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

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 and interoperability. Throughout her career at the agency, Jessica has managed multiple programs, including the Infrastructure Operations Division, Driver License Improvement Program, Crime Lab Technology Program, Crime Records Technology Program, Enterprise Project Management Office, Procurement & Contract Services, 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 of State Systems for Computing and Communication 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.

Chris Bunton is a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years of experience and a passion for sharing knowledge.
Chris is a state IT Leader who has been sharing his real-life industry experience with IT professionals for over 20 years. He brings real-life industry and private sector experience, with an in-depth ability to apply technical concepts to reality. During the last 15 years, he has held Infrastructure Director and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) positions for the state. He currently serves as the Chief Information Officer for the Texas Department of Agriculture. He has also served on several advisory panels, including the Technical Advisory Panel for TxDOT, Security Advancement Forum for the Enterprise (SAFE) for DADS, and the Interview Panel for ACC's Provost. Additionally, he has been a part of the IT Leadership Committee, served on the Cybersecurity Counsel, and is a member of the Digital Government Advisor Board. Chris holds a bachelor’s in Computers Science degree and an Associates in Business Administration.
Chris enjoys sharing technical expertise to help people utilize technology for advancement. He has a passion for customer service and helps Texans!

Brian Cohen is the Vice President of the Center for Digital Government and Center Digital Education, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government and education. Prior to joining the Center, Brian was Vice Chancellor and University CIO for the City University of New York (CUNY).
As the Vice-Chancellor and University CIO at CUNY, Brian directed the Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS), developed, and managed the enterprise IT vision, strategy and day-to-day technology operations of the University. His areas of focus included academic and business systems, cloud strategies, IT policies and procedures, Cybersecurity, project management, IT resiliency and disaster recovery, and network and telecommunications.
Brain also served in leadership roles with the City of New York. Among his many accomplishments, Brian developed the City of New York’s E-Government strategy, implemented the City’s award-winning nyc.gov website, and managed the City’s effort to address the Y2K technology challenge.

Frank Feagans is the Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer for the University of Texas at Dallas. Prior to joining UT Dallas in 2015, Frank was the Executive Director of Central IT Services for the University of Arizona. Before his transition into Higher Education, Frank’s career was in private industry, where he held various senior IT leadership positions. His experience includes 15 years within the McDonald’s system, 8 years in IT consulting, and 2 years with US Cellular.
Frank has extensive experience leading all facets of IT, including research computing, application development, enterprise and solutions architecture, project management, infrastructure, operations, and client services. With a keen ability to mitigate systemic risks in complex systems, Frank champions IT as a transformational partner to the business. He emphasizes the importance of strong collaborative relationships with colleagues and service providers and fosters an IT culture rooted in caring and teamwork.
A native of Illinois, Frank holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

President, e.Republic

Dustin Haisler is the President of e.Republic - the nation's leading state and local government data, media, and events company - and the parent company of Government Technology, Governing, and the Center for Digital Government. He is also active in the academic and research community, serving as co-lead of the Center for Public Sector AI, an Eisenhower Fellow (2019 Zhi-Xing Program), board member of the Good Governance Worldwide Academic Journal, and Program Faculty for the Certified Public Management Program (CPM) at Texas State University.
As the former Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Assistant City Manager for the City of Manor, Texas, Dustin quickly built a reputation as an early innovator in civic tech. He pioneered government use of commercial technologies not previously used in the public sector, including open innovation, Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification. Recognized as one of the nation’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers for government technology, he was also named a Business Transformation 150 Leader by Constellation Research. His work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, the Today Show on NBC, The Economist, CNN, Fortune, and Citizenville by California Governor Gavin Newsom. Most recently, Dustin has led initiatives to help public sector agencies safely adopt and integrate artificial intelligence technologies through public speaking, research, training, expert testimonies, and the development of AI tools.
Dustin graduated Magna Cum Laude from LeTourneau University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and has conducted research 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. He is a frequent speaker and expert advisor who collaborates with Fortune 500 companies, investors, government agencies, academia, startups, and non-profits worldwide on the global govtech market, public sector technology trends, and artificial intelligence development.

Sylvia Hernandez Kauffman is Chief Information Officer for Texas Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kauffman has more than three decades of experience in executive and senior leadership roles in information technology and state government.
A native Texan, Kauffman started her career as a database administrator and systems analyst with Exxon Company USA in Houston. Prior to joining HHS, she served in the State of Massachusetts’ IT division where she led the procurement, design, development, and implementation of the award-winning Massachusetts state government portal, www.Mass.Gov.
Kauffman has served in various leadership roles at HHS, including Inspector General in the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and Deputy Inspector General for Data and Technology in OIG. She also led the HHS Office of e-Health Coordination where she oversaw funding and policy development for the Health Information Exchange Network in Texas.
Kauffman earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Stanford University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University.

Kerrica has over 30 years of local government experience and for over twenty years she has successfully engaged leadership teams, stakeholders, customers, staff, and vendors to create innovative, customer driven, community focused technology solutions for the Austin community. 
As the Chief Information Officer for the City of Austin, she focuses on digital transformation efforts that will help the city modernize its technology portfolio and improve the digital experience for employees, the community and business operations. Additionally, her teams provide the core IT services that the City depends on daily.
Kerrica is a University of Texas alumna and she’s active in the Austin technology community serving as an advisor to the SIM (Society for Information Management) Austin Board of Directors and sits on the ACC Continuing Education IT Advisory Board. She was awarded the Statescoop Local IT Leader of the Year Award in 2023.

Jamie started her career with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) as an Accountant and over the next 10 years, advanced to management positions in the financial branch. During that time, she earned her M.B.A in Management Information Systems and accepted a position as a Systems Analyst and continued to advance within the Information Technology branch. She served in senior roles within Information Technology (IT), leading opportunities to partner with the resource branches to increase business and service delivery to internal and external customers.  Additional responsibilities included the oversight and planning of agency technology-based services and systems, providing counsel and advice on business and strategic initiatives related to technology activities. In addition, she oversaw the Agency Technology Governance Committee, which entails managing the agency technology portfolio, strategic planning, and agency compliance with IT policies and guidelines. She also led or was part of complex vendor and custom development projects and provided oversight on vendor contract management. In November 2021, she was named the new Chief Information Officer/IT Director for TPWD.  Jamie proudly reached her twenty-two year milestone at TPWD in June, after getting the opportunity to work within and among many different branches and programs throughout the agency.
She lives by the agency mission, even away from TPWD, you can find her outside, with family hunting, hiking, camping and fishing on days she is not at work.  She is driven to find ways to contribute to TPWD, keeping these amazing resources for her boys and generations to come.

Steve Pier began working in politics and government in 1994. Working in Texas until 2007, he turned to the international arena through 2014 and returned to Texas government service in 2015.
In late 2019, Steve came to the Department of Information Resources (DIR) as chief of staff and recently moved into the role of deputy executive director. At DIR, his areas of responsibility include oversight of external relations, outreach, compliance, and risk management. Additionally, he works closely with the executive director on issues such as strategic solutions, finance, and human resources.
Before joining DIR, he served as the director of governmental relations at the Office of Attorney General starting in January 2015. In August 2015, that role expanded to include strategic initiatives allowing Steve to assist the attorney general in large-scale efforts such IT modernization and the agency’s zero-based budgeting initiative.
Steve spent five years as the country director for IRI’s Arabian Gulf and Pakistan programs where he worked to build civil society organizations, develop political parties, and conduct public opinion research. Following that, Steve launched OxOr Development. OxOr provided consultative services to foreign political parties, candidates, and NGOs, as well as other political entities in developing democracies across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Steve assisted heavily with campaign and political party trainings throughout the Middle East/North Africa region and the Far East and observed elections for the International Republican Institute. He conducted trainings and/or consultations in approximately twenty countries and for activists for another half dozen. In December 2007, he was chosen as a delegate for IRI’s election observation in Pakistan. In December 2008, he served on IRI’s election observation in Bangladesh and in August 2009, he provided logistical assistance for IRI’s Afghanistan election observation.
Steve’s stateside campaign experience ranges from local county races to a successful US Senate campaign. His legislative experience includes time as a legislative aide, chief of staff for a committee chairwoman, and as the director of government relations for the Texas Workforce Commission with offices in Austin and Washington, D.C.

Tracy Prater joined Access Sciences in 2005, bringing a varied portfolio of Information Systems experience spanning almost 25 years. He has a proven track record of leading and facilitating Document Management System (EDMS) migrations, rollouts, divestitures, change management communications, and training programs.
Tracy is a trailblazer for organizational change management programs which deliver esprit de corps to the project and for the impacted audience, profoundly demonstrate "What's In It for Me" (WIIFM).
He is a lifelong dog dad, classic rock curator, and audio-visual volunteer for non-profit organizations and schools in his community.

Savita Raghunathan is a Principal with Deloitte Consulting with over 16 years of experience in large-scale low-code and custom application development, enterprise application integration, program management and client advisory services for various government clients. Her areas of expertise include management of large-scale IT implementations using Agile concepts covering the software development lifecycle.

Ben Straub is the Head of Public Sector for Atlassian. He leverages over 25 years of experience in enterprise software to lead the go to market efforts for government, federal systems integrators, defense contractors and education. Prior to joining Atlassian Ben held various go to market leadership roles at organizations such as Pendo, ServiceNow and Cornerstone both in the public and private sector. His unique perspective of seeing the many differences in the markets helps him become a trusted advisor to public sector organizations looking to drive significant digital transformation.

Dave is the Director of Strategic Digital Services in the Chief Technology Office of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR.) Dave leads the team that assists agencies and IHEs in adopting digital technology, transforming manual processes with digital processes, and replacing legacy technology with modern technology. Dave has managed or supported state government programs for 25 years as a project manager, vendor manager, business analyst and grant manager. He’s also President of the Southern Region of the National Association of State Technology Directors.
Dave holds bachelor’s degree from Bard College, and is a certified Project Manager, Scrum Master, Contract Manager, Facilitator, and ITIL Practitioner. When not working or parenting two daughters, Dave rehabilitates vintage mechanical watches (at times successfully,) and is usually recovering from electric skateboard injuries.

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, GenAI and AI Governance.
Bala has a 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 roadmaps 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 bachelor degree (B.Tech) from Anna University, India.

Sally Ward serves as Deputy Chief Operations Officer for Shared Technology Services (STS) at the Texas Department of Information Resources. Sally’s experience in vendor management, information technology, and technology sourcing includes both public and private industry. Sally implemented a Vendor Management Office at DIR overseeing a “best in breed” vendor outsourcing model for the state’s STS program, which includes managed public and private cloud, security, application development, and digital government services. As an applications development Systems Engineer, Sally spent 20 years with EDS in leadership roles managing Medicaid and Medicare outsourced systems, including Chief Information Officer and Chief Operations Officer roles. Sally also served as a Senior Research Analyst with the Comptroller of Public Accounts specializing in IT contracting and public health care issues. Sally is a graduate of Vanderbilt University with degrees in Mathematics and Business.

Jerry White is the director of Human Resources at the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). He was hired there in 2014 to oversee the agency’s hiring processes and was promoted to HR director the next year. Before TWC, White was executive manager over the communications and human resources functions at the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in Austin. White also worked for 25 years as a journalist in Austin, first as a as a reporter and editor at the Austin American-Statesman and then as a news manager at KVUE-TV and KVUE.com. He holds degrees in English writing from St. Edward’s University and mass communications from Texas State University. He is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the Human Resources Certification Institute and as a Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) by the Society of Human Resource Management. He also has specialty certifications in people analytics and HR ethics.