Laura has over 20 years of experience leading/consulting on complex transformational programs in the public and private sector. Prior to joining Amazon Web Services, she served as the Chief Digital Transformation Officer at MTX, where she built a digital transformation organization to assist State & Local Governments and Higher Education institutions in planning and executing complex transformations for their agencies, including COVID-19 pandemic initiatives. She served the Commonwealth of Kentucky as an Executive Innovation Advisor, driving cloud adoption, modernization and maximizing the benefit of the cloud investment across multiple state agencies. In addition, for over 15 years she led global transformational programs for large corporations such as Schneider Electric and Lexmark International. These global programs included Enterprise Master Data Management, Quote to Cash, CRM, PRM, and Call Center Services Management.

Dr. Mohit Bansal is the John R. & Louise S. Parker Professor and the Director of the MURGe-Lab (UNC-NLP Group) in the Computer Science department at University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. Prior to this, he was a research assistant professor (3-year endowed position) at TTI-Chicago. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2013 (where he was advised by Dan Klein) and his BTech from IIT Kanpur in 2008. His research expertise is in natural language processing and multimodal machine learning, with a particular focus on grounded and embodied semantics, language generation and Q&A/dialogue, and interpretable and generalizable deep learning.
He is a recipient of DARPA Director's Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, Google Focused Research Award, Microsoft Investigator Fellowship, Army Young Investigator Award (YIP), DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA), and outstanding paper awards at ACL, CVPR, EACL, COLING, and CoNLL. His service includes ACL Executive Committee, ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award Committee, CoNLL Program Co-Chair, ACL Americas Sponsorship Co-Chair, and Associate/Action Editor for TACL, CL, IEEE/ACM TASLP, and CSL journals. Webpage: https://www.cs.unc.edu/~mbansal/.

Appointed to the Information Technology Strategy Board by N.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, Keith Briggs is director of enterprise architecture and innovation for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He is committed to innovation and continuous improvement.
Briggs has 25 years’ experience in technology leadership in data centers management, cloud, application infrastructure, application development, IT service management and information security. He has primarily worked for the private sector in the financial, technology manufacturing and health care industries.
Briggs joined NCDIT in June 2022. He was appointed to the IT Strategy Board prior to joining NCDIT. At the time, he was chief information officer for the N.C. Department of Insurance, a position he held since 2018.
Briggs holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from Texas Christian University.

Carol Burroughs was appointed as the state's chief data officer with the N.C. Department of Information Technology in February 2022.
She leads NCDIT's statewide development of enterprise data strategies, including management, privacy and governance across all platforms. As director of NCDIT's Government Data Analytics Center, she also guides the state's use of integrated data to support public safety, fraud, compliance, healthcare, finance and performance and policy decision analysis.
A thought leader in the government use of data to support informed decisions, Burroughs has held various state IT leadership roles and championed a culture ensuring the privacy and compliance of state data. First joining NCDIT in 2014, she has served as assistant deputy state chief information officer and director of analytics, setting data integration activities, developing a statewide IT strategic plan and helping establish GDAC and the N.C. Health Information Exchange.
Burroughs has also worked with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and Office of the State Controller.
In April 2023, she was appointed to the Governor's Advisory Committee on Performance Management.
Burroughs holds a bachelor's in economics—quantitative analysis from Framingham State University.

Swami is a transformative technology leader with over 24 years of experience leading enterprise-wide digital and cloud transformations. As Principal at KPMG, he is responsible for leading the Global Cloud Center of Excellence and Solution Architecture for Digital Solutions. He has a proven track record of delivering successful transformations that have resulted in measurable business impact. He is a recognized expert in AI, machine learning, enterprise integration, automation, and cloud computing.
Swami has a proven track record of helping clients across the globe in 20+ countries to design, build, and deploy cloud-first AI platforms, solutions, and integration products. He takes an agile and an outcomes-focused approach. His work has resulted in measurable business impact, including award-wining innovations in Medicaid data exchange, automated cloud FinOps, ethics intake automation, continuous compliance monitoring, conversational AI, AI-enabled continuous risk prediction, trusted AI frameworks, AI-powered contact centers, modern data platforms, and patient experience optimization.
Previously at IBM, Swami was appointed as an IBM Distinguished Engineer for his significant contributions to developing IBM Watson. He also led the incubation of over 100+ AI solutions and managed a global team of top AI talent. He holds 30+ patents, authored multiple books and articles on applied AI, and was also appointed as an IBM Master Inventor. He holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and guest lecturer on applied AI. Swami is committed to advancing emerging technologies and giving back to the community. He teaches AI and programming to middle school and high school girls, inspiring them to pursue careers in STEM.

Libby is a seasoned IT professional with a vast amount of experience in Project Management and Organizational Change Management. The bulk of her experience comes from Manufacturing Automation and ERP System Implementations. Since working for the State of North Carolina, she has been instrumental in the oversite and intricacies of stakeholder engagement and readiness for the several large IT implementations. Her current assignment is the Change Management Lead for the transition of ~4000 financial staff across the State of NC to the new NC Financial Accounting System (Oracle Cloud Based) scheduled for release in 2023.
She has worked for top companies such as Intel Corporation and Dupont de Nemours & Company for over 20 years. Libby is a Wolf-Packer at heart with degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Manufacturing Systems Engineering all from North Carolina State University. She and her husband love to travel all over the world and experience new cultures.

Jeff Crume is a Distinguished Engineer, Master Inventor and CTO for IBM Security Americas with 40 years’ experience in the IT industry. He has a PhD in Cybersecurity and serves as an Adjunct Professor at NC State University. Jeff is the author of a book entitled “Inside Internet Security: What Hackers Don’t Want You To Know” as well as a contributing author to the “Information Security Management Handbook.” He is a member of the inaugural class of the NC State University Computer Science Alumni Hall of Fame where he has served on the school’s Strategic Advisory Board. He also serves on the editorial board for the “Information and Computer Security” research journal and is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He holds CISSP and ISSAP professional IT Security certifications as well as Distinguished Chief IT Architect credentials from The Open Group. Jeff lived in Beijing on assignment in 2006 and has worked with clients in 50 countries.

Tamara Dukes, current Vice President, Strategy and Growth at Tyler Technologies, uses her past experience from Imagitas (a marketing services company where she managed a $150M strategic alliance with the US Postal Service), along with her 12 years of Tyler experience (establishing a state portal in Maine and managing seven state portals as a Regional Manager) to influence her current role with Tyler in developing an enterprise approach to digital government while enhancing the citizen experience.

Joy Elias is a dynamic Customer Engineer at Google, devoted to transforming the public sector through technology. Residing in Atlanta, Georgia, Joy excels in DevOps and Application Modernization, championing innovation in various industries. Her passion lies in making technology accessible to all, and she firmly believes in the power of digital transformation to drive positive change. She recognizes the tremendous impact that technology can have in the public sector space, improving efficiency, effectiveness and citizen services. With a budding interest in Data and AI, Joy envisions countless opportunities to revolutionize local and state governments through cutting-edge technology solutions. Joy believes in advocating for a future where technology empowers and uplifts communities nationwide.

Michael Euliss is the Director of Communications, Government Relations, and Training for the North Carolina Office of the State Controller. Mr. Euliss is also a motivational teacher and holds numerous nationally-recognized certifications in training, teaching, and organizational health. He has provided educational events to hundreds of governmental, church, corporate, and civic groups across North America to help them develop a culture of servant leadership and displace ineffective and autocratic leadership practices.
He is internationally recognized for practical but powerful motivational and inspirational learning experiences. His expertise is in leadership development, public and interpersonal communication skills, strategic direction, and group dynamics. He uses a variety of methods to equip today's leaders with the tools they need to become peak performers as well as make others around them better.
Mr. Euliss has experience in the corporate world as well as the public sector. He served in local government for 20 years and served in executive management in the private sector for 10 years before founding a non-profit organization focused on servant leadership development where he served for 7 years.
He has been married since 1984, is the father of three children, and grandfather of six. He resides with his family in North Carolina.

Jonathan Feldman is an award-winning Chief Information Officer, speaker, and writer. He has been recognized for his positive impact on the communities he serves by the Frost & Sullivan CIO Impact Award and inclusion in Government Technology’s Top 25 Dreamers, Doers, and Drivers, and he is frequently listed among top CIO and IT practitioners. Jonathan is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of cloud computing, digital transformation, and civic tech, with Forbes calling his efforts “IT done right.”
Jonathan’s success leading government technology led him to co-author Code for America’s book, “Beyond Transparency” with Tim O’Reilly and others. His column with InformationWeek magazine, which won an American Society of Business Publication Editors award, started many industry conversations about positive IT transformation. He has spoken all over the world about civic technology, the future of work, talent management, leadership, and digital transformation, and is often quoted in the media about these topics. He is active on social media both to learn and to share and tweets at @_jfeldman.

Nitya Ganapathy is the Analytics Director for the Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC), a division of the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT). In this role, she leads development of the enterprise technology roadmap and implementation of analytics solutions. She has been instrumental in introducing AI and machine learning techniques in fraud analytics.
Nitya has held various IT leadership roles for the state of North Carolina for the past 23 years. For the past 15 years, she has strategized the technology roadmap and implementation of numerous IT systems and analytical solutions for state agencies.
Before her public service, Nitya co-founded a technology startup that developed a quality management product for businesses. She spends her free time serving underprivileged children and families through a non-profit organization and likes to hike and cook.

As chief privacy officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology, Cherie Givens is responsible for a strategic and comprehensive statewide privacy program that defines, develops, maintains and implements policies and processes that enable consistent and effective information privacy practices.
Givens is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and an attorney with more than 20 years of experience. She joined NCDIT in December 2021 after more than a decade supporting federal privacy programs in the Washington D.C. area – first as a federal employee and then as a contractor.
Givens brings experience in creating, assessing, and maturing privacy programs. She has supported privacy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Government Publishing Office and the U.S. Department of Defense - Advana (Advancing Analytics).
Givens is the author of “Information Privacy Fundamentals for Librarians and Information Professionals” as well as several book chapters on the topics of information privacy, cybersecurity and information governance.
She has taught graduate level privacy and information science courses for San Jose State University, a governance course for the University of Alberta and information science courses for the University of Maryland’s iSchool.
Givens earned a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Kermit Graham leads System Engineering in State, Local Government, and Education for the Eastern United States. His organization is responsible for the design and deployment of Fortinet solutions built on integrated security architectures that help solve the business challenges of customers.
After serving 13 years in the United States Marine Corps., Kermit entered the private sector via the Arrowpoint startup. After being acquired by Cisco, Mr. Graham held various leadership roles across Federal and SLED businesses, both domestically and internationally. With over 30 years of IT experience, he brings extensive knowledge of the Public Sector business.
Kermit and his wife Deonna reside in Austin, TX and are the proud parents of two sons.

Kevin E. Greene is an experienced leader, champion and advocate for advancing the state of art in cybersecurity. He has successfully led multiple federally funded R&D projects in his career that were commercialized and transitioned into practice.
Kevin is currently the Public Sector CTO for CyberRes, a Micro Focus line of business. Leveraging his innovative and strategic expertise, he drives customer engagement around cyber capabilities in federal agencies for digital transformation, software supply chain, zero trust and evolving threat defense.
Prior to joining CyberRes, he worked at the MITRE Corporation supporting DevSecOps and cyber defense initiatives. Kevin also spent time serving our nation as a federal employee at the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, Cyber Security division.
He holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and supports several external advisory boards in formalizing cybersecurity curriculum and initiatives.

Dave Kaiser is the Deputy Director for the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology & Innovation, which is staffed by the Office of Science, Technology & Innovation in the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
In this role, Kaiser manages research projects, policy analysis, and programmatic functions, writes reports, articles, and issues press releases on innovation opportunities and activities across the state, and collaborates and fosters partnerships in support of North Carolina’s efforts in the recruitment and retention of high-growth, innovative companies statewide. Kaiser also directs conferences, workshops, and task force meetings organized by the Office. He is also responsible for the management the social media campaign for the Board of Science, Technology, & Innovation.
Previously, Kaiser was a research economist at RTI International, where he conducted and managed research projects and site visit research teams, and oversaw the budget and contractual requirements for major Federal projects. His work at RTI International has been published in several academic journals and government reports. Prior to working at RTI International, Kaiser was a Research & Policy Analyst at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he supported research and programmatic efforts on entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development.
He has served as an evaluator for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s eMBA Soft Launch Program and as a Phase II reviewer for the National Science Foundation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for FIRST North Carolina, a nonprofit organization created to inspire youth in North Carolina to pursue further studies and careers in science and technology and to help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the technologically-driven global economy; on the Board of Adivsors for the Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership, which addresses the critical need for high-quality professional development for educators and is the largest STEM-focused teacher leadership program in North Carolina; and is a mentor in the LaunchAPEX program.
He is a 2020 recipient of the 40 Under 40 Leadership Award by the Triangle Business Journal.

Jeff Malec is the Lifecycle Subject Matter Expert and Technology Evangelist for HP. After a 21+ year career with Microsoft, Jeff joined HP and is driving adoption of the modern workplace, Windows 11, and the related lifecycle elements.
Managing the Microsoft and HP relationship for several years, Jeff is an expert in go to market plans and customer adoption strategies.
Jeff holds multiple technical certifications from Microsoft.

Bob Messier oversees a team responsible for leading and integrating customer support functions within the global Sales organization. The Customer Support and Engagement group drives SAS' early adopter programs, customer programs that drive software adoption and efforts to gather customer feedback. His teams provide customers direction on best practices for adopting and deploying SAS analytics and artificial intelligence solutions. In addition, his functions work closely with Marketing, Product Management, R&D and Professional Services divisions to create a customer-focused environment across SAS initiatives.

Mr. Montgomery is a technology and security strategist covering State, Local Government, and Education at VMware. Chris brings over 20 years of public and private sector experience leading transformative change through technology to his role. He is a well-respected adviser, having held CIO, CTO and CISO positions across the public sector.
Chris is a recognized cybersecurity expert, with a unique perspective that emphasizes leveraging security strategy to improve user experience and enable innovation. He is known in the industry as a thought leader for organizational change management associated with technology modernization, security, and digital transformation. Chris presently holds CISSP, CRISC, and CISM certifications in information security and risk management. Chris is an Air Force Veteran who honorably served in Operations Desert Storm and Southern Watch. Upon returning to civilian life, Chris held various engineering and marketing rolls at technology startup, ultimately following his calling to public service.

Darshan Patel is an emergency management coordinator and homeland security specialist. He specializes in NIMS/ICS all-hazards incident management, homeland security threat response, emergency management program/plan development, management, and implementation. He also has an extensive IT background including data center management, server and workstation management, VoIP PBX management, and systems administration. He is a county emergency management coordinator and has also consulted universities, municipalities, counties, and private industries on emergency management plan development and continuity of operations development.

Matt is a professor of the practice at UNC's School of Information & Library Science and a consultant on technology policy issues. He previously led the Center on Science & Technology Policy at Duke University and was a professor of the practice at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Before that, Matt worked at Facebook, where he was a director on the public policy team and the head of the global policy development team. He covered issues ranging from antitrust to law enforcement to human rights and oversaw the company’s policy work on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. In July 2019, he testified in Congress on the competitiveness of the technology sector.

Jason Powell brings a wide-ranging project management skill set that enables his team to implement various client solutions within the required timeframes. He has nearly a decade of experience overseeing complex multi-stakeholder and multi-service integrations. In particular, he deeply understands best practices for SaaS implementations.
Jason has significant experience developing project schedules, managing internal resources, and building strong client relationships to facilitate smooth transitions.
Prior to joining PayIt in 2021, Jason was a Senior Implementation Advisor and Program Manager at Khoros. Before that, he led a Client Success team at All Web Leads, Inc. Jason graduated from Texas Christian University, receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurial Management.

Robert Reynolds is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the City of Raleigh, North Carolina. With over 25 years of diverse experience in Information Technology, Robert has held senior leadership positions in corporate, State and Local Government organizations with extensive IT operations and security experience in law enforcement and military high value mission critical environments. Robert specializes in leading IT organizations in both the public and private sector. He has consulted for the federal government and corporate clients as Advisory CIO helping them to improve IT operations, achieve better outcomes, and accelerate their strategic and business plan objectives. Robert also served in the United States Navy.
Robert holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from the University of Maryland. He also holds the CISSP, GCFA, MCSE and Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) certifications. Robert is an active member of FBI InfraGard, and ISSA Raleigh Chapter.

As National Conference Director for Government Technology magazine, Zachary produces, manages and emcees government IT conferences throughout the country.

Mark Wittenburg is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Raleigh. Mark has extensive public sector experience working with city and regional leaders in Arizona and now North Carolina to develop strategic direction and manage IT operations. His knowledge helped advance initiatives such as deploying smart water meters to conserve water, advancing regional digital equity by accelerating 5G and fiber installation, and building a culture that embraces innovation. Mark brings that same passion for public service to Raleigh, leveraging thoughtful and appropriate technology to advance the priorities of the community.