Tanya Acevedo is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Capital Metro in Austin, Texas, with three decades of technology experience, Tanya Acevedo has a proven track record of establishing the technology vision and leading innovative strategies that add value, increase revenue opportunities, and ultimately decrease costs of service, for large organizations. Her prior roles included the CIO for Miami Dade College, Houston Airports and Travis County, Texas.
Tanya holds a Master of Business Administration in Information Systems and in 2021 Tanya was recognized as a Public Sector finalist by the Houston CIO of the Year ORIBE awards, in 2017 she was listed in Government Technology magazine as a Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Driver, and in 2016 she received the Texas Public Sector, Chief Information Officer of the Year.

Amina Al Sherif is a technical engineering lead in machine learning and generative AI at Google. She immigrated to the United States in 2010 as a first generation Arab-American. She has spent twelve years in the Department of Defense serving as an Army officer in the Reserves and North Carolina National Guard as a tactical cyber operator and cyber targeter.
Amina has previously worked as an early stage startup executive focused on artificial intelligence innovation and product. Prior to her startup experience, Amina worked at Google as a Cloud Engineer bringing the innovation and power of Google’s capabilities to the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. She focused on big data and machine learning, gaming and simulation, and data privacy and security in cloud computing and analytics.
Amina has worked with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) as an Arabic, Farsi, and French language enabled Open Source Exploitation Analyst at Fort Belvoir, VA and Fort Bragg. She deployed under Operation Inherent Resolve to Baghdad, Iraq in 2015/2016. In 2016-2017 she deployed to Afghanistan supporting the Special Operations Community. Most recently Amina deployed to Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Israel for a Special Missions Unit out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina supporting cyber-HUMINT operations.
Amina holds a BA in Linguistics and Arabic from the University of Mississippi and a Masters in Professional Studies in Cybersecurity and Information Sciences from Penn State University. She is currently attending the University of Texas in San Antonio to pursue a career in astrophysics at the PhD level. She regularly blogs on Medium documenting her self-taught technical career. In January 2020, she published her first book An Approach to Machine Learning in Cyber Defense for the Department of Defense. She is also working on a three-part young adult fiction novel series and is currently contracted with Black Rose Writing for publication. She also blogs regularly on her website, https://www.aminaalsherif.camp .

John Azariah has worked in the technology sector for over 20 years and is a Solutions Engineer with Cloudera since 2019, during this time he has been helping government customers with their data management strategies including modernization , analytics and governance with Cloudera's Hybrid Data Platform. Prior to Cloudera, John has also worked at Oracle and Accenture consulting where he was involved in architecting high performing data warehouses and mission critical business applications. He has also played instrumental consulting roles in large global platform modernization and digital transformation projects across various industry sectors. John holds an MS in Computer Science from Texas A&M university.

Bringing 10 years of experience in Enterprise IT architecture (Datacenter, Hybrid Cloud and Cloud-native infrastructure), Cory is proficient in compute, networking, storage, backup and DR, business continuity, Cloud Architecture and Cloud Native Apps.He prides himself on his customer relationship building, listening to customer problems, concerns or needsand helping customers with solutions that exceed expectations.
Cory focuses on mentorship, supporting team growth and empowerment. Cory has taught technical certification level classes to over 1000 IT professionals.

With more than 25 years of professional experience, including 18 years at Verizon, Anthony Battista has traversed a diverse array of roles spanning Executive Management, Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, Sales Engineering, Sales, Project Management, technical writing, and consulting. This journey has equipped Anthony with a unique capacity to approach problems, opportunities, and challenges from a broad and comprehensive perspective.
Anthony's team of solution architects specialize in serving State, Local, and Education (SLED) markets. With an unwavering focus on maximizing business outcomes from technology investments, his team advocates for change, expertly navigating the delicate balance between value, risk, and speed.
Anthony lives outside Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and two sons. Committed to making a difference in his community, he supports causes related to Breast Cancer and Autism. With a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Baltimore, Anthony blends business acumen with creative spirit to serve his customers.

Mr. Blanco is responsible for overseeing the Health and Human Services (HHS) Information Technology (IT) division; directing innovation efforts; determining IT needs; and developing standards and methodologies for the overall strategy of system development and integration of client/server applications.
Utilizing his depth of IT knowledge, an innovative mindset, and the ability to create high-performing teams, Mr. Blanco has delivered key departmental accomplishments since being promoted to the role of Chief Information Officer in August 2019, including consolidation of almost 900 servers into the State’s Data Center Services (DCS) program, standardization of business processes, agency-wide operating system upgrades to Windows 10, transition of all in-scope IT contracts, and development of a 10-Year Modernization Plan.
During COVID, Mr. Blanco’s utilized his experience in emergency response and disaster recovery to define risks, assess priorities, and strategically and efficiently deliver remote working technology solutions to over 40,000+ HHS and DSHS staff, thus enabling the agency to continue their mission of improving the health, safety, and well-being of Texans. This included imaging and distributing over 15k laptops, deploying Microsoft Teams ahead of schedule, and expanding network perimeters and applying more effective security protocols to serve an almost fully remote workforce; cloud-based capabilities to legacy systems for improved data reporting and sharing; implement COVID-critical applications, including Texas Health Trace (THT), Vaccine & Allocation & Ordering System, Client Encounter System (CES), and Infectious Diseases Data Integration (IDDI).
Mr. Blanco practices value-based leadership. His supportive, transparent, and honest approach cultivates an environment of shared goals, while encouraging innovation and allowing room for staff growth and development.

Mike Bimonte brings a diverse perspective to Armis as the CTO for SLED, with over 30 years of IT experience in both Public and Private sector roles. Most recently, Mike came to Armis from his role as Deputy Commissioner with the NYC Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT). He spent close to 20 years of modernizing, consolidating, and transforming DoITT into a world-class service provider for both City agencies and the 8+ million residents of NYC. His ability to relate with public sector clientele based on real-life experiences and provide his own unique perspective has proven invaluable to State, Local governments across the globe. Prior to his role with the City of NY, Mike spent time in the Financial Services industry and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mike is a native New Yorker, was born and raised in NYC and now resides in NJ with his family.

Amberle Carter is no newcomer to the expansive world of data as the Enterprise Data Officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Her professional career began simply by developing systems to provide accessible and reliable data to accomplish work in the most efficient manner. Today, she’s a leader of professional data storytellers, enabling state government agencies to demonstrate the work they accomplish or improve upon through visualizations, as well as data architects and data engineers, maturing the enterprise data architecture and use of clean, reliable data for use. She is a strategic problem solver with demonstrated proficiency in data management and governance, reporting, strategic planning, and complex project and program management. In her role, she hopes to help people to put data at the center of their mission and apply analytics to enhance strategic and tactical decisions.

Tina Clark serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). During her 25-year career with the TDCJ, she has served as the Deputy CIO, manager of the TDCJ Information Technology Division (ITD) Project Management Office, senior Project Manager, and senior Systems Analyst. Prior to coming to ITD, she held various positions in TDCJ Human Resources (HR) and was a core participant in numerous reengineering efforts during that time. Tina is a strong “walks the talk”, results-oriented leader and mentor who embodies the agency’s core values of integrity, courage, commitment, and perseverance, and demands excellence from herself and others. She is passionate about providing quality services to the agency’s stakeholders in ways that support the agency’s mission, while also striving to create a healthy work environment where employees are highly valued and recognized for their contributions. Tina has led numerous IT initiatives during her tenure that have transformed the TDCJ’s core business processes, such as the agency’s transition to O365, deployment of smart phones, implementation of the state-mandated Texas Risk Assessment System, migration of information resources to the Azure Government Cloud, and deployment of inmate tablets. Tina is a devoted wife to her husband of 34 years and cherishes the time spent with her children and grandchildren. She has been involved for many years in service to others in her church and local community and currently serves on the Leadership Team for Women’s Ministries. Tina is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional and holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology.

Tony is a senior solution consultant at Adobe and has extensive experience supporting complex solution applications. His contributions have helped Federal, State and Local governments maximize their technology to help their citizens live better lives. Prior to joining Adobe, Tony was a solution architect with Accenture.

Starting as a mechanical engineer, James Dobra began his career shift to IT and Security like many do: explaining the new software to the rest of the team. Soon he was traveling North America as a consultant for firms like PriceWaterhouseCoopers and IBM, ensuring that large software deployments supported the individual employees that had to use it. Switching to security, James brought his user-focused approach to deployment and customer success with him to two successful start-ups and now HP Wolf Security. James still enjoys introducing unique software ideas and technologies to organizations large and small. Outside of work, you can find him at home in Georgia with his family or out rock climbing somewhere nearby.

Mike Driessen joined Government Technology in 2021 as the VP of Subscription Services, where he is responsible for managing execution, strategy and operations for all recurring revenue services. He also oversees Navigator, a market and sales intelligence tool for private-sector SLED teams, and Techwire and Industry Insider – Texas Edition, each of which provide daily news and insights into the California and Texas GovTech markets.
Mike brings over 25 years of experience in the IT consulting and systems integration industry with firms like Accenture, Grant Thornton and Hitachi Consulting. His experience covers Sales and Marketing leadership, advising on Digital Strategies, and managing Enterprise Application alliances and implementations. He has managed large global teams and led start-ups. Mike lives in Los Angeles, although he grew up in the Midwest, and graduated from Marquette University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Business Administration.

Jennifer French is a highly experienced professional specializing in digital solutions, with a proven track record of delivering outstanding customer satisfaction and driving strategic growth for over two decades. Currently serving as the Vice President of Partnerships at Squiz, Jennifer plays a pivotal role in spearheading Squiz’s expansion into the American market.
With extensive hands-on experience collaborating with clients from the public and private sectors, Jennifer has become renowned for her ability to open new markets and align organizational strategies across sales and support functions. Known for her personable demeanor, positive attitude, and meticulous attention to detail, Jennifer possesses a keen and skillful negotiation style. Additionally, she is conversational in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, showcasing her trilingual capabilities.
Jennifer's diverse background includes working closely with higher education institutions and government entities, making her a trusted leader in leveraging technology to optimize constituent interactions efficiently. Squiz is a global leader in privately-owned digital experience management solutions, recognized by Gartner as a niche player and acknowledged in the Magic Quadrant for its specialization.
Jennifer's passion for philanthropy further underscores her commitment to making a positive impact in the world.

Angela Fultz Nordstrom is a Vice President of Strategy and growth at Tyler Technologies. In this capacity, she helps federal and state agency leadership use technology to improve how citizens and businesses interact with the services government provides. Most recently, she has focused her efforts on the development of a mobile COVID-19 testing solution designed to help states and localities make informed decisions about the health and safety of their communities. Ms. Nordstrom has more than 20 years of experience building and deploying digital technology solutions that create efficiencies for government and provide value to constituents. Prior to joining Tyler Technologies, she served as Chief of Staff to a Secretary of State where she interacted with citizens daily and worked toward making government services accessible to all.

Kevin E. Greene is an experienced leader, champion and advocate for advancing the state of practice in cybersecurity. He has successfully led multiple federally funded R&D projects in his career that were commercialized and transitioned into practice.
Kevin is currently the Public Sector CTO for OpenText Cybersecurity. Leveraging his innovative and strategic expertise, he drives customer engagement around cyber capabilities in federal agencies for digital transformation, software supply chain, zero trust and evolving threat defense.
Prior to joining OpenText, he worked at the MITRE Corporation supporting DevSecOps and cyber defense initiatives. Kevin also spent time serving our nation as a federal employee at the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, Cyber Security division.
He holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and supports several external advisory boards in formalizing cybersecurity curriculum and initiatives.

As the former Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Assistant City Manager for the City of Manor, Texas, a city outside Austin, Dustin quickly built a track record and reputation as an early innovator in civic tech. Dustin pioneered government use of commercial technologies not before used in the public sector – including Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification. Dustin was named as one of the nation’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for government technology, was selected as an Eisenhower Fellow in 2019, and most recently, a 2021 Business Transformation 150 Leader by Constellation Research. Dustin’s work over the years has been featured numerous publications and books including Wired, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, the Today Show on NBC, and Citizenville by California Governor, Gavin Newsom.
Dustin graduated Magna Cum Laude from LeTourneau University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and has worked with universities around the globe on incubating next-generation technologies in government including the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University and the University of Trento, Italy. Dustin continues to work with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, academia, gov tech startups, and non-profits across the globe on innovation, go-to-market, and citizen engagement strategies.

Heather Hall serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). Her 19-year state career includes serving as the Director for Strategic Decision Support at the Health and Human Services Commission, the Project Management Office Director, Deputy CIO and CIO at the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS); Project Manager at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts; and other roles within DADS, Department of Human Services, and Office of the Attorney General.
Throughout her career, Heather has volunteered her time and professional skills to several professional organizations including Project Management Institute (PMI), Austin Chapter (President, Vice President of External Services, and Professional Development Day Director); Executive Women in Texas Government (Vice President/Conference Chair and Communications Director); and State Agency Coordinating Committee, IT Subcommittee (Vice Chair and Chair).
Heather is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional and holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin from Baylor University, a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Information Science from The University North Texas.

Trey Hall is a telecommunications executive with 25 years of experience in broad functional roles spanning engineering, operations, sales, marketing, and corporate leadership. A native to the DFW area and based in McKinney, TX where he lives with his wife and daughter, Trey enjoys lacrosse, animal welfare service, and teaching. Trey’s history includes 15 years at Fujitsu Network Communications and 10 years at Walker and Associates before joining Ciena in January 2022.

Lisa Jammer is the Chief People and Culture Officer at DIR. In this role, she leads the vision, strategy, development, and execution of talent and culture management programs to advance the agency’s mission, vision, and core value statements. She has 19 years of human resources experience with 11 of those years in Texas state government. Prior to state service, Lisa served in a variety of human resource, treasury, and accounting roles with Indeed, Waste Management, and Continental Airlines.
Lisa has a Master of Science in Human Resource Development from the University of Houston, Bachelor of Science in Business Management. She is a Certified Diversity Professional and has successfully earned the PHR and SHRM-CP designations.

Shiva Jaganathan is the Chief Data Officer and AVP for The University of Texas at Austin. He leads the cross functional teams in Digital Transformation, Data Governance, Strategic Planning and Business Insights & Analytics at this flagship institution. Shiva is a transformative leader with 25+ years of experience in implementation of ERP systems such as PeopleSoft and WorkDay, Data Warehouse, and Decision Support Business Analytics strategies and also involved in enterprise data governance strategy consulting for government and private enterprises. Recently, Shiva has become engaged in understanding Artificial Intelligence systems and how they affect data privacy.

Thomas Kelly IV is an experienced leader in technology developments, B2B technology sales, and strategic growth. Thomas spent the early part of his career with Austin, Texas-based internet start-up Wayport and eventually served as a Director of Business Development with AT&T. After spending time with FedEx in Market Development, Thomas joined NICE CXone, and is currently the RVP of the Public Sector and Higher Education Western Sales Team. Thomas is a graduate of Penn State University and serves as a Community Mediator for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.

Nancy Rainosek is the Chief Information Security Officer for the State of Texas at the Department of Information Resources. She has over 40 years of IT experience in Texas state government and private sector consulting. Prior to joining DIR, she served as the deputy Chief Information Security Officer and the Enterprise Security Operations Manager for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. She was an IT Audit Manager and Information Resource Manager at the Texas State Auditor’s Office.
Nancy has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Texas State University.

Carlos Rivero is an Executive Government Advisor at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Previously, Rivero served as the Chief Data Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia as well as Chief Data Officer and Chief Enterprise Architect for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration in Washington, D.C. Rivero has also worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami, Florida, as a physical scientist and as a Research Associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where he developed a passion for geospatial information systems, ecological modeling, and data. Rivero earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics from Saint Joseph’s University, focusing on database design, data management, business intelligence, big data, and data analytics.

Rose’s career has centered around providing leadership, technical insight, and guidance on the global threat landscape to bridge expertise between private sector and government organizations. She previously established and led a U.S. government inter-agency team of 50+ data scientists, technologists, and domain experts delivering advanced capabilities for countering foreign influence and adversarial propaganda. She has also served in a variety of roles within the National Security Agency – Chief Operations Officer, Technical Leader, Analyst, & Linguist throughout her time in the U.S. Air Force and as a Federal Civilian. Rose is recognized as a subject matter expert in the field and is consistently engaged by law enforcement and intelligence community.

Michael is a recognized technical evangelist who speaks globally on the evolution and impact of emerging technologies and AI. With 25yrs experience he engages external researchers while collaborating across the Chief Technology Offices to drive transformation.
With a solid track record as a visionary thought leader, he drives futuristic concepts for Dell as he prepares for the Age of AI and WEB 3.0.
Michael serves on the Patent committee & Advisory Boards for the University of Texas McCombs MSBA & the Austin Forum on Technology & Society.
When he isn’t consumed by Machine Intelligence, he can be found hiking with family and friends somewhere off the beaten path and out of service.

Steve Towns is director of content strategy for the Center for Digital Government. He is the former editor of Government Technology and has spent more than 25 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.

Bala is a recognized Thought Leader on Data and AI from IBM. He leads Worldwide Solution engineering from IBM Technology Expert Labs to design and deliver solutions around Data Governance, Data Integration, Data Observability and AI Governance.
Bala has proven track record of designing and implementing Data and AI solutions for many State agencies, federal and private organizations in North America and around the world. He has extensive expertise in working with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) Chief Data Officers (CDOs) and CXOs to develop information governance strategy, Data Strategy, and agile implementation roadmap to successfully adopt the governance journey to meet their regulatory compliance needs as well as to generate business value from the data management landscape. Bala received many awards in IBM including patent application invention achievement award for governed database connectivity through and around data catalog to registered data sources.
Bala lives in Frisco, Texas, and holds a master of business administration (MBA) degree from Purdue University and awarded three University gold medals for his outstanding achievements in batcher degree (B.Tech) from Anna University, India.

Jay Waldo has served in Texas state government since 2000. First at the Department of Agriculture and then the Comptroller of Public Accounts. Prior to working in Texas, Jay worked as a software engineer and consultant in private industry. While at the Comptroller’s Office, Jay has enjoyed a variety of roles including overseeing business process improvement for the agency, and then transitioning more and more into technology. Jay is currently the Chief Information Officer at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. He is a graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Jeremy Wilson is the Deputy CISO for Security Operations for the State of TX Department of Information Resources (DIR) and works in the Office of the Chief Information Security Office (OCISO). Jeremy is responsible for establishing a Pilot Regional Security Operations Center (RSOC) at Angelo State University and overseeing the State of TX RSOC program once established and expanded. Jeremy will also establish and oversee the Texas cybersecurity incident response team, which will be responsible for responding to incidents, establishing play books, coordinating cybersecurity exercises, and performing threat intelligence across the State. Jeremy and his team also oversee the TX Volunteer Incident Response Team (VIRT) which has 99 personnel with cybersecurity, I.T. and other response skills to bolster significant security incidents occurring within the State of TX.
Jeremy has over 23 years of security and leadership experience and over 8 years of service working for the State of Texas at DIR, DPS. He has held security, telecommunications and I.T. roles in the US Army, U.S. Army Reserve and the Texas Army National Guard. He served as an Airborne Ranger in 2nd Ranger Bn, 75th Ranger Regiment, he is an Operations Iraqi Freedom III Veteran and retired as a Major after 25 years of total service as an enlisted and commissioned officer. Jeremy has been with the State of Texas in Cybersecurity since 2013. He holds CISSP, CISM, CRISC, and Security + Certifications.

Julie Wulf, Director at Cisco, specialized in State, Local, and Education clients within the Public Sector. Leading a dedicated team, she drives initiatives across 5 regions, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, to bridge the digital divide, expand broadband access, enhance data security, and enable hybrid work environments. With a shared commitment to excellence, Julie and her team tirelessly tackle challenges for Cisco’s government and education customers. Julie’s true passion lies in forging strategic partnerships, both private and public, to leverage technology for technology transformation and deliver cutting-edge citizen services.
With an impressive15-year journey with Cisco, Julie proudly calls San Antonio, TX her hometown. Her educational foundation includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas Tech University, adding depth to her well-rounded expertise.