Stephen currently serves as the Chief Innovation Officer and Budget Director for the Mayor’s Office at the City of San José. He is a Legal Technologist, Policymaker, Academic, and Attorney. His work includes leading Innovation-based Economic Development, ensuring the responsible use of AI and novel technologies, forming public-private partnerships to increase the quality of life of residents, and playing a vital role in developing the annual budget for 1 million residents. Stephen has also been a fellow at CodeX - The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics since 2019 where he has published scholarship on the regulations and ethics around domestic and international Surveillance AI use by governments.

Alex is a Bay Area political veteran, working on strategy and communications since 1989. He has significant public sector experience, serving four elected officials in the Bay Area and in Washington, DC. After leaving government service, Alex founded the public affairs practice at the public relations firm Reputation, LLC in 2001, founded the full-service public affairs firm Barbary Coast Consulting in 2003, merged Barbary Coast in 2016 with a competing firm to form Lighthouse Public Affairs, and in 2022, was one of six co-founders of Progress Public Affairs. Alex has taught graduate students at University of San Francisco and Golden Gate University on ethical advocacy practices, regularly speaks to civic and community organizations to help them better understand political outcomes and is a licensed private investigator. He and his wife Priya, host of KQED Newsroom, are raising their two children in Strawberry.

Juma Crawford has been a leader in the philanthropic, non-profit, and education space for over twenty years. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation where his focus is building public private partnerships that lead to innovative solutions at scale for the most vulnerable communities in Oakland.
Previously, Juma was President of the Lewis Family Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Kensington Investment Company, one of the leading private real estate development and investment firms in Boston, where he oversaw a $270.2 million dollar investment portfolio of both private and corporate giving. In that role, Juma oversaw the dissemination on average of $11.8M new grant monies every year to high performing non-profits, schools and institutions of higher education and led the implementation of the $15M CollegeWorks initiative that more than doubled the 4-year college graduation rate of public high school students from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan.
Juma believes that philanthropy must invest more at the grassroots level, where innovation happens, and be more proximate to the communities and people it aims to empower. He is a graduate of Amherst College, Harvard University, and Boston College Law School. Juma is a proud Bay Area native and lives with his wife and two young children in East Oakland.

Aaron Deacon is the founder and managing director of KC Digital Drive, a nonprofit civic organization with a mission to make Kansas City a digital leader and help cities adapt to disruptive technology change. He works with mayors, entrepreneurs and civic leaders in Kansas City and around the world to help build ecosystems that connect infrastructure, emerging technology and social impact. He combines a high-level strategic approach with boots-on-the-ground project implementation and management in smart cities, civic tech, digital inclusion, digital health, and education. He earned a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Dallas.

Trade and Investment Commissioner, hub.brussels

Eric is the head of hub.brussels San Francisco Office since 2011. Their primary mission is to support Brussels entrepreneurs and scaleups during their expansion into the US market and help US companies set up their European offices in Brussels. Prior to joining hub.brussels, Eric had sales and business development roles in various European Tech startups with a presence in the US including ActivCard and Vasco Data Security.

Antonella is a product and innovation leader on Exygy's open-source Bloom Housing affordable housing portal. Through product strategy, user research, service design, and complex stakeholder management, she integrates and elevates different voices, building equitable products for underserved communities. She is determined to bring change to critical problems of our society, including the housing crisis, access to health care, and racist practices in the tech sector.
Antonella has 15+ years of global experience leading innovative initiatives for non-profits, international organizations, and local and federal governments in Argentina, Australia, Latin America, and the United States. She holds a Masters in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and is a CORO Northern California Women in Leadership.

Chris Haller serves as the CEO of Konveio, where his background in local government and stakeholder engagement inspired him to re-envision document engagement for government agencies. Chris's experience spanning urban planning and digital design is the cornerstone of Konveio's mission: to empower community leaders in their quest to plan for a better tomorrow.

Jake Harris is a Principal at DBL Partners, which he joined in 2018. DBL Partners is a double bottom line venture capital firm and pioneer of the impact investing category in venture capital. DBL is the largest impact investor in the venture capital asset class by AUM and has been investing for over 19 years across four funds with the belief that a company’s financial
performance (The First Bottom Line) and positive social impact (The Second Bottom Line) not only complement each other but enhance each other to drive performance and success. DBL has invested in a number of leading impact and sustainability companies, including Tesla, SolarCity, Farmers Business Network, SpaceX, R-Zero, Planet Labs, Mapbox, The Boring Company, and Airspace.
Prior to DBL, Jake was a Venture Partner at Contrary Capital, a decentralized university-focused venture firm. Previously, Jake served in various business development roles with Plan International, securing large-scale contracts and grants for high-impact projects throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He supported the design and development of projects, impact measurement, senior staff recruitment, and deployment of technology in areas such as education, health, economic development, and anti-human trafficking.
Jake received his B.A. in political science from Vassar College, and his MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Danielle is currently an Executive Government Advisor for Amazon Web Services (AWS) helping public sector customers on their digital transformation journey. Prior to joining Amazon in 2017, she worked in public procurement for over 20 years, including higher education and local government. As Chief Procurement Officer for King County, Washington, she led a $3 billion procure-to-pay organization and was responsible for sponsoring multiple Lean Six Sigma transformation projects that reduced cycle time and improved the customer experience. She led procurement technology and policy modernizations at multiple organizations and served for over a decade in leadership roles with NIGP-Institute for Public Procurement, Rocky Mountain Government Purchasing Association, and Colorado Municipal League. She is a Certified Public Procurement Official and earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration.

Anthony has over 10 years of working with and for state and local governments on technology concerns. He has served as director of business development for the National Association of Counties. He has developed and served as lead for NACo Smarter Counties Summits and CIO Forums. He is a battle-tested serial entrepreneur.
In his spare time, Anthony enjoys running, grilling and supporting NYC sports teams. He also enjoys international travel and is a well below average golfer.

Alex Johnson is the President of InState Partners, leading a dynamic and experienced team of state affairs professionals from across the country. Offering comprehensive state government affairs and strategic counsel, he works to ensure that clients are well informed about state political environments and current policy issues.
Mr. Johnson has worked in politics for over 20 years working on campaigns, PACs and political committees. Previously, Mr. Johnson served as the founding director of both the Republican Legislative Committee and the Republican Lieutenant Governor Association. More recently, he served as senior vice president at FP1 Strategies and founded a boutique state affairs firm.
Mr. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Marquette University. He currently serves on the executive committee of the board for the America Council of Young Political Leaders.

Cristina is the Innovation Architect, more formally known as the Senior Innovation Strategist. Cristina helps oversee the City’s portfolio of innovation projects, including innovation training, public/private partnerships, and the Impact Partner Grant.
With degrees from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cristina brings expertise in behavioral science, entrepreneurship, and human-centered design to advance the City’s goals. Outside of work, you can find Cristina snuggling her two dogs, eating tacos, or strolling around First Friday.

Nick Lyell is CivStart’s Chief Impact Officer, bringing a range of expertise in media, narrative, and visual communications strategy and tactics along with a familiarity with both local government and civic technology communities. He loves to leverage technology to help governments make the largest impact with their communities.
Nick previously worked at ReThink Media, a non-profit convening organizations on communications strategies for state & local democracy-advocacy campaigns. Before that, he helped build out the Research Department and, later, digital communications at the National Association of Counties (NACo), elevating NACo's overall brand and position as a thought-leader in the local government space.
Nick is a part-time independent filmmaker. His most recent work is False Alarm (www.falsealarmfilm.com). Nick also reads way too much science fiction and joins any rec sports he can drag his friends into.

Scott oversees sales and strategy related to state and local government entities at Verint. He holds dual degrees in Business Accounting and Economics and a master’s in business administration. Scott has over 20 years’ experience in sales, marketing, technology delivery, and support in public and commercial sectors at a global level.

Deputy Chief of Innovation, e.Republic

Joe Morris is the Deputy Chief Innovation Officer for e.Republic 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.

Andrew Ngui is a visionary systems builder. A strategic innovation catalyst, he engineers radical inclusivity and unity across silos. He spearheads human-centered movements to garden innovation and helps bridge gaps in ecosystems at scale. He works collaboratively with national and regional leaders to build innovation and entrepreneurship capacity: new venture creation, corporate innovation, and community development to improve economic performance in the Greater Peoria region and beyond.

Sarah is a nonprofit management and partnerships professional passionate about helping governments most effectively serve their citizens. For the past decade, she has worked for organizations with a range of missions from ending world hunger to improving government data and transparency. As a Co-Founder and the Chief Strategy Officer, Sarah is excited to help governments innovate by partnering with startups that make the sector more inclusive.

Tara Palacios is the Director of BizLaunch, Arlington’s Small Business and Entrepreneurial Assistance Network in Arlington County, Virginia. Ms. Palacios founded the BizLaunch program in 2002 to help diverse entrepreneurs to successfully launch, grow and expand their businesses in the County. Since its inception the program has outreached to over 75,000 business owners through sponsored workshops, seminars, and one-on-one counseling sessions.
Ms. Palacios has over 30 years of experience in Marketing and Business Development at a variety of for-profit firms: a health maintenance organization, an IT software developer, a financial institution, and a uranium enricher before joining Arlington County in 2001. Ms. Palacios has received numerous awards for her work and dedication to small businesses from the US Small Business Administration, the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity to name a few.
Ms. Palacios received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and her graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. She is also a certified Public Manager through George Washington University.

An award winning government professional, Dr. Peter Pirnejad specializes in modernizing government operations, citizen engagement, operational efficiency, civic technology, and collaborative governance. He is a skilled community-builder and organizational leader best known for his leadership in civic technology, performance dashboards, and leading sustainable practices.

Jenny Poon is a serial entrepreneur and founder of HUUB and CO+HOOTS. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees and a self-made entrepreneur, she speaks, writes and advocates daily to for safer entrepreneur ecosystems for women and people of color. She currently is CEO of HUUB, a data-driven digital platform for governments to streamline delivery of small business support services. Before HUUB, Jenny founded the first coworking space in Phoenix, AZ. Which she grew to 2 locations, created thousands of jobs, serving more than 1000 entrepreneurs monthly. Her over a decade of experience in supporting entrepreneurs through CO+HOOTS and her experience as a daughter of small business owners, is what drives her work with HUUB and equity building today.
She contributes regularly to Kauffman Foundation, Business Journals and Arizona Republic/USA Today. She currently serves as an appointed member of the National Women's Business Council, a federal bi-partisan council that provides policy recommendations to the President, the U.S. Congress, and to the SBA on issues of importance to women business owners and entrepreneurs.

Frank is a Director at MergerTech Advisors, a technology-focused investment bank. MergerTech has a practice area specifically focused on GovTech M&A and has completed transactions for a number of GovTech 100 clients. The company also publishes a quarterly market report that Frank oversees.
Frank has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry as entrepreneur, advisor and investor. Frank is passionate about technology because, as Arthur C. Clarke aptly once put it: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.
Prior to joining MergerTech, Frank worked in Brazil as an investment consultant focusing on global asset allocation strategies as well as private placements. Before that he was part of the start-up team at an advanced web analytics solution providing opinion mining and sentiment analysis. Frank continues to be an active advisor and investor in various technology projects.
Frank studied Political Science at the Institut d’Études Politiques (sciences-Po) in France and studied International Relations, Economics and Finance at the London School of Economics (LSE) where he received a BSc with Honors.

Marjorie Reed is an Associate at InState Partners where she focuses on the firm’s economic development, public policy and public finance initiatives at the state and local levels. Prior to joining InState Partners, she was a Project Assistant in the Intellectual Property Litigation division of Latham & Watkins. Marjorie previously served as an Associate Director in the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Marjorie received her B.A. in Economics with a minor in Development Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Amaad is an experienced government/public affairs leader who has spent a decade committed to addressing complex and challenging issues through innovation, inclusion and strategic advocacy. He enjoys creating possibilities where others see problems. Policy Wonk, passionate democracy-oriented practitioner and equity focused.

Parth Shah is the CEO and Co-Founder of Polimorphic, the leader in AI tools and workflow automation for local government. Parth is an MIT engineer and ran the MIT Machine Intelligence Community. Before Polimorphic, he worked at Nvidia working on Machine Learning and was a founding engineer at a startup building data analytics tools to power smart cities.

Patrick Shannon is the Co-Leader of the California Government Law & Policy Group in the firm’s Sacramento office. Patrick focuses his practice on government relations and administrative law before the California legislature and state regulatory and enforcement agencies. He has deep experience in matters relating to financial services, health care, transportation, insurance, environmental regulation, tax, and government contracts.
He has served as outside government relations legal counsel and a top policy strategist in California, principally at the state but also local level, for more than two decades for several of the world’s largest financial institutions, health care companies, and transportation conglomerates.
Patrick has practiced government relations law and otherwise worked in government relations since 1992. He previously headed the firm’s Silicon Valley government practice before founding Government Relations Counsel in 2008. During his prior tenure in state government, he served as Gov. Pete Wilson's legislative advisor and liaison on business issues and on all civil and criminal justice matters, overseeing six cabinet-level agency legislative programs. In addition to his senior policy advisory work, Patrick has held executive positions in two technology companies, founded his own corporate affairs consulting firm, and practiced securities law at an international law firm.

Cody is responsible for sales and strategy for the Public Sector West and Midwest Regions. He has a history of successfully delivering solutions to Verint’s AMER customers, with a focus on Open CCaaS and citizen engagement solutions. He has extensive sales and business experience helping clients solve challenging problems and business issues.

Tyler Svitak has built his career improving societal problems at the intersection of technology, innovation, and partnership. As Executive Director of the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, he is an ecosystem builder and entrepreneur that has grown a new model for public-private partnership. He’s been involved with more than 100 smart cities projects across his career in government and non-profit organizations, including at the City and County of Denver and Colorado Department of Transportation.

Bianca Vissers is the Foreign Direct Investment Officer at hub.brussels in New York. Her role is centered on assisting U.S. companies in navigating the European market through Brussels, a task she accomplishes through the establishment of strategic partnerships, the organization of multi-day events and conducting sector-specific market analyses within both the United States and Belgium.
Bianca holds a bachelor's degree in international business management from Artevelde University of Applied Sciences in Belgium.

Sehar Wahla has been with Carahsoft since 2014 and is the Director, Partner Business Development for the AWS business. In this role, she leads a team that is responsible for partner recruitment, onboarding, and overall growth and strategy of the channel-led business of AWS sales. As a senior leader on the cloud team at Carahsoft, Sehar has also had an influential role in developing the overall Carahsoft cloud strategy and program around proactive sales and marketing; business development; billing and operations; partner recruitment and development; and overall revenue growth of the cloud business.
In her time at Carahsoft, Sehar has managed hundreds of active reseller partners, building marketing, lead generation, and enablement programs to support the biggest vendor relationships for the company.

Sophia Zheng is the Founder/CEO of Bludot—a Govtech startup building technology solutions for local economic development. Since launching in 2020, Bludot has expanded to 150+ communities across 29 states and Canada. Bludot's solutions empower cities and counties to better manage, support, and grow their local businesses, from elevating internal processes to launching community-wide incentive programs via Open Rewards. Bludot is recognized on Govtech100, funded by the Govtech Fund and Alchemist Accelerator, and awarded by USDA NIFA SBIR grants.