Phil Bertolini is the 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. 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.

As Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the state of Tennessee, Curtis Clan leads the State of Tennessee’s security program. He is able to utilize his vast technical knowledge in networking and information security as well as his leadership skills developed over his career. With this knowledge and skills, Curtis keeps the State well ahead of any threats to the state information technology assets.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Kentucky University, Curtis worked his way up the Information Technology ranks through positions at Fort Knox, Keesler Air Force Base, Fort Campbell, and finally the State of Tennessee. In addition, he has received his Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP) certification.
During his 23-year career at the State, Curtis has held multiple key positions in Information technology. Positions held being network engineer, engineering manager, director of network and finally in 2015 was named Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
As CISO, Curtis has expanded the capabilities of the security program and drastically reduced the risk to the State.
Curtis believes in a strong work ethic, which he learned during his upbringing in a very small, but industrious farming community
Curtis is a dedicated father to his young son Hunter.

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.

Building on his former role as enterprise architect for the state of Iowa, Chris serves as a trusted advisor to state leaders. He has helped numerous states modernize systems, migrate to the cloud, automate workflows, and deliver impactful services. Chris is a proud native Iowan, actively involved in the Boys & Girls Club and coaches youth judo.

Dormain leads Product Marketing and Content Strategy for VMware Tanzu. She has spoken at many events such as GlueCon, SpringOne Platform, CF Summit, Monktoberfest, MonkiGras, and numerous other industry events. Before VMware she was Pivotal’s Senior Director of Platform Ecosystem, including RabbitMQ, and Customer Marketing. Previously, she was Director of Product Marketing for Mobile and Pivotal Data Suite. Before Pivotal, she was Director of Platform Marketing at Riverbed Technology. She has also spent over 5 years as a technology investment analyst, closely following enterprise infrastructure software companies and industry trends. Dormain holds a B. A. in History from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Keith Durbin was named CIO and Director of Metro Government’s Information Technology Department in 2009. Since then he has led technology strategy for the government and co-chaired Metro’s Smart City strategy Connected Nashville released in 2018. Immediately prior to Metro he worked for HCA IT&S and served as the elected Metropolitan Council Member for District 18.

John Evans serves as a Chief Technology Advisor (CTA) for State & Local Government & Education (SLED) at World Wide Technology (WWT).
In this role, Evans engages with clients on strategy, innovation and transformation to develop and deliver solutions that are tailor-made for business in government and education. He is a highly consultative and knowledgeable technology advisor focused on achieving tangible operational and business outcomes for WWT’s customers at enterprise scale.
Prior to joining WWT, Evans served as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Deputy Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the State of Maryland, where he helped lead statewide technology and security initiatives. Evans brings over 15 years of technology expertise with extensive experience with security, cloud, and mission critical applications with a primary focus on the SLED market.
Prior to his role within the State of Maryland, Evans worked in various executive-level, program management and network operation positions for organizations such as ManTech, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Secure Network Systems and Vigilant Watch Integration. Evans is also an Adjunct Professor – Graduate School, Cybersecurity for University of Maryland University College.

Kirke Everson is the lead principal for KPMG’s US Government Intelligent Automation Practice. Kirke has extensive experience in leading large programs supporting technology enablement, intelligent automation, information systems security, information technology risk management, business process reengineering and financial management across Federal, state, and local government. He holds multiple certifications (PMP, CISSP, CISA, CGFM, CGEIT, CRISC) and has published multiple thought leadership papers and articles. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and events on the subject of AI and automation. Kirke was awarded the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation in support of efforts to streamline and improve the management of the National Intelligence Program and is also recognized as a Low-Code50 thought leader via independent research from Influencer50, Inc.

Chris Fears serves as a Management Consultant in the State of Tennessee’s internal consulting group, the Office of Customer Focused Government. In CFG, Chris manages the Governor’s Management Fellowship Program and also serves as a project manager on the state’s premier workplace flexibility program, Alternative Workplace Solutions (AWS). Over recent months, Chris has led the initiative to evolve AWS to meet the needs of a more flexible work environment of the future. Through the systematic collection of feedback from customers and partners alike, Chris spearheaded the initiation of an enterprise-wide strategic plan designed to turn lessons learned over the course of the past year into actionable goals and objectives designed to inform how Tennessee state government shifts toward the hybrid work model.

Dr. Mary-Margaret Fill currently serves as the Deputy State Epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health and has served as a leader of the State’s COVID-19 response since January 2020. She received her undergraduate degree (BS) in Microbiology and a minor in Security and Intelligence from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She then earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Mercer University School of Medicine in 2011, where she was inducted into both the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Gold Humanism Society. Dr. Fill completed dual-residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and is board certified in both specialties. Following residency, she served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and as a member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative. Dr. Fill has worked on foodborne, waterborne, vaccine-preventable and healthcare-associated disease outbreaks, emerging pathogens, and overarching strategy for communicable disease surveillance and informatics initiatives.

Brandon O. Gibson was named Chief Operating Officer for the State of Tennessee in May 2020. Gibson previously served as Senior Advisor to Governor Lee, working primarily on rural and criminal justice initiatives.
Prior to joining Governor Lee’s administration, Gibson served on the Tennessee Court of Appeals for over four years after being appointed to the court by Governor Bill Haslam. She served as the chair of the Board of Judicial Conduct and co-chaired the Tennessee Bar Association’s Public Service Academy and Leadership Law program.
Prior to her service on the court, she practiced law in West Tennessee. A native of Dyersburg, Gibson earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in agribusiness from Mississippi State University and her law degree from Southern Methodist University.
Gibson serves on the board of directors of the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation and on the advisory council of Leadership Tennessee. She and her husband are the parents of one daughter and live on a farm in Crockett County.

20+ years of success spearheading business and technology solutions that accelerate digital transformation helping grow market share and improve customer retention strategies. Successful global consultative value selling to C-suite executives on modern technology, process automation initiatives and best practices to increase revenue, efficiencies and risk mitigation while accelerating digital solutions to market for customers.
Focus on cultivating relationships with Fortune 100/500 companies and collaborating with key enterprise stakeholders, both internally and externally, to translate business case imperatives into technology requirements and develop strategies that drive quantifiable results.

CISO for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for the last six years. Primarily responsible for overseeing Metro’s information security management program, including cyber risk management, incident response and information security awareness. Currently holds CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CEH and PCI-DSS ISA.

David is Director of Business Development for LexisNexis Risk Solutions responsible for working with State and Local government agencies helping to combat fraud, waste and abuse issues. David works with agencies in developing an understanding on the use of data and analytics to develop a clear picture of physical and digital identities. Using these physical and digital data elements allow agencies to obtain a 360 degree view of an identity.
Prior to LexisNexis he held various leadership positions with Xerox, IBM, EDS and others. David’s primary focus has been the application and deployment of technology solutions and managed services to address business needs. David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering Technology.

Adam C. Jarvis was named deputy director of the Office of Customer Focused Government (CFG) in October 2019, after serving as a senior management consultant with CFG for more than two years. As deputy, Adam works with the director to oversee the daily operations of the office and its team members and serves as the project manager on statewide initiatives to build a more efficient state government.
Adam manages project teams for the state’s accountability website, Transparent Tennessee; the Governor’s Management Fellowship program; and, state department strategic plan development, operational planning and performance monitoring. He also leads the development, implementation, and monitoring of the state’s efforts to strengthen shared service relationships and to establish meaningful performance indicators.
As a senior management consultant, Adam worked to improve customer access to information about state operations and state spending, develop solutions for state employee recruiting and retention, and his team shepherded state departments to increase performance and optimization.
Prior to joining CFG, Adam worked as the special assistant for strategy and engagement at the Tennessee Department of Health. During his employment with the state, he’s been selected to participate in several advanced leadership development programs.
Adam has also served on the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (2012 to 2014), the Board of Examiners for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (2014 to 2017) and currently serves as the Chair for the McNeilly Center for Children.
Adam is a founding member of Young Professionals in Government and served as the President and CEO for three years. Adam was recognized in 2018 with the Nashville Area Chamber’s Nashville Emerging Leaders Award in Government and Public Sector.
Adam completed his education in public health at East Tennessee State University in 2014. Adam is a native of Cookeville, Tennessee, and currently resides in Columbia with his wife, Alexandrea, and their dog, Hank.

Jerry Jones is the Executive Director of Enterprise Shared Solutions for the State of Tennessee. A passionate, highly technical leader, Jerry is long and well known for developing extraordinary solutions to acutely difficult challenges. Additionally, he is a natural born leader who generates excitement and passion among staff to rethink their own creative and technical limits.
Prior to this role, he served as the Chief Systems Architect for the State of Tennessee and also the Chief Information Officer for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. Jerry has worked in the information technology field for more than 25 years with experience in both the public and private sectors.
Jerry retired with 20 years of service from the Ohio Army National Guard with the rank of Major.

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.

A 16-year veteran of state government, Christin Lotz serves as the director of the Office of Evidence and Impact in the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration. Her previous state government roles include working as the Department of Revenue’s Research director and in the Policy Office for former Governor Bill Haslam. Throughout her career, Christin has been heavily involved in public policy-making and implementation, legislative affairs, and analytical research. In her current role, Christin is focused on using data to inform decision makers to ensure the state invests in programs that work for Tennesseans. She also serves as an appointee to the federal Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building.
Christin has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee at Martin and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Nashville School of Law.

Lauren May servers as a Senior Management Consultant in the State of Tennessee’s internal consulting office, Customer Focused Government (CFG). As a Senior Management Consultant, Lauren is responsible for a variety of enterprise-wide initiatives. Lauren is currently leading the state’s workforce flexibility program, Alternative Workplace Solutions (AWS). Lauren works with multiple state agencies helping them set strategies and successfully adopt AWS. AWS has produced successful outcomes at the state. These outcomes include but are not limited to, better customer service to our citizens, increased employee productivity, improved recruitment and retention of employees, modernized workspace use, and reduced total occupancy and real estate cost.

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.

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.

Serving Tennessee state government for over 43 years, Mike currently serves has the Chief Procurement Officer. He was appointed to that position July 1, 2013. Prior to that he served has the Deputy Chief Procurement Officer. Mike also served has an Assistant Commissioner for the State Department of General Services beginning in May, 2006. Under his direction are the Purchasing Division, Human Resources and Governor’s Office of Diversity Business Enterprise. He also served as the department’s Legislative Liaison and the Emergency Services Coordinator for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Beginning in January, 1992 Mike served as the Director of Postal Services. Prior to assuming that position he worked fourteen years in the Purchasing Division He is a 1974 graduate of Middle Tennessee State University. Mike is a 1993 graduate of the Tennessee Government Executive Institute and a 2014 graduate of LEAD Tennessee.

Mr. Robert K. Pucci (Bob) serves as the Executive Director for Intelligent Automation within Strategic Technology Solutions. He is responsible for the overall success of automating business processes across the state of Tennessee by leveraging various Intelligent Automation Tools.
Throughout his career, Bob has held positions such as Global/Regional CTO, as well as various other levels of Architecture and Technical Leadership positions. His primary objective is to “make a difference” within the industry and for his organization’s customers. He is equipped with a rare combination of Executive/Technical acumen, diverse solutioning across vendors and customized solutions, as well as a deep understanding of IT and Enterprise Architectures.
Bob earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from SUNY College of Technology and a Master of Science in Systems Design/Management from SUNY Binghamton. He is a Certified Distinguished IT Architect for The Open Group, currently working toward his AWS and Azure Certifications.

Doug Rogers is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for NIC. In this role, Mr. Rogers leads business development efforts across federal, state, and local government markets. Mr. Rogers is also responsible for helping define the strategic direction for NIC’s vertical solutions as well as identify and develop strategic partnerships.

Sadler has a BS in Mathematics, and a MS in Computer Science. He has spent most of his career doing mathematical modeling and producing analytical software. Most recently, he has been working on Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning applications using CUDA on nVidia GPU platforms for the State of Tennessee. Most of his off time is spent hearding US Naval Sea Cadets as the Nashville Unit Commander.

Vijay is currently the field CTO for Palo Alto Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions. Prior to acquisition, Vijay served as VP of Product for CloudGenix (now Prisma SDWAN).
Before joining CloudGenix in 2014, he spent 5 years in product management for Cisco and has over 20 years of experience in networking and security. Vijay holds a degree from Carnegie Mellon in Electrical Engineering and spent over 5 years serving as a Lieutenant in the US Navy.

Patrick Sheehan serves as the Director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency where he advises Governor Bill Lee on emergency management policy, leads the state’s efforts at preparing for and responding to disasters, and serves as the principal liaison between the State of Tennessee and FEMA.
Mr. Sheehan’s priorities for TEMA are to unify Tennessee’s emergency management enterprise (One Tennessee. One Emergency Management), improve the resilience and readiness of Tennessee’s counties and cities, increase operational speed, and improve coordination and information sharing across the state in all phases of emergency management.
Mr. Sheehan chairs Tennessee’s State Emergency Response Council, Vice-Chairs the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium’s Board of Directors, is a member of the Nashville JTTF, Tennessee’s Cyber Security Council, the Public Safety Advisory Council for FirstNet, and several additional emergency management, homeland security and public safety organizations. Sheehan is a graduate of the prestigious Executive Leaders Program offered by the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School/Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Eric Skomra leads State and Local Government customers in IT and business transformations by applying Dell Technologies solutions, 25+ years of public and private-sector IT experience, and a passion for excellent customer service. Eric served in the public sector as the CIO for the State of Ohio Medicaid Agency, CIO and CTO for two Ohio counties, and the CIO of an Ohio city. Eric built and ran three IT departments, two data centers, one disaster recovery center, and was recognized nationally as a "Broadband Hero" for his regional and statewide broadband expansion leadership. Eric has also led in Healthcare IT, supporting a physician's corporation, two hospitals and multiple clinics.

Jason Smith leads the Advisory Services team at Internetwork Engineering. He is a blogger and a strategic technologist. In his role as Senior IT Security and Compliance Consultant, he has worked with dozens of organizations to find innovative, cost effective solutions to complex technology problems. Holding multiple security and compliance certifications and a trainer for ISACA, Jason draws on more than twenty years of experience in IT, IT Security, and Compliance to provide a unique insight into challenging business problems. His degrees include Western Carolina University (BS – Criminal Justice) and East Carolina University (MS – Technology Systems-Information Security).

Deborah is an accomplished C-level influencer, with a broad range of experience in government, policy, cybersecurity, privacy and information technology. She is an experienced and highly respected thought leader who has held executive roles for over two decades. She recently retired from her position as New York state’s chief information security officer (CISO) after over 35 years of public service.
In that role, as part of New York state’s information technology transformation and consolidation initiative, she helped redesign how the state protects its data. As state CISO, she directed the state’s comprehensive cybersecurity governance, risk management and compliance program, providing strategic leadership and vision and assuring business-aligned, risk-based investments that maximized business opportunity and minimized cybersecurity risk. She also directed the NYS Cyber Command Center, hotline, procedures for reporting and response to cyberthreats and digital forensics.
She holds multiple industry certifications, including Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP); Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC); SANS Strategic Planning, Policy and Leadership (GSTRT) Global Information Assurance Certification; and Project Management Institute certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

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. 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.

As executive editor at e.Republic, Steve Towns 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.

Kim Wienzierl is the Chief Data Officer for the State of Tennessee where she is modernizing the data platform, deploying a common data governance framework and promoting data sharing. She also worked at Pekin Insurance where she was an Assistant Vice President and modernized their data platforms and operations. Prior to that she was the Enterprise Information Management (EIM) Division Manager at Caterpillar. She has over 35 years of experience in all aspects of IT.

Amie Wilson has worked in the public sector for over 23 years. She is the Director of Information Technology for the City of Clarksville, TN where she provides leadership for the continued development of an innovative and secure information technology environment throughout the City. She also coordinates with the City departments’ leadership teams regarding technology management and operations.
Prior to her work at the City, she worked at Clarksville-Montgomery County School System as a senior computer programmer and project manager. She earned her B.S. in Computer Science – Information Systems and her M.S. in Business Management from Austin Peay State University. She recently earned her Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) certification from the Public Technology Institute/Rutgers.
Amie and her husband, Steve, live in her hometown of Clarksville with their son, Tanner.