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.

Daniel Avitia serves as executive director for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV). Avitia previously served as one of the department's Deputy Executive Directors and oversaw the day-to-day operations for the department’s administrative divisions, including Finance and Administration, Human Resources, Information Technology Services, the Motor Vehicle Division, and the Office of Administrative Hearings.
A lifelong Texan, Daniel Avitia began his commitment to Texas state government over 25 years ago. Avitia has held various director and administrator positions in state government agencies which include the University of Texas at El Paso, the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, the Texas Health & Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Avitia has focused his professional efforts on strengthening and streamlining operations, building and administering successful teams and continuously improving processes that better support department and customer needs.
Avitia is a graduate of The University of Texas at El Paso and possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Legal Reasoning, as well as a Master’s degree in Public Administration. Avitia is also a graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program and the Texas Health & Human Services Executive Leadership Program.

Wendy Barron serves as the Chief Information Officer of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV), a customer focused agency that provides motor vehicle services, including registration and titling, to the citizens of Texas. As the Department’s technology leader, Wendy is helping to build strategic partnerships across and outside the organization to deliver customer-centric motor vehicle services to the TxDMV constituents.
Wendy has managed information technology projects and operations at Texas government organizations for over 20 years. Her prior leadership roles include serving as the Deputy CIO of the TxDMV and leading the Information Technology Divisions of the State Office of Administrative Hearings and the Texas Water Development Board. In the early days of her career, Wendy served in various information technology roles including as a data analyst, systems analyst, and project manager.
Wendy has a BBA in Computer Information Systems and a Master of Public Administration, both from Texas State University. She is also a certified Project Management Professional.
In her off time, Wendy enjoys spending time with her husband and being a mom to her elementary-aged son. She also enjoys the outdoors and helping her family run their cattle ranch in the Texas Hill Country.

Phil Bertolini is senior 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.

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.

Chris serves as the Chief Information Officer and technology evangelist for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a $180 billion pension fund serving over 1.9 million members. As CIO, Chris oversees and provides strategic direction for the use of technology and information resources that enables TRS to successfully fulfill its mission. As a technology evangelist, he is continually seeking ways to use and exploit technology solutions to increase business efficiencies, drive value, and make a positive impact for the members of TRS. Chris holds a M.B.A. in Management Information Systems at St. Edward's University and a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems and Business Management at McMurry University. Chris also serves as Board President for the national Public Retirement Information Systems Management (PRISM) organization.

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.

Anthony works with strategic SLED (State, Local, and Education) customers to create and execute on their security transformation vision. Before joining Google Cloud, Anthony served as a Cloud Security Architect at Microsoft Azure, and as a Lead Security Engineer at AWS.
Anthony also has over 15 years of on-premise Security Engineering and Architecture experience across multiple verticals and MSSP vendors. He earned an MBA and B.S. from New York University, Stern School of Business.

Tommy Gardner is HP’s Chief Technology Officer for HP Federal, spanning the US Federal Agencies, Higher Education, K-12 Education, State and Local government customer segments, as well as Federal Systems Integrators. His current responsibilities include technology leadership, strategic technology plans, product and technology strategies, sales force technical support, and customer and partner relationships.
Previously, Tommy has served as the Chief Technology Officer for Jacobs Engineering, Scitor, and ManTech. Earlier in his career he was a senior technical executive at Raytheon. In the U.S. Navy he served as the Deputy for Science and Technology for the Chief of Naval Research. He oversaw the Navy’s Deep Submergence Program as well as its Advanced Technology Program. He also commanded the nuclear submarine, USS San Juan (SSN 751).
Tommy’s educational background covers multiple disciplines and fields of interest including: cybersecurity, data science, blockchain, quantum information science, artificial intelligence, high performance computing and systems integration.
Tommy holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University, an M.S. in Management of Technology from MIT and a Ph. D. in Energy Economics from George Washington University. He is a Professional Engineer, an ASME Fellow, and serves on the ASME Board of Governors, the ANSI Board of Directors and the U. S. Council on Competitiveness as the Co-chair of the Advanced Computer Roundtable.

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 CIO for the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). Prior to TWC, she served as the Director for Strategic Decision Support at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and as the CIO at the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS). She is a certified Project Management Professional and has a Bachelors’ Degree in Latin fom 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. She has over 25 years of IT experience in a variety of roles.

Ebony is a Partner in IBMs HR Talent Transformation organization and is currently accountable for the business development & delivery of our HR & Talent Transformation and Organizational Change Management and Effectiveness in State and Local Government across the U.S.. She is an Executive Leader with 20 years of Business HR experience. Prior to joining IBM Ebony had the opportunity to lead several successful and profitable fortune 500 client relationships as well as 10 +years of her career in the HR Oil & Energy sector. Ebony is a relationship focused strategic thinker, a connector, innovator, change advocate and enthusiastic about driving a client and employee experience while delivering business results with a positive impact.

Casey Kennedy has been the Director of Information Services for more than a decade. His team provides direct IT support for the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, the 14 intermediate appellate courts and several judicial branch state agencies. Casey also manages the statewide electronic filing system (eFile Texas) as well as the statewide document access system (re:SearchTX). Casey is also the lead OCA staff for the Judicial Committee on Information Technology or JCIT. The committee is appointed by the Supreme Court and makes recommendations and sets standards for court technology in Texas.
Casey is currently the chair of the Court Information Technology Officer Consortium, a national organization of Court IT professionals.
He holds a BA in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin.

Sean has worked for the State of Texas for over 25 years. During that time, he has held several positions, all in Information Technology services. His experience spans a variety of IT services, including Data Base Administration, Analyst, Policy Oversight, Director of Operations, Director of Enterprise Applications, Assistant Records Management Officer, Director of Data Management, Director of Infrastructure and Support, Chief Information Security Officer, and Chief Information Officer. He is currently the CIO for the Department of Banking.

Anh Selissen serves as Chief Information Officer (CIO) forTxDOT, overseeing information security, infrastructure, strategic direction, and the personnel and vendor activities of the Information Management Division.
Selissen has led enterprise IT systems and staff in both the public and private sectors, having previously held positions as CIO at NuStats Inc. and director of enterprise systems at the University of Texas at Austin. Most recently Selissen served as deputy CIO at the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Among several professional affiliations, Selissen is president elect of the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications, and IT chair of the State Agency Coordinating Council.

Matthew Thompson, CISSP, is an identity and security industry thought leader with over a decade of public sector industry experience and a former Army Special Operations Officer, completing four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Before joining Socure, Matt led IDEMIA's Civil and Digital Identity Business in North America and as an innovator, he also co-founded ID.me.
He also served as the Chair of the Management Counsel for The Identity Ecosystem Steering Group in support of the Obama administration’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. Matt is the current President of the Board of Directors for the Kantara Initiative, the leading global community commons improving the trustworthy use of identity and personal data, and holds three patents covering mobile biometric liveness detection as well as tiered and third-party authentication.
As well as being a proven business leader and entrepreneur, Matt is a decorated combat veteran having served as an Army Special Operations Officer, completing four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. His civilian experience includes positions at McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, and Capital One.
He holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Due West is a Sr. Industry Client Manager at Snowflake responsible for selling and delivering professional services to state and local government customers. Due has over 25 years of IT and leadership experience focused on technology and organizational transformation. Prior to joining Snowflake, Due established the Texas Medicaid Data & Analytics team which successfully modernized the state’s 20-year-old legacy data warehouse without interrupting any of the thousands of critical business functions required to support the country's third largest Medicaid program. In other words, his team rebuilt the racecar while it was speeding around the track. Due finds purpose in working with public sector customers. His team's ability to modernize the Texas Medicaid solution meant that millions of the neediest citizens could be better served, that they could lead healthier lives, and that tax dollars would be used more effectively. At Snowflake, he sees the opportunity to make an even greater impact.

Cory Wilburn is a business-focused information technology (IT) leader with a passion for public service.
He began a new adventure with the University of Texas at Austin Red McCombs School of Business on November 1st, serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
As CIO, Cory is responsible for all aspects of information technology for McCombs, including technology strategic planning, project execution, and daily operations. His team aligns the organization’s technology resources to support business goals, providing innovative solutions that drive continuous improvement.
Previously, Cory spent eight years serving as the CIO for the Texas General Land Office where his team established a reputation as a trusted partner to the agency’s senior leadership.
Cory has twenty-four years of IT experience, including twelve years as a member of senior leadership. During his career he has worked in a wide range of roles that includes software engineering, business and systems analysis, project management, and enterprise architecture. He has a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University in political science and is a recent graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program. He serves as a as a technology advisor to non-profit organizations, is the President of Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications (TASSCC) and is a member of the Society for Information Management (SIM), the Texas Association of Government IT Managers (TAG-ITM), and the Austin Innovation Advisory Council.

Mere Work is the Director of State and Local Sales with ID.me, and has been with the company for four years. Over the last two years, Mere has jumped headfirst into all things related to unemployment insurance benefits, with fraud, digital equity and security being key among them. Mere helps oversee ID.me’s work with 30 states. Prior to ID.me, Mere was a Naval Flight Officer for the United States Navy. Over nine years of service, Mere held instructor positions with NATO and flew 92 missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. Mere holds a Bachelor’s of Science from the United States Naval Academy.

Cecile Erwin Young was appointed executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission by Gov. Greg Abbott, taking leadership of the state’s largest agency on Aug. 14, 2020.
Young previously served as acting executive commissioner from June 2018 to October 2018 and most recently as chief deputy executive commissioner. From 2007 to 2011, she served as associate commissioner for health coordination and consumer services at HHSC and returned as chief of staff in January 2015.
Young has over 30 years of state government experience in Texas. She began her state career as a lecturer and research engineer at Texas Tech University and then served as a conference committee clerk for HB 7, which created HHSC in 1991, and she came to work at HHSC to implement the legislation.
Young has served with four Texas governors, an attorney general and a state representative. She has performed budget and policy work since 1987.