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.

As the Minneapolis CIO for seven-plus years, Otto Doll was responsible for all city IT services. He also served as South Dakota’s CIO for 15 years with responsibility for all state government computing, telecommunications, radio and public broadcasting. While with IT research firms, Otto has advised Fortune 1000, federal, state and local government CIOs on information technology assessment and alignment to business needs. He has served as a director with the United States General Services Administration, developing information technology strategic plans and oversight policy.
Otto received his computer science degree from Virginia Tech and is a senior executive fellow of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a past president of NASCIO – a national organization of state CIOs. He also is a past president of the Metropolitan Information Exchange (MIX) – a national organization of city and county CIOs. Otto was named to Government Technology's 2004 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers.

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 a 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.

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 Digital Government vertical. 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.

Christopher L. Hills has more than 15 years’ experience as a Senior Security and Architecture Engineer operating in highly sensitive environments. Chris is a military veteran of the United States Navy and started with BeyondTrust after his most recent role leading a Privileged Access Management (PAM) team as a Technical Director within a Fortune 500 organization. In his current position, he has responsibilities as a Senior Solutions Architect consulting on PAM implementations and reports to the Office of the CTO as an acting Deputy CTO. In his free time, Chris enjoys spending time with his family on the water with their 32-foot speedboat in the summer and taking to the sand dunes and off-roading in the winter.

Fortinet’s leader of Public Sector go-to-market strategy, Kenny Holmes is a cyber-security expert, with over twenty year years in Information Technology and a background in cryptography. He has held multiple certifications and worked in Federal and State Governments, Research Institutions, and Universities on some of the world’s largest security projects.

Michael “MJ” Jackson is a problem solver who leads global strategy across regulated industries at DocuSign. His team commercializes vertical solutions for Public Sector, Healthcare, Life Sciences, and Financial Services. Jackson holds an active Secret Security clearance with the US Department of Homeland Security.
Prior to DocuSign, Jackson served as a General Manager at Amazon Web Services, where he established and scaled multiple mission-critical businesses from inception, including Public Health and US Elections, Legislative & Political Solutions.
Previously, Jackson also served as General Manager of Consumer Health at Intel Corporation, where he developed global lines of business for patient-generated health data (PGHD) platforms; and as Director of Healthcare & Digital Government at Adobe Systems, where he led the commercialization of digital health solutions currently trusted to help power federal, state, and private Health Benefits Exchanges in over 30 US states.
Before high-tech, Jackson gained executive experience in the life sciences industry, where he successfully launched biopharma and medical device products across a range of clinical research and therapeutic specialties including oncology, neurology, and endocrinology.
Jackson earned a Master of Business Administration degree and a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Baltimore. He is also a proud veteran of the US Coast Guard and serves on multiple boards, including the Board of Directors at Health Care for the Homeless, an innovative non-profit provider of coordinated care and housing services in Baltimore, MD.

Dan Kempton joined the NC Department of Information Technology in 2016 as the Engineering Director and is now the State Chief Technology Officer, reporting to the State Chief Information Officer. He brings more than 30 years of technology and business experience gained from his roles in the private sector as well as in the public sector.
While he has an extensive development background having been fortunate enough to be involved in several exciting efforts, developing standards through ANSI, publishing industry-leading benchmarks, he has also held several IT leadership roles including CTO roles in both the private and public sector, as well deputy CIO and CTO roles in the public sector. At NC DIT he brought in several new products to address enterprise needs, the most notably of those is the secure hybrid multi-cloud capability now available to state agencies.
He is a strong technology-focused leader who has participated on several web-forums, panels, and interviews to address technology needs and potential solutions, especially focused on cloud adoption. He has a BS in Computer Science from UNC-Wilmington, a MS in Computer Science from U. of South Carolina, and has earned certification as a government CIO from the UNC School of Government.

Daniele Loffreda is marketing lead for Ciena’s Virtualized Edge Solution State/Local Government and Education (SLED) and Healthcare in Ciena’s Solutions Development organization. In this role, he leads Ciena’s initiatives applying next-generation networking technologies to help these sectors deliver higher quality experiences to their constituents through disruptive technologies, optimized cloud strategies, virtualized infrastructure and improved data security.
Daniele has more than 25 years of experience helping customers leverage information, communications and technology solutions to provide greater value, streamline their operations and generate higher returns on network investments. In addition to his role at Ciena, Daniele has worked in pioneering roles at AT&T, Sprint and Fujitsu. He has presented at numerous industry conferences and published articles and posts on next-generation network connectivity as a critical foundation of enterprise transformation.

Rob Main joined the NC Department of Information Technology (DIT) in November 2017 and presently serves as Interim State Chief Risk Officer. In that role, Rob supports the DIT Secretary in providing leadership towards the development, delivery and maintenance of cybersecurity programs that safeguard North Carolina’s information and supporting infrastructure against unauthorized use, disclosure, modification, damage or loss. Rob received this interim appointment on 1-June-2021 after serving as Deputy State Risk Officer for two and one half years.
Prior to his current role, Rob served as Chief Information Officer for the NC Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, NC Office of State Human Resources, and NC Department of Insurance dating back to January 2013. In those roles, Rob conducted the business of information technology as a strategic member of executive leadership teams. His operational duties included cyber risk management, budgeting, procurement, vendor contracts management, staff development, and approval/monitoring of service level agreements. His strategic activities include the development and maintenance of application and project portfolios, design and maintenance of agency strategic plans, and oversight of consolidated service delivery to the business.
Between 1998 and 2013, Rob served in state government IT leadership roles for the NC Division of Public Health and NC State University Libraries. Additionally, Rob served in the NC Air National Guard as a Logistics Readiness Officer from August 1998 until his military retirement in April 2015 after a combined twenty-five years of service and two deployments to the Middle East in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Prior to August 1998, Rob served on active duty with the United States Air Force as a Communications and Computer Systems Programmer.
Rob earned his associate’s degree in Computer Science from the Community College of the Air Force in 1996, his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Business Administration from Troy University in 1998, his Master of Business Administration degree from East Carolina University in 2008, and his Certified Government Chief Information Officer certification from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2015. He is married with four children and enjoys traveling, piloting, attending sporting events, and family time.

Joseph Morris is the deputy chief innovation officer for the Center for Digital Government 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.

Ryan is the Vice President of Threat Intelligence for Unit 42, a cybersecurity consulting group that brings together world-class threat researchers and elite incident responders to protect enterprises against the latest cyberthreats. His area of expertise is detecting and identifying actors and groups conducting cyber-crime and cyber-espionage operations. Ryan is a contributing author to the book Cyber Fraud: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures, and primary author of Cyber Security Essentials.

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.

Glenn Poplawski has more than 25 years of business experience, including 5 years in systems engineering and technical analysis for the federal government and 15 years working in the private information technology sector. Glenn has been with the state of North Carolina for more than 15 years and serves as the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s State Solutions Director.
In this role, Glenn leads the Solutions Delivery Division, which includes both the Enterprise and NCDIT Project Management offices; Business Analysis, Solutions Architecture, and Software Quality Assurance services. In addition, Glenn oversees the IT staff of several state agencies.
Glenn imparts on his team the importance of collaboration and leveraging the skills and experience of agency staff to move the state forward. He has fostered this mentality with the creation of a Digital Transformation Program that approaches transformation through three lenses – people, process and technology, with people being the most important factor for success.

Tony currently serves as a government technology strategist for state and local governments in the south-central region of the U.S for Dell Technologies. Previously, Tony served as a technology leader with the state of Florida with more than 28 years. In the past 15 years, Tony has held the roles of Executive Director of the Southwood Shared Resource Center, Chief Information Officer in both the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Revenue. During Tony’s distinguished career he led large, complex strategic enterprise transformational initiatives to include datacenter consolidation of state IT resources within three state datacenters, $120 million-dollar Child Support Management System, $110 million-dollar Tax and Revenue Management system (SUNTAX) as well as lead the largest Cloud migration initiatives to date in Florida State Government. Tony earned his bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Maryland (European Division). He served honorably in the United States Air Force and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. Tony is married to his high school sweetheart Candace and they have two children, Nicola and Quinton. For more detail see: linkedin.com/in/tonypowelltally

Mr. Sandeep Sinha is part of Insight’s Digital Innovation National Sales Team and leads Insight’s Smart City and IoT initiatives. He is responsible for driving strategy and execution of Genetec partnership along with other ecosystem partners to deliver business outcomes for our customers. Mr. Sinha has worked with both large companies and startups such as Microsoft, Motorola and Trustonic. He has a Masters in Computer Science and an MBA from University of Chicago.

Beth C. Stagner currently serves as the City of Raleigh’s Enterprise Application and Data Director with the IT department. Beth has served in numerous roles within the department over her tenure with the City which started in the geographic information services section in 1993. She has also filled the interim CIO role twice from anywhere between 8 to 22 months. The Enterprise Application and Data division manages enterprise software platforms and integrations across the City’s technology portfolio. She has spent her entire career working across all city departments on various projects and continues to leverage enterprise solutions to help city staff work more efficiently to inform and engage citizens and City stakeholders.
Beth received a B.S. in Architecture from University of Virginia. She received certifications in GIS, FEMA NIMS and ITIL.
She is married to Ryan, a captain in the City of Raleigh Fire Department. Beth enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, their 11-year old son Ethan, and their 1 year old German Shepherd Rocket. She’s an avid runner which allows her to relax and take a break from technology.

Bindu Sundaresan is a highly accomplished Senior Cyber Security Executive with over 21 years of experience with expertise in security program leadership, security program management, compliance programs, security control strategies, security product and service evaluations, security and control frameworks, Risk Management, and security business. She possesses a unique blend of technical, leadership, and relationship management skills and has helped establish enterprise vision, strategies, and programs for Fortune 50 companies.
She is a Director within the AT&T Cybersecurity business and provides both strategic and tactical cybersecurity consulting services to businesses as well as government agencies covering a broad spectrum of offerings from compliance and risk management to technical services for emerging technologies such as IoT, cloud, and mobility. She holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Information Security and Telecommunications. She is a published author in various industry journals and is an active blogger in the AT&T blogging platform.

Teri Takai is vice president 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.
Teri is a member of several industry advisory boards. She 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.

Mike Taylor is the Deputy County Manager - CIO for Pitt County Government. As Chief Information Officer he is responsible for providing information technology service functions to the organization. As Deputy County Manager, he serves on the senior management team with direct oversight for the Office of Public Information and Pitt Area Transit System. He Chairs the County's self-funded Health Insurance Steering Committee, and is Coordinator for Quality Improvement. Mike is the liaison with the Board of Public Health. Prior to joining Pitt County Government, Mike worked in the private sector for eleven years with GlaxoSmithkline as a Senior Manager in the Manufacturing IT Division, overseeing projects for the design, development and integration of traditional business and manufacturing systems. Mike and his teams have been recognized for their accomplishments through two GSK President’s Awards for Excellence, CIO 100, Government Computer News IT Leadership, CIO Decisions Midmarket Leadership and consistently places in the Government Technology Digital Counties Survey awards.

Jessie Tenenbaum, PhD, is the Chief Data Officer (CDO) for North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, Dr. Tenenbaum is responsible for the development and oversight of departmental data governance and strategy to enable data-driven policy for improving the health and well-being of North Carolinians. Dr. Tenenbaum is also a faculty member in Duke University's Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics. Nationally, Dr. Tenenbaum has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Biomedical Informatics and as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). She currently serves on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Library of Medicine.

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.

Matt Walk is Director of State and Local Government for Snowflake. He has 24 years of enterprise sales leadership covering areas of security and networking, enterprise data analytics, and cloud platforms for companies such as Cisco, SAS, and now, Snowflake. Matt's a tech enthusiast who loves partnering with government leaders and agencies to leverage the Snowflake Data Cloud to power digital transformation, improve citizen services, and drive innovation and efficiency.

Mark Weatherford is a globally recognized information security professional with experience at some of the world’s largest public- and private-sector organizations. He was appointed as the first deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity at DHS in the Obama administration and was chief information security officer for the state of Colorado and for the state of California under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the energy industry, he was VP and chief security officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, where he worked daily with Congress and electric utilities across North America on cybersecurity standards, regulations, and policy issues. He also served as a principal at The Chertoff Group and was VP and chief cybersecurity strategist at vArmour. Most recently, he was the VP and global information security strategist at Booking Holdings, the world’s largest online travel business with offices and employees in almost every country in the world and whose major companies include Booking, Priceline, Kayak, OpenTable and Agoda.

Todd Young has held positions of CIO for a SC State Agency, Project Manager for a Public Safety software company, and a Project Manager for a School System Data Warehouse company. Todd graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Geography/GIS.