Roy Cooper is a trusted leader and family man who is honored to serve as North Carolina’s Governor.
Roy Cooper has spent nearly three decades in public service protecting families, keeping communities safe, and working to create jobs and improve schools. The son of a school teacher, he knows that education creates opportunity and he has worked throughout his career to strengthen our schools and create a sound foundation for our state’s children.
In the NC House and Senate, Roy Cooper fought to increase teacher pay and reduce class sizes. He wrote North Carolina’s first children’s health insurance initiative. During his service in the legislature, Roy Cooper worked with members of both parties to get balanced budgets that raised teacher pay to the national average, grow the economy and cut taxes for middle class families.
In 2000, the people of North Carolina elected Roy Cooper as Attorney General, where he continued to fight for families during his four terms. He cracked down on child predators, worked to increase penalties for drug dealers, and oversaw a sharp decrease in crime. He partnered with law enforcement and school administrators to make schools safer, and helped protect victims of domestic violence and stalking. He also made protecting consumers a priority, fighting to keep utility rates low, put predatory lenders out of business, and help families fend off telemarketers.
Roy Cooper entered public service to fight for communities like the one where he grew up. Born and raised in Nash County, he attended public schools and worked summers on the family farm before attending UNC-Chapel Hill on a Morehead Scholarship. His mother, Beverly Cooper, worked as a school teacher, and his father, Roy Cooper Jr., farmed and practiced law.
After earning a law degree from UNC, Roy Cooper returned home to Nash County to practice law and, with his wife Kristin, raise three daughters – Hilary, Natalie, and Claire. He taught Sunday School, served as an elder and deacon in his church, and tutored students in local schools.
Roy Cooper believes in the potential of our great state and its people. He knows that we can build a state and an economy that work for everyone. By investing in our public schools and giving students the tools they need to succeed, creating good jobs and raising incomes for the middle class, and strengthening our communities, North Carolinians can live and work in places they are proud to call home.

Thomas Parrish IV is acting secretary for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. Before being named to the position in August 2020, he was deputy chief information officer for IT operations on NCDIT's public safety team.
Parrish is an IT leader with more than 27 years of proven success in varying levels of state and local government levels, as well as in education settings, in enterprise project management, telecommunications and infrastructure management.
Parrish also serves on the faculty at Edgecombe Community College, teaching IT courses, including IT management, application development, network operating systems and aerial remote sensing. He also served as chairman for the Rocky Mount Preparatory school system, where he provided information technology guidance and oversight in launching one of North Carolina’s first distance-learning environments for charter schools.
Parrish’s technology career also includes a span as deputy state chief information officer, where he orchestrated IT operations for the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, N.C. Office of Human Resources and Office of the Governor. He was also instrumental in launching the Innovation Center in 2013. Prior CIO tours include the City of Rocky Mount, where he launched one of the state’s first 1 GB fiber networks for municipalities.
Parrish earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees from North Carolina Central University. He is a certified government CIO and has earned certifications in project management and Lean Six Sigma.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Steve Kaplan is Vice President of Customer Success Finance at Nutanix where he heads a team of business value analysts who use a financial framework to help enterprise customers and prospects quantify both on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure options.
Prior to joining Nutanix in early 2013, Steve started, ran and sold two internationally awarded IT consulting firms. Along with writing hundreds of articles (including publications such as Forbes, InformationWeek and IT Pro Today), blogs and white papers, he has co-authored 8 books on VMware and Citrix technologies, and in 2019 completed his first solo book, The ROI Story: A guide for IT leaders.

Carol Burroughs is a thought leader in government’s use of data to support informed decisions. As Analytics Director within the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, she is instrumental in setting the course for the state’s data integration activities.
In 2007, before “big data” became the latest buzz, Carol worked closely with the North Carolina State CIO to develop a strategic plan for data integration. This plan lead to the development of the Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Integrated Data Services (CJLEADS), and the establishment of the North Carolina Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC).
Today, Carol leads a team of consulting analysts who support North Carolina in the creation of policy and performance measures in the public safety, fraud and compliance, healthcare, financial and longitudinal sectors.

Alan is Executive Vice President of e.Republic and Publisher of Government Technology magazine, where he is involved in the annual production of dozens of events as well as the editorial direction for Governing, Government Technology, Public CIO, Emergency Management, the Center for Digital Government, and the Center for Digital Education. Held regionally in state capitols and large metropolitan areas, the events address key strategy and policy issues as well as the use of information technology in state and local government and education.
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.

Todd Davis is the Southeast Region sales leader in AWS’s Worldwide Public Sector division. His team helps K-12, city, county, and state governments in seven states modernize and improve the resiliency of IT systems and applications that serve citizens’ most crucial needs.
Prior to joining AWS, Todd served in a number of executive roles serving public sector customers at Sprint and CenturyLink. Hailing from a family of educators gives him a passion for learning as well as helping students and teachers.
He holds degrees from Harvard College and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke. From 2010 to 2018, he served on the Board and Executive Committee of the North Carolina Business Committee for Education. He and his wife live in Wake County and have two sons finishing college in the UNC system amidst the uncertainty of COVID.

Chief Information Officer, Department of Commerce, Division of Employment Security, State of North Carolina

Raju is an IT executive with 25 years of professional experience in the information technology field. Raju joined the Division of Employment Security, NC Department of Commerce in July 2016 as their Chief Information Officer. Raju works with the assistant secretary, senior executives and directors to set business priorities and develop the supporting IT strategy at NCDES.
Prior to joining at NCDES, Raju worked at Oxford University Press for approximately six years. He held the position of US IT Director, served as the Head of Software Development and Content Systems for Global Academic business unit. Prior to that, Raju worked as the VP and CIO of a technology services company in Morrisville, NC. Raju graduated with Master’s degree in Computer Science from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, AL. For more information on his professional experience, please refer to his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgadiraju.

Dan Kempton serves as the state chief technology officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He brings more than 30 years of technology and business experience, having worked for large and small firms in the private sector as well as for 15 years with the state of North Carolina.
Kempton has held several IT leadership roles, including chief technology officer positions in the private industry and both deputy chief information officer and subsequently chief technology officer at the N.C. Department of Revenue. At NCDIT, he has led several teams (including the engineering section) that have brought new products, notably multi-cloud capabilities, to state agencies.
Kempton is a strong technology-focused leader who can easily discuss business needs to determine the right solution that fits them. His extensive and broad technical background provides the experience to guide business leaders to the solutions that will achieve the best results.
Kempton has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of South Carolina. He has also earned certification as a government chief information officer from the UNC School of Government.

Amit leads a team of professionals who assist state and local government, healthcare and life sciences enterprises transform IT to improve business capability by leveraging cloud computing and related technologies. As the global practice leader he is responsible for overall design and execution of the go to market strategy for cloud application development. Amit has served in many different roles during his career including Global Head Cloud Computing, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect. His consulting experience includes consolidation of enterprise platforms, application portfolio assessments and rationalization, new platform development, enterprise IT strategy and implementation. His expertise includes incubating and scaling new practice areas to respond to client needs.

Nick represents Emerging Technology for Red Hat, assisting leaders on both business and technical outcomes across Cloud, Automation, Storage, API and Application Services/Middleware. Nick's background covers a range of infrastructure, operations, DevOps and application development helping customers reach goals through technology adoption aimed at IT agility aligned to Business needs, Governance, Security, and ROI, in both Public Sector and Enterprise/Commercial business working with some of the largest brands and agencies.

Daniele Loffreda is senior advisor, Healthcare State/Local Government and Education (SLED) in Ciena’s Market Development organization. In this role he leads Ciena’s initiatives to apply next generation hardware, software and services networking technologies to help these sectors deliver better services to their constituents through digital transformation, optimized cloud strategies, virtualized infrastructure and improved data security.
Daniele has more than 20 years of experience helping customers leverage information, communications and technology solutions provide greater value, improve their operations and generate higher returns on network investments. He has been involved in smart city projects since 2014, he has been a speaker at smart city events and has published a number of articles and blog posts on network connectivity as a critical foundation of smart cities.

Don May is a member of the National Principle Architect team for AT&T. He is responsible for the business development, innovation, and strategy for the State Local and Education (SLED) customers in TN, KY, GA, NC and SC. The Principal Architect seeks immersion into the client’s ecosystem, develops an expertise of the client business issues and assists the customer in building their complex technology roadmaps.
Don has over 25 years of IT Management and Security experience in the SLED and Enterprise Sectors. He is currently an advisor to AT&T’s National Cares Act Team where he solutions and tests remote workers/students, contact tracing, IOT, Video Analytics, and Security solutions.
Don is a Liberal Arts Graduate from Louisiana Tech University where he majored in Computer Science and Accounting. He has completed Professional Education courses in Digital Transformation: Security, AI, IOT, Cloud and Blockchain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Jim Meehan is the Global Investigations Senior Manager for Global Security Services where he
coordinates the forensic investigations conducted by the investigative response unit worldwide.
Prior to working at Verizon, Jim worked with the United States Secret Service. With 27+ years
of law enforcement experience, his career spanned numerous disciplines within the United States
Secret Service to include supervising technical security countermeasures and tactics. He served
in a supervisory capacity on the Presidents Protective Detail during which he advanced to the
principal assignment on the President’s Counter Assault Team. In his last assignment with the
agency he was the Deputy Special Agent in Charge of Cyber Operations. In that position he
supervised and engaged in historical transnational cybercrime investigations, oversaw the
Critical Systems Protection Program and all of the Secret Service network intrusion and forensic
examination programs.
He continues to cultivate key partnerships with members of government, academic, private
industry, national and international law enforcement entities. He is a prominent speaker on
transnational investigations both domestically and internationally.
Jim currently serves on the Advisory Panel for the International Association of Financial Crime
Investigators. He was previously a United States representative on the Five Eyes Law
Enforcement Group (Cyber Crime Operations) and the G-8 Roma-Lyon Cyber Crime Working
Group.
He has a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies (Counter Terrorism) from the National Defense
University and has graduated from the Chief Information Security Officer Program at Carnegie
Mellon University.

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.

Nicole Raimundo is an award-winning technology executive who serves as the chief information officer for Cary, North Carolina. She is the principal strategist and architect for information technology and digital marketing across the organization. Raimundo is at the forefront of the smart cities movement, creating a connected community through piloting and implementing IoT technologies in the public sector. By fostering partnerships both locally and nationally, she leverages her private-sector background to fuel civic innovation in ways not previously seen in local government.
A self-described government rebel, Raimundo participates in numerous conferences and summits as a keynote speaker and panelist, and her work has been profiled in case studies as she continuously pursues new models of digital transformation for collaborative citizen-facing projects. Prior to her work in government, she spent more than 15 years in various IT leadership positions in the private sector, leading development teams in the U.S. and internationally.

Jim Richberg’s role as a Fortinet CISO leverages his 30+ years’ experience driving innovation in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and cyber strategy & 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, Mr. Richberg served as the National Intelligence Manager for Cyber, the senior Federal Executive focused on cyber intelligence within the $80B+/100,000 employee US 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.
Mr. Richberg’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.

Al Roethlisberger is a Director of IT with the North Carolina Department of IT – Transportation, serving as Chief Information Security Officer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
In addition to serving as the NCDOT CISO position for the past 5 years, Al has worked at NCDOT & NCDIT over 13 years in roles such as an Enterprise Architecture consultant, Network Services technical lead and manager, and Information Security Office manager.
Prior working for the State of North Carolina, Al worked at Cisco Systems for nearly 10 years in various roles developing and supporting Cisco’s early internal IT department such as managing Cisco’s global teleworking technologies and service delivery, including contributing to Cisco product development. Al also participated in developing Cisco’s first IT Enterprise Architecture and “Cisco on Cisco” (business feedback) team focusing on M&A evaluations, Information Security, VPN, LAN, WAN and QoS solutions and products. In his final years at Cisco, Al worked within the Cisco security products business unit helping develop the team and software for the then new Intrusion Prevention System Signature Development unit.
Al earned a degree In Computer Information Systems from Northeast Louisiana University, now University of Louisiana at Monroe. Immediately following graduation Al began work at a regional long distance provider as part of a small team creating an early regional Internet Service Provider serving the southeast USA.

Dr. Tenenbaum serves as the Chief Data Officer (CDO) for DHHS, assisting the Department in developing a strategy to use information to inform and evaluate policy and improve the health and well-being of residents of North Carolina. Prior to taking on the role of CDO, Dr. Tenenbaum was a founding faculty member of the Division of Translational Biomedical Informatics within Duke University's Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. Her research applies informatics methods to enable precision medicine, particularly in the area of mental health. She is also interested in ethical, legal, and social issues around big data, health disparities, and precision medicine. Prior to her faculty role, Dr. Tenenbaum was Associate Director for Bioinformatics for the Duke Translational Medicine Institute, with a focus on data standards and enterprise data warehousing.

Maria Thompson joined the N.C. Department of Information Technology in January 2015 as the state’s first chief risk officer, reporting to the state chief information officer. This position was established as part of the state’s efforts to bring information risk management capabilities in line with industry standards.
In her role, Thompson is responsible for developing an integrated statewide framework to manage information risk, including operations, security and data protection.
She comes to NC DIT with decades of IT security experience. She began her career with 20 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps and retired as the cybersecurity chief for the Marine Corps. Her previous roles include serving as the Iraq Theater of Operations Certification Authority. She also served as a senior security engineer for SecureInfo and senior security architect and program manager for Imperatis Corp. in Virginia.
Thompson holds a Master of Science in information technology from the University of Maryland, University College - Adelphi.

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.

Anthony Young leads the Solution Engineering Team in the Eastern United States for Tableau's SLED practice. He’s consulted over the past 20 years on enterprise data initiatives with a concentration in constituent services in both the State and Federal/DoD space.