Name: Texas IT Leadership Forum 2026
Start: 2026-11-19T08:00
Location: Austin Marriott Downtown

Overview

The Texas IT Leadership Forum is where tomorrow’s government leaders grow today.

This invitation-only gathering brings together state and local IT executives, emerging leaders, and visionary thinkers for candid conversations on the future of public-sector technology. Focused on leadership development, innovation, and strategy, the Forum goes beyond the tech to address the people, policies, and practices shaping digital government. Through peer exchange and practical sessions, participants gain the insights, relationships, and skills needed to lead their organizations and communities into the future.

A message from our Keynote Speaker

Speakers

Robert “Cujo” Teschner

Founder & CEO, Vmax Group

After decades of leading high-performance F-15 and F-22 teams as a fighter pilot, Fighter Weapons School Instructor, and Squadron Commander, Cujo concluded that the principles that allow leaders to lead well are universally applicable. Cujo also determined that businesses need to improve their leadership development to thrive in a continuously disruptive environment. Furthermore, he firmly believes that American businesses are the backbone of an economy that helps keep America strong.
And so Cujo is now on a mission: he’s actively helping organizations build leaders who can win in disruption to help keep our economy strong. The most important part of his mission is helping leaders harness the upside of positive, forward-focused accountability to become the best they can be.
Cujo has authored or co-authored three #1 bestselling books to support his mission. He’s built an incredible team of former fighter pilots and US Navy SEALS who have together delivered hundreds of workshops, keynotes, and breakout sessions, helping businesses of all sizes embrace real teamwork by practicing meaningful, effective, forward-focused accountability.

Jessica Ballew

Chief Information Officer and Chief of the Information Technology Division, Department of Public Safety

Jessica Ballew is the Chief Information Officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, leading the agency's technology strategy and operations with a focus on innovation, reliability, security, and interoperability. Throughout her career at the agency, Jessica has managed multiple programs, including IT Applications, Enterprise Project Management, Procurement & Contract Services, Administration, Infrastructure Operations, and the Innovation and Data Office.
Jessica serves on the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) Communications & Technology Committee, Real Time Crime Center and Artificial Intelligence Sub-Committees, and the Artificial Intelligence Workgroup. She has also served multiple terms on the State of Texas Contract Advisory Team, State Agency Coordinating Committee Procurement Sub-Committee, State Agency Coordinating Committee Records and Information Management Sub-Committee, Governor’s Commission for Women State Agency Council, and co-chaired the Texas Association for Strategic Solutions and Collaboration in Computing Special Interest Group in Project Management.
Ballew holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Arizona State University and a Master of Science in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas. She is a Certified Texas Contract Manager and Certified Texas Contract Developer, a graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program, and a Texas Fiscal Officers’ Academy graduate.

Trace Caraway

Chief Information Officer, City of Leander

Trace Caraway is the CIO for the City of Leander, leading its efforts for technology strategy, modernization and operations, including ERP transformation, long-term digital infrastructure planning and to establish and implement responsible artificial intelligence. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau, the City of Leander was the fastest-growing city in the country and continues exponential growth. This rapid expansion creates challenges and an opportunity in balancing infrastructure development, resource allocation, organizational capacity and technology innovation, all while maintaining high-quality services for residents.
Trace has over 20 years of leadership experience in business operations, enterprise project management, technology and procurement & contract administration in highly regulated industries including insurance, local government, K-12 & higher education, and state pension, healthcare & investments. He was responsible for over $1B in competitive bid award spending for state of Texas benefits administration services and technology.
Trace is a Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) through Rutgers University, a PROSCI Certified Change Management Practitioner in AI Adoption and a Certified AI Transformation Leader (CAITL) through the United States Artificial Intelligence Institute. Trace is also a member of the Texas Association of Governmental Information Technology Managers (TAGITM) and has been a Certified Texas Peace Officer through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) since 2015.

Chris Cutler

Chief Information and Technology Officer, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Chris Cutler is Chief Information & Technology Officer for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), the nation's sixth-largest public pension fund, with $225 billion in trust assets serving more than 2.1 million active and retired public education employees. He leads the agency’s technology strategy and IT organization, with responsibility for enterprise applications, infrastructure, data, artificial intelligence, and digital services. Chris is passionate about using technology to modernize organizations, empower employees, and improve the experience of the people they serve. Chris holds an M.B.A. from St. Edward’s University and a B.B.A. from McMurry University and is two-time past President of the national Public Retirement Information Systems Management (PRISM) organization.

Lauren Farese

Group Vice President – SLED, Solution Engineering, Oracle 

For the past 27 years, Lauren Farese has been a dedicated member of Oracle, focusing on bringing Oracle technology to various public sector customers. She currently holds a prominent position as Vice President, Cloud Engineering for the Public Sector – SLED Sales organization, where she provides support to all State and Local governments and Higher Education institutions. Previously, she led the US Federal government and Canada public sector engineering teams. Additionally, she plays a crucial role in supporting key Systems Integrators and partners who work with SLED Government customers. Throughout her impressive career spanning 35 years, Lauren has been actively involved in planning, developing, and implementing technology solutions for a wide range of organizations, including government, utilities, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and commercial sectors.
Before joining Oracle, Lauren's experience was diverse, having served as a developer, trainer, senior consultant, and solution architect at esteemed companies such as Advanced Data Management, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Hewlett-Packard.
Lauren's passion for technology extends beyond her work at Oracle. She is an active member of the NASCIO Enterprise Architecture, AI/ML and Data Governance workgroups, contributing to the publication of several technology briefs on emerging technologies. Moreover, Lauren is a valued member of the Smart Cities Council, and she has presented and been a panelist on numerous Digital Government Technology Summits, Alliance and GovExec events on various topics, including Data Modernization, Cyber Security, SOA/Integration, Data Warehouse/Data Lakehouse, Data Management, Extending SaaS Applications, AI/ML for Government, Analytics for Education, Application and Data Center Modernization, and Cloud and Hybrid deployments.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Lauren resides in rural Hunterdon County, NJ, with her husband and rescued animals. She is deeply engaged in her church and community. Currently, Lauren volunteers at the local food bank/thrift shop and actively supports animal rescue and adoption initiatives in her region. Her dedication to both her professional and charitable endeavors reflects her commitment to making a positive impact on society.

Rhiannon Gainor Sanchez

Data Governance Officer, Texas Workforce Commission

Dr. Rhiannon Gainor Sanchez is the Data Governance Officer at the Texas Workforce Commission. She previously led enterprise data governance and AI governance at the Lower Colorado River Authority, where she built the agency’s enterprise data governance program. That work included launching an AI governance committee, creating data literacy training, and establishing a data stewardship practice. She holds a PhD in Information Studies from McGill University and is a Certified Data Management Professional. In 2025, her team received the Best in Texas Government award for Data Governance.

Brad Gardiner

Government Strategy and Solutions, NinjaOne

Dr. Donald Johnson

Chief Information Security Officer, City of Austin 

John Kelley

Deputy Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Public Safety

John Kelley is a seasoned technology professional whose career spans roles across the manufacturing, oil and gas, healthcare, and government sectors. He currently serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety, where he supports the agency’s technology strategy and ongoing modernization efforts.
Before joining DPS, John held several technology leadership positions at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. His responsibilities there included oversight of key statewide infrastructure services and leadership of teams supporting enterprise collaboration platforms, state hospitals and state living centers, and contact center technologies.
Earlier in his career, John contributed to major technology initiatives at Baylor Scott & White Health and ExxonMobil, gaining valuable experience in project management, architecture, and operational support that helped build his broad technical foundation.  Known for his collaborative leadership style and commitment to mission‑driven innovation, John works to implement secure, reliable, and customer‑focused technology solutions.

Jacob Leeland

Regional Director, Centripetal

Jacob has worked in Cyber for almost 20 years and worked with some of the world's largest organizations. He has worked in a number of focal areas including, SIEM, Threat Intel, application security, data security and network security.

Dan Parham

Head of State and Local Government, US, OpenAI

Dan Parham leads OpenAI’s US State and Local Government business, helping public agencies use artificial intelligence to improve government operations and public services. He works with state and local leaders to expand access to AI, support workforce adoption, and translate emerging capabilities into measurable outcomes for employees and the communities they serve.

Indu Patikkal

Deputy Chief Information Officer, City of Austin

Indu Patikkal is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of IT experience across the private and public sectors, specializing in strategic planning, transformative leadership, and management of complex technology portfolios. 
Since joining the City of Austin eight years ago, she has held several key leadership roles. Most recently she served as the Interim Deputy Chief Information Officer over the Enterprise Infrastructure & Operations division for Austin Technology Services, where she provided steady guidance and continuity since March 2026. Prior to that assignment, Indu led the Enterprise Project Management Office, advancing project governance, delivery maturity, and alignment of enterprise technology investments. She has also spearheaded major initiatives such as Workday implementation, 311 Modernization, FMS Modernization, and Enterprise Case Management. 
Before her public sector service, Indu spent more than a decade in the private sector managing multi-million-dollar programs, leading global teams, and delivering major initiatives across healthcare and retail domains. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Manipal University in India and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Strategic Management and Executive Leadership from Penn State University and recently completed the 2025 City of Austin Executive Academy. Indu is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Ed Therriault

Principal Digital Transformation Architect, Portage CyberTech

Ed has over 25 years of experience in the design, development, deployment and operations of privacy sensitive electronic service delivery solutions for both public sector and banking clients. Ed’s involvement in the domains of Identity, Credential and Access management, web content management and service transformation started with his participation in the creation of the Central Frame Database at Statistics Canada. He went on to participate in the creation of the Strategis ID and the web content management solutions at Industry Canada and has made immense contributions to the Govt of Canada's vision for citizen and business centric access to information and transactions.

Chris Ulibarri

IT Director, Office of Information Technology, Hays County

Chris Ulibarri is the IT Director for Hays County, where he leads the Office of Information Technology. He has nearly 30 years of public sector IT experience, including time at Travis County and the University of Texas at El Paso. His work has centered on building practical IT operations in environments with serious compliance demands, including CJIS, HIPAA, and FERPA.

Mike Williams

Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas, Delinea 

Mike Williams leads all Americas sales for Delinea, bringing more than 25 years of experience building and scaling high-growth sales organizations across the cybersecurity industry. Before joining Delinea, Mike was the Chief Revenue Officer at SecureAuth.  He also ran Americas at BeyondTrust and Cylance, and led the North America business at Forcepoint. His earlier career includes sales leadership roles at RSA, CipherTrust, and McAfee. He's built teams across both commercial and public sector markets, with a consistent focus on long-term growth and operational discipline.

Thursday, November 19
8:00 am Central	Registration and Morning Refreshments in the Exhibit Area Waller Ballroom Foyer and Waller Ballroom Salons A – C
9:00 am Central	Welcome and Opening Remarks Waller Ballroom Salons D – F Tony Sauerhoff, Executive Director and State Chief Information Officer, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas
9:10 am Central	Debrief to Win: Building Teams that Succeed in Disruption Waller Ballroom Salons D – F In times of turbulence and disruption, even the best teams can struggle to stay focused, aligned, and accountable. Overcoming these challenges requires a mindset shift and the right leadership tools to create resilient, high-performing teams. Learn from a former U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun") instructor how elite military teams succeed by centering on a shared mission, driving purpose, and embracing accountability as a path to growth, not blame. Walk away with actionable strategies and inspiring insights to help your teams thrive under pressure and achieve lasting success. Robert “Cujo” Teschner, Speaker \| Author \| Elite Fighter Pilot \| Inventor, Vmax Group
10:10 am Central	Bits and Bytes: Security and Governance in the New Era of AI Agents Waller Ballroom Salons D – F As AI evolves from tools that provide answers to agents that can access information and make decisions, government leaders face a new set of security, governance, and accountability challenges. This session explores how agencies can safely embrace agentic AI while maintaining trust, compliance, and operational control. Attendees will gain practical insights into managing identity and access, protecting sensitive data, and building a secure foundation that enables innovation while safeguarding mission-critical systems and services.
10:45 am Central	Networking Break in the Exhibit Area Waller Ballroom Salons A – C
11:15 am Central	Concurrent Sessions Leading in the Age of AI: A Playbook for Texas CIOs Room 603 AI isn't simply changing technology; it is changing what organizations expect from their technology leaders. CIOs must increasingly set direction amid uncertainty, make confident decisions as risks and opportunities evolve, communicate complex issues to diverse stakeholders, and build trust across the organization. Through live polling and peer discussion, this interactive session explores how public-sector technology leaders can meet these expanding expectations, strengthen their role as strategic advisors, and lead with clarity when the path forward is still being defined. Tony Sauerhoff, Executive Director and State Chief Information Officer, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas Modernization Without Mayhem? Room 604 Modernization is rarely a simple matter of replacing aging technology. What should be changed, when, and why? This session explores how agencies can connect modernization priorities to business outcomes, involve stakeholders early, manage technical debt, and realistically sequence their investments. Leaders will discuss how they made modernization decisions balancing innovation, limited resources, and organizational capacity while keeping essential government services running. Jessica Ballew, Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Public Safety Trace Caraway, Chief Information Officer, City of Leander The Trust Mandate Room 605 The interaction of employees, contractors, vendors, applications, cloud environments, and emerging technologies creates questions about access, accountability, and trust. In this session, speakers will explore how leaders can establish a more holistic approach to digital trust, clarifying ownership, managing identities and privileges, assessing third-party risk, and creating governance that protects critical operations without becoming a barrier to innovation. Learn how security can evolve from a technical function into a shared leadership responsibility across the enterprise. Moderator: Chris Cutler, CIO/CTO, Teacher Retirement System of Texas Dr. Donald Johnson, Chief Information Security Officer, City of Austin Ed Therriault, Principal Digital Transformation Architect, Portage Cybertech Mike Williams, Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas, Delinea The Business Value of Technology Room 602 Successful technology leaders do more than deliver systems; they help business leaders understand how technology advances the organization's mission and goals. How can IT strengthen relationships with business units, improve digital fluency, and translate technical requirements into a language that executives, councils, and budget owners understand? Participants will discuss approaches such as relationship management, design thinking, and rapid visualization that can help build consensus, demonstrate value, and gain support for technology investments. Jorge Cardenas, Deputy Chief Information Officer- Customer Engagement, City of Austin Brad Gardiner, Government Strategy and Solutions, NinjaOne John Kelley, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Public Safety Indu Patikkal, Deputy Chief Information Officer, City of Austin
12:15 pm Central	Lunch Waller Ballroom Salons D – F
1:15 pm Central	2026 Texas IT Leadership Awards Waller Ballroom Salons D – F Our annual “Texas IT Leadership Awards” honor state and local government individuals demonstrating exceptional leadership skills in their departments and organizations.
1:45 pm Central	Short Break
2:00 pm Central	Concurrent Sessions The Adaptable Organization Room 603 Technology is changing not only how government employees work, but how organizations should be structured to accomplish it. This session examines how leaders can prepare their workforce for continuous change through digital literacy, reskilling, role redesign, and thoughtful workforce planning. Participants will discuss how to communicate change, address employee concerns, and foster an adaptable culture that embraces new ways of working while maintaining engagement and trust. Moderator: Chris Ulibarri, IT Director, Office of Information Technology, Hays County Right-Sizing AI for Government Room 604 AI has moved beyond experimentation to everyday use, forcing leaders to decide where the technology truly adds value, and what level of investment is justified. This session explores how agencies can select the right AI tools for the right problems, measure productivity gains against costs, and define meaningful efficiency. Leaders will also discuss how AI may reshape workforce planning and how to communicate its value to employees and executives for responsible adoption. Moderator: Chris Bunton, Chief Information Officer, Department of Agriculture Lauren Farese, Group Vice President – SLED,Solution Engineering, Oracle Dan Parham, Head of State and Local Government, US, OpenAI Resilience as a Leadership Discipline Room 605 When disruption occurs, technology alone cannot determine how well an organization responds. Explore the leadership side of cyber resilience, from making decisions under pressure and coordinating across departments to testing plans through scenarios and tabletop exercises. Hear from leaders as they discuss lessons learned from real-world incidents, discuss emerging threats, and learn how to build the organizational readiness needed to maintain essential services when the unexpected becomes reality. Derek Williams,  Chief Technology and Innovation Strategist, Dell Technologies Rethinking Data Stewardship Room 602 As AI increases the value of government data, effective stewardship is becoming a leadership imperative. What information should agencies keep, protect, govern and make available? Explore how agencies should rethink data ownership, retention, privacy, access and AI readiness as IT leaders discuss how to keep information trustworthy and protected while addressing new questions about agent access and the growing costs and risks of retaining information indefinitely. Ralph Warren, CIO, Travis County Dr. Shiva Jaganathan, Chief Data Officer, Texas Water Development Board Rhiannon Gainor Sanchez, Data Governance Officer, Texas Workforce Commission
3:00 pm Central	Networking Break in the Exhibit Area Waller Ballroom Salons A – C
3:30 pm Central	General Session: Defending the Investment: Making Your Case at the Capitol Waller Ballroom Salons D – F Under pressure to reduce spending, technology leaders must be prepared to explain why critical IT investments cannot be treated as just another line item. How do CIOs translate technology needs into mission and constituent outcomes that resonate with legislators and budget leaders? How should leaders prepare legislative hearings to defend funding requests and communicate the consequences of delaying critical investments? Make the case for investments in priorities such as AI, cybersecurity, and modernization.
4:15 pm Central	Networking Reception in the Exhibit Area Waller Ballroom Salons A – C Network with your colleagues and discuss technology solutions with the event exhibitors.
4:45 pm Central	End of Conference Conference times, agenda, and speakers are subject to change.

Austin Marriott Downtown

304 E. Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, TX 78701
512-457-1111

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Austin Marriott Downtown

Advisory Board

Government Representatives

Fuat Aki
Director of Development
Texas Education Agency
State of Texas

Patricia Avitia
Chief Information Officer
Water Development Board
State of Texas

Jessica Ballew
Chief Information Officer
Department of Public Safety
State of Texas

Chris Bunton
Chief Information Officer
Department of Agriculture
State of Texas

Carl Drescher
Chief Information Officer
Lower Colorado River Authority
State of Texas

Kerrica Laake
Chief Information Officer
City of Austin

Jim Malmros
Application Development Manager
Office of Comptroller
State of Texas

Prasanth Manukonda
Chief Information Officer
Texas Facilities Commission
State of Texas

Drew McGrath
Chief Information Officer
Department of Family and Protective Services
State of Texas

Tony Sauerhoff
Executive Director and State Chief Information Officer
Department of Information Resources
State of Texas

Richard Semple
Chief Information Officer
Williamson County

Jennifer Whitman
Deputy Chief Information Officer
Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Cory Wilburn
Chief Information Officer
McCombs School of Business
The University of Texas at Austin

Industry Representatives

Kindra Allen
Managing Director
Deloitte

David Arington
Cloud Platform Representative
Oracle

John Forshay
Account Executive
Dell Technologies

Brad Gardiner
Enterprise Account Executive, SLED
NinjaOne

David Laitala
Account Executive
Microsoft

Chad Lersch
Client Relationship Executive
KPMG

Amanda Luther
Managing Director and Senior Partner
Boston Consulting Group

Rob McClay
Director of Strategic Accounts
Tanium

Kathryn McGirk
Client Advocate
Google Public Sector

Jack O'Connell
Senior Account Executive
Google Public Sector

Dan Parham
Head of State & Local Government, U.S.
OpenAI

Graeme Steakley
Director of Sales
Wasabi

Dan Teczar
Lead Client Partner
IBM

Made Possible by Our Corporate Sponsors

Registration Information / Contact Us

Event Date: November 19, 2026

This is an invitation-only event, open to Public Sector only. For more information or to request an invitation, please contact Abigail Suiter.

If you represent a Private Sector organization and are interested in Sponsorship Opportunities, please contact Heather Earney.

This event is open to all individuals who meet the eligibility criteria, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, age, disability, or any other protected class. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for all participants.

Contact Information

Need help registering, or have general event questions? Contact:

Abigail Suiter
Government Technology
A division of e.Republic
Phone: (916) 932-1405
E-mail: asuiter@erepublic.com

Already a sponsor, but need a hand? Reach out to:

Mireya Gaton
Government Technology
A division of e.Republic
Phone:(916) 296-2617
E-Mail: mgaton@erepublic.com

Want to sponsor and stand out? Reach out to explore opportunities!

Heather Earney
Government Technology
A division of e.Republic
Phone: (916) 365-2308
E-mail: heather.earney@erepublic.com

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Texas IT Leadership Forum 2026

Overview

A message from our Keynote Speaker

Speakers

Robert “Cujo” Teschner

Founder & CEO, Vmax Group

Jessica Ballew

Chief Information Officer and Chief of the Information Technology Division, Department of Public Safety

Trace Caraway

Chief Information Officer, City of Leander

Chris Cutler

Chief Information and Technology Officer, Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Lauren Farese

Group Vice President – SLED, Solution Engineering, Oracle

Rhiannon Gainor Sanchez

Data Governance Officer, Texas Workforce Commission

Brad Gardiner

Government Strategy and Solutions, NinjaOne

Dr. Donald Johnson

Chief Information Security Officer, City of Austin

John Kelley

Deputy Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Public Safety

Jacob Leeland

Regional Director, Centripetal

Dan Parham

Head of State and Local Government, US, OpenAI

Indu Patikkal

Deputy Chief Information Officer, City of Austin

Ed Therriault

Principal Digital Transformation Architect, Portage CyberTech

Chris Ulibarri

IT Director, Office of Information Technology, Hays County

Mike Williams

Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas, Delinea

Agenda

Thursday, November 19

8:00 am Central

Registration and Morning Refreshments in the Exhibit Area

Waller Ballroom Foyer and Waller Ballroom Salons A – C

9:00 am Central

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Waller Ballroom Salons D – F

9:10 am Central

Debrief to Win: Building Teams that Succeed in Disruption

Waller Ballroom Salons D – F

10:10 am Central

Bits and Bytes: Security and Governance in the New Era of AI Agents

Waller Ballroom Salons D – F

10:45 am Central

Networking Break in the Exhibit Area

Waller Ballroom Salons A – C

11:15 am Central

Concurrent Sessions

Leading in the Age of AI: A Playbook for Texas CIOs

Room 603

Modernization Without Mayhem?

Room 604

The Trust Mandate

Room 605

The Business Value of Technology

Room 602

12:15 pm Central

Lunch

Waller Ballroom Salons D – F

1:15 pm Central

2026 Texas IT Leadership Awards

Waller Ballroom Salons D – F

1:45 pm Central

Short Break

2:00 pm Central

Concurrent Sessions

The Adaptable Organization

Room 603

Right-Sizing AI for Government

Room 604

Resilience as a Leadership Discipline

Room 605

Rethinking Data Stewardship

Room 602

3:00 pm Central

Group Vice President – SLED, Solution Engineering, Oracle 

Chief Information Security Officer, City of Austin 

Senior Vice President of Sales, Americas, Delinea 