Jill K Baber currently serves the State of North Dakota as Product Owner for NDIT's Data Science & Analytics Team, where she assists agencies in the art and science of data-driven decisions making, providing guidance on how both AI and traditional analytics tools can be effectively leveraged to support data-driven decision making. Jill holds a Master's Degree in Public Health and has worked for 14 years in the domain of data, as a data scientist, epidemiologist, and clinical researcher. Her experience in governance started in her public health days, when she chaired a national data quality workgroup for health care visit surveillance data and was an elected state representative on the governance group for the National Syndromic Surveillance Program. She is the founder of the SoND Data Stewardship Initiative: an interagency collaborative of individuals focused on excellent and acceptable standards for data use, and is a member of the NDIT Data Governance Workgroup. Jill is a passionate advocate for data literacy—a foundational concept for an AI-driven future—and loves to explore use of machine learning models for novel applications in state data. 

Shila Blend, PhD, MSN, is the Health Information Technology Director, who is responsible for overseeing the North Dakota Health Information Network, the health information exchange for North Dakota. She is currently a member of the federal Health Information Technology Advisory Committee.  She is a board-certified cardiac vascular registered nurse and received her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing with a Health Systems focus from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Mary.  Shila brings more than a decade of experience leading people and projects in the health information technology space, including patient care and implementation of software and statewide programs.  Her leadership experience includes significant stakeholder engagement with state, local and tribal partners as well as health care associations, emergency management and legislative members.  Shila is a systems thinker passionate about improving our rural health care systems.  

Alisa Cook brings extensive experience in strategic communications, project management, and stakeholder engagement. As the Lead of Strategic Communications, Alisa excels in developing and executing comprehensive communication strategies that drive transparency and foster collaboration within the organization. 
Alisa has become the go-to person for high-priority projects, consistently delivering high-quality results. Alisa is known for taking on challenging responsibilities that others may avoid, demonstrating strong leadership and a commitment to excellence.
Alisa holds a master’s degree in education, and their professional journey includes roles in both the public and private sectors, providing a broad perspective and valuable insights. Beyond their professional achievements, Alisa is deeply committed to personal growth and community involvement. She enjoys reading suspense thrillers, staying active with CrossFit, and spending quality time camping with her husband and two children. Alisa also volunteers as the PTO president at her son's school.

Emily brings more than 18 years of experience in communications strategy, writing, graphic design, photography, and social media management. As Director of Communications for the North Dakota State Auditor’s Office, she crafts communications to reach a diverse group of stakeholders across the state. Her work has earned her multiple awards from the State Advertising Federation and the National Association of Government Communicators for excellence in communications, and she was recognized as Communicator of the Year in 2023 from the Great Plains chapter of IABC.
She holds an Associate in Applied Science in Graphic Design, an Associate in Arts degree, as well as a Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in business communications. She has served in various board positions including service for the International Association of Business Communicators, BSC National Alumni Association, and volunteers with numerous non-profits in her community.

Jim Edman is the Cybersecurity Coordinator for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in South Dakota. As Cybersecurity Coordinator, Jim works with critical industry sectors across the state on cyber risk management and improved cybersecurity hygiene.
Prior to joining CISA in 2021, Jim worked with South Dakota state government in the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications (BIT) with experience in applications development and networking technologies for state government, K-12 and Higher Education. Jim served as Chief Information Security Officer for the last 13 years. Establishing operational, strategic, and collaborative platforms to successfully safeguard constituent and government data. He also served as the Broadband Manager for the ConnectSD project to bring high speed broadband to every South Dakotan. Other positions include Deputy Chief Information Officer and acting Chief Information Officer.
He enjoys reading, hunting pheasants, playing basketball, golf and doing all sorts of family activities.

As Chief Technology Officer, Craig Felchle is responsible for the vision and strategic direction for technology that enables and empowers North Dakota's state government, local government, educational entities, public safety, and broadband programs in our State.  His varied experience includes everything from the foundational core services that enable connectivity to hundreds of thousands of endpoints in our State to our advanced data, cloud, and citizen impacting platforms and services.  He is passionate about data driven decision making and is leading efforts to visualize and analyze the causes of friction within State Government.  Craig has been a member of NDIT since 2007 and has been actively involved with North Dakota State Government since 2004.  
Craig is a born and raised North Dakotan and enjoys many of the outdoor and sportsman activities our State has to offer.  He is actively involved in his children’s youth sports and loves to spend time with his family.
Craig is passionate to continue leading North Dakota in its transformational journey to ensure we have the best and most effective and efficient technologies for our customers and our citizens. He believes strongly in leading by example and being a true servant leader to the State of North Dakota.

Darin Hanson is the Homeland Security Director at the ND Dept of Emergency Services and Governor’s Homeland Security Advisor.  In that role, he is responsible for coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters.  Prior to that, he served as the Critical Infrastructure Program and Security Manager for the ND Dept. of Emergency Services, while attached to the North Dakota State & Local Intelligence Center (NDSLIC).  Retired from the MT Army National Guard, he has over 20 years of Military Police, Military Intelligence, and corporate security experience.  Mr. Hanson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Management as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Mary.  He has also completed a Master’s in Homeland Security from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, earning the Mark Carr Esprit De Corps Award. He serves as a Board Member for the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), a member of NEMAs Homeland Security & Legislative Committees, ex-officio Board Member of the ND Infragard chapter, and as a member of the ND School Safety Partners working group.  Darin lives in Mandan with his wife Lynn and daughter Delaney, where he enjoys camping, fishing and hunting when isn’t attending one of Delaney’s many activities.

Greg has been a part of the organization since 2005 and has led the division since 2014.  He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration as well as a Master’s of Business Administration in Business Management.  He is also a certified Technology Business Manager.  Greg has served several roles within NDIT’s administration division, most recently as the Deputy CIO since 2022 before being named Interim CIO in June 2024.  He has had the pleasure of building strong administrative and leadership teams to support the needs of the agency. Greg spends spare time with family and friends being as active as possible.  Fishing, hunting, and playing softball are among his primary passions with cooking, listening to music and playing cards filling in any time left. 

With over ten years of experience in leading data and analytics projects in various sectors, I am currently the Assistant Director of Reporting and Analytics at the North Dakota University System (NDUS), where I collaborate with other departments to identify and generate potential data initiatives and provide strategic and tactical leadership to ensure that data and analytic needs relevant to NDUS are met.
As a passionate advocate for leadership development, I have a Master of Science in Applied Economics, a Master of Business Administration, and a certificate in Leadership Principles from Harvard Business School Online. I have also completed several nano degrees in AI programming and deep learning and have won multiple awards for my innovative use of AI and data in public service and education. I thrive in environments that employ a strategic vision to leverage resources and maximize potential. Every challenge is an opportunity to engage, empower, and positively impact everyone I am privileged to work with.

Retired 26-year Army veteran Rob Keller isn't one to shy away from a challenge. After a successful career in journalism, public relations, and military public affairs service, he found himself at the forefront of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protest as the lead Public Information Officer. During this 234-day international event, Rob managed a team of over 15 PIOs, engaging over 400 media engagements from around the world.
Rob's diverse background prepared him perfectly. From his TV news experience to FEMA disaster response and multiple deployments overseas, he had the skills and resilience to navigate this complex situation. He continued to leverage this expertise, serving as the Deputy PIO for North Dakota's COVID-19 response and even co-founding a 501c3 non-profit to train  Public Information Officers from local, state, tribal and federal agencies across North Dakota.
Rob is now semi-retired, but his dedication to crisis communication remains strong. He continues to train future PIOs via the FEMA Basic Public Information Office program, having trained over 600 practitioners.  He is also a member of the ND Dept of Emergency Services “Emergency Management Support Team (EMST) as a quick response PIO.

Kerri Kraft is the Work-based Learning Program Coordinator for the North Dakota Department of Commerce. She has held this position since 2020. Her background with the State extends over 18 years of grant management and administration, and program policy and development. More specifically workforce enhancement grants funded by the state legislation for the past 10 years. She works with a diverse group of higher education from universities, tribally controlled community colleges, to two-year colleges. She also works with private industry on funding opportunities for apprenticeships, internships, and work-based learning experiences.

Madhavi Marasinghe, chief information officer (CIO), assumed the position of UND CIO in early spring of 2017. She comes to UND from NDUS CTS where she served as the director of enterprise services.
With over 20 years of experience in higher education, her experience includes strategic planning, successfully leading multiple large IT initiatives, system integration and consolidation, and collaborating with various entities to find the most cost effective solutions for technology needs.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in management (information) systems from Missouri University of Science and Technology (MS&T) and a Master of Science in (higher) education leadership from UND.

Jason Mattheis is the Manager of Professional Learning & Outreach for NDIT-EduTech.  His Team works with teachers from around North Dakota on ways they can incorporate technology into their classrooms. The Team also provides professional development to help teachers earn a credential so they can teach Computer Science and Cybersecurity in their classrooms.  He has been with EduTech for six years and was previously an Information Technology Specialist on the Training and Outreach Team.  Prior to joining EduTech, Jason was a junior high and high school social studies and business education teacher for 16 years.  He also spent three of those years as a school district technology coordinator.

Hope Wedul is an experienced HR professional with a diverse background in both the private and public sectors. She has over 18 years of human resource experience and has successfully held both functional and strategic roles in Human Resources. Currently, she is an HR Business Partner for the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, where she works with a multitude of state agencies on engagement, employee relations, talent acquisition, and workforce planning initiatives.
Hope earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in management from the University of Mary. Hope is currently certified as Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from HRCI, and as a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). In 2023, Hope was recognized by the Central Dakota Human Resources Association as the 2023 Member of the Year in recognition of her time, dedication and commitment to the Association and to the Human Resources profession.

Kimberly Weis became the Chief Data Officer (CDO) for North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) in January 2024. In this role, she is responsible for shaping how NDIT and State Agencies leverage data to drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and achieve better outcomes for stakeholders.
Weis was born and raised in Bismarck, ND. She earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology in Minnesota before returning to ND in 2004. At that time, she started her career in public service, working at the North Dakota Department of Health as an epidemiologist. She later transitioned to Human Services, serving as the Assistant Director of the data analytics team. In 2019, Weis moved to the Data Division of NDIT, and in 2020, Weis became the Data and Analytics Director within NDIT.
Weis has a passion for all things data and is committed to using data to help enhance the health and well-being of the people of North Dakota. Outside of work, Weis values time spent with her family. A favorite pastime is weekend day trips to hidden gems throughout North Dakota.

Ben currently serves the State of North Dakota as Data Transformation Manager for HHS's Office of Transformation, where he assists divisions within HHS in establishing sound data strategies, providing guidance on data management practices, and helping to bring an HHS wide data governance plan to help support data-driven decision making. Ben has worked for 10+ years in the domain of data and identity management for both state governments and education services. His experience in governance started when developing data management implementation plans EDU agencies around the globe in their migration to cloud based enterprise platforms.