customers: CloudConnect (collaboration services), Database Hosting Services, Enterprise Data Services (data architecture, data modeling, data warehousing, and business intelligence), myNewJersey (Web access management), and Print Services. The division also provides services such as Domain Name Service, Identity Management, and Stress Testing among others, as well as being home to the Solutions Architecture practice, an integral part of OIT’s System Architecture Review (SAR) process. Over a 20-year career with the State, he has served in several executive roles: Chief Operating Officer, DCTO for Operations, DCTO for Product Development, and Information Security Officer. Before joining the State, Hagen spent over 15 years in the telecommunications industry, leading international and national data and professional services initiatives in product management, product development, and engineering. He holds a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and master’s degrees in economics and in nuclear engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Michael LeBlanc joined NIC in 2015 and served under several roles including the Director of Technology and Director of Operations, overseeing project management, application development, security, and infrastructure. Michael currently leads the NIC New Jersey team as General Manager - focusing on making government more accessible through technology.

Chris McDonough is an Associate Director of Solutions Architects of public sector for the Verizon Business Group. In this role, he leads a technical solutions team responsible for customer engagement and solution development to address the increasingly complex requirements of state and local governments and education clients.
Chris has 28 years of experience in the wireless industry specializing in technical solutions, internet of things, smart communities, and public sector.
Chris earned his Masters of Business Administration from Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, NC and holds a Bachelor of Science from Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.

Lee Micai is the Management Information Systems (MIS) Department Head for Mercer County Board of Social Services. He is the President of the New Jersey Chapter of GMIS, a state wide organization of Leaders in Government Technology, and Head of the State of New Jersey DCU Coordinators Committee.
With over 20 years of professional experience in public sector IT, he has established a history of transforming business requirements into innovative technical solutions. He previously served as Senior Systems Analyst, Systems Analyst, and Webmaster for the Board of Social Services and County of Mercer. He attended Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, and is a Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) through University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government.

Mr. Montgomery is a strategist and executive advisor at VMware. Chris helps public sector organizations align their mission objectives with a supporting IT Strategy that enables digital transformation. He is recognized in the industry as a cyber security expert and thought leader for organizational change management associated with technology modernization.

Bill leads the KPMG Signal Science initiative. Over the past five years, he and his team have built a Signals processing platform that combines Big Data and Machine Learning to solve some of today’s most vexing governmental, business, and societal problems, including vaccine distribution and addressing disparities in healthcare.

Zach Patton is the chief editor of the Content Studio at e.Republic and Government Technology. He has been covering the public sector for nearly 20 years. Until 2019, he was the executive editor of Governing magazine, where he also had served as a staff writer for more than a decade.

Marc H. Pfeiffer retired in 2012 from a 37-year career in New Jersey local government administration, having served as a municipal administrator in several municipalities, and 26 years of service in the State’s local government oversight agency, the Division of Local Government Services. At DLGS he served as Deputy Director for 14 years, and periodically as Acting Director.
Marc has broad experience in many areas of local government policy and administration, including specific expertise in areas such as finance and property taxation, public procurement, shared services and consolidation, technology, energy, labor relations, and general government administration. He also has deep experience in the legislative process and as a regulatory officer. He is currently engaged in research concerning the use of technology in local government.
In addition to participating in Bloustein Local, Marc makes his extensive government experience available as a guest lecturer and other collaborative efforts. He is also assisting the Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration with the State’s Certified Public Manager Program in curriculum development and instruction.

Jim Richberg’s role as a Fortinet CISO leverages his 30+ years of experience driving innovation in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and cyber strategy and policy. He is currently focused on cyber risk management, election security and helping organizations maximize their IT efficiency and security post-COVID.
Prior to joining Fortinet, Jim served as the National Intelligence Manager for Cyber, the senior federal executive focused on cyber intelligence within the $80B+/100,000 employee U.S. Intelligence Community (IC). He led cyber strategy for the 17 departments and agencies of the IC, set integrated priorities on cyber threats and served as Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on cyber issues.
Jim’s broad operational experience – including his 20 years at CIA – gives him practical insight into difficult cyber challenges. He brings a strong focus on strategic problem solving and on framing complex issues in comprehensible terms that facilitate analysis and formulation of solutions.

Joe Rivera is the Chief Technology Officer for the City of Trenton. Born, raised, and educated in Trenton, he is proud to call the capital city home. “Joey” has over 20 years of experience in IT, marketing and content creation. He has worked for the N.J. State Police, the N.J. Office of Information Technology, and the N.J. Office of Administrative Law. Joey is currently spearheading City of Trenton initiatives to cut costs, reduce waste, improve constituent services, increase public access, prevent cybercrimes, and attract businesses. Most recently, Joey was instrumental in assisting Trenton in being the second municipality in the state of NJ to have 5G approved. Joey has ensured the City of Trenton continued critical services remotely during the Pandemic and has delivered increased results in communication & information being delivered to constituents. Because of this, engagement has increased tremendously, not only on social media, but in civic engagement and interaction as well.
Joey is a 3rd year Digital Government Summit Advisory Board member and holds certifications in Supervisory Training Empowering Performance (NJSTEP), FEMA Cybersecurity Awareness & Remediation, and DELL Client & Enterprise Foundations. He is currently pursuing a degree in Business Management Administration with a focus on Information Technology.

Jim Samuel is an Associate Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Informatics Program at the Bloustein School. He is an information and artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, with significant industry experience in finance, technology, entrepreneurship and data analytics. Dr. Samuel’s primary research covers human intelligence and artificial intelligences interaction and information philosophy.
Dr. Samuel’s applied research focuses on the optimal use of big data and smart data driven AI applications, textual analytics, natural language processing and artificially intelligent public opinion informatics. His expertise extends to socioeconomic implications of AI, applied machine learning, social media analytics, AI education and AI bias.
Dr. Samuel completed his Ph.D. from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College – City University of New York, and he also has M.Arch and M.B.A (International Finance) degrees. Dr. Samuel has worked with large multinational financial services corporations, and advises businesses and organizations on data analytics and AI driven value.

David has 18 years of experience in leadership roles supporting the public sector technology, with over 15 years spent in senior roles in the federal government.
David came to Adobe from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) where he served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Grants Systems and Policy Integration, the Agency’s first senior executive responsible for providing all FEMA grant programs with consistent guidance, processes, and systems for grants management. In this capacity, David oversaw the implementation of the Grants Management Modernization Program, one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest information technology acquisition programs, which streamlined and simplified FEMA’s grants management processes creating better experiences for citizens and employees.
David also served in leadership roles at the Small Business Administration, where he led the transformation and modernization of the Agency’s disaster loan origination system, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he helped transform their financial, acquisition and assistance programs and systems.
David is passionate about the potential for digital technology to help the government better serve the public and create more fulfilling work environments for government workforces.

Previously Mr. Silberman served as Director of Network Services at San Jose State University, where he was responsible for the operations, administration, and management of the University's data network infrastructure and network-based services. Mr. Silberman also is a Lecturer in SJSU's Computer Engineering Department. His experience in the information technology field spans 20 years in both the academic and corporate realms. He is a passionate advocate of classroom technologies that foster and sustain student success. He has also advocated and participated in various early field trials and deployments with Mobility, Network Management, Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning applications in the context of Network Management.

Bindu provides strategic and tactical cybersecurity consulting services to customers and specializes in collaborating with clients on cybersecurity, technology transformation, cyber-risk, compliance, and data governance initiatives. She leads a team of security professionals responsible for providing consultative services specific to Trusted Advisor engagement, Incident Response, Forensics, Threat/Vulnerability Management services, & compliance assessments. Bindu leverages her extensive technical skills as she advises customers through workshops, speaking engagements, and industry forums. She counsels customers on how best to optimize their business benefits and drive organizational improvements by sustaining security protocols, managing compliance, and mitigating risk. In addition to providing subject matter expert support, she is responsible for defining services across Cybersecurity Consulting based on client-specific security challenges.

Krista Valenzuela leads the Cyber Threat Outreach & Partnerships (CTOP) Bureau at the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), conducting presentations, authoring the NJCCIC Weekly Bulletin, creating resources for the NJCCIC website, and establishing relationships with critical infrastructure, businesses, organizations, and individuals around the State. Mrs. Valenzuela has been with the NJCCIC for over six years and previously worked for the US Department of Defense for three years on their information assurance mission.

Mark Van Bruggen serves as the HR Consultant to the Chief of Staff at the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. Throughout most of his 33-year career at the CSC, Mark has served as a primary consultant to HR leaders in State and local government. An expert in customer service and Civil Service rules, Mark has assisted countless jurisdictions meet their workforce needs within the rules that govern NJ Civil Service.
Mark is an IPMA-HR certified Senior HR Professional with a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Delaware.
Privately, Mark is married to his wife of 31 years (Lisa); is the father of two daughters (now out of the nest) and recently became a grandpa. Mark is an accomplished acapella singer and Director of the Garden Statesmen (a men’s acapella chorus). He enjoys watching sports and playing an occasional round of golf.