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.

Jennifer Buaas is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer at the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) where she is responsible for assisting agencies in the adoption of digital technology to automate processes, modernize legacy technology, and heighten the digital maturity of the workforce. She received a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from LeTourneau University.

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.

A fellow with the London-based Royal Society of Arts, Boinodiris has focused on inclusion in technology since 1999. She currently leads IBM Consulting’s Trustworthy AI Practice, she is the IBM AI Ethics Board focal for all of IBM Consulting, serves on the leadership team of IBM’s Academy of Technology and leads IBM’s Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence. She is the co-author of the book ‘AI for the Rest of Us’. Boinodiris is a co-founder of the Future World Alliance, a 501c3 dedicated to curating K-12 education in AI ethics. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in AI and Ethics at University College Dublin’s Smart Lab. In 2019, she won the United Nations Woman of Influence in STEM and Inclusivity Award and was recognized by Women in Games International as one of the Top 100 Women in the Games Industry as she began one of the first scholarship programs in the United States for women to pursue degrees in game design and development.

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.

Joseph is a seasoned leader with over 23 years of experience in Data Analytics, Risk and Audit.  He is a thought leader in the Trustworthy and Ethical use of  Artificial Intelligence.  He is passionate about empower agencies to utilize AI to solve some of the most complex problems they face, while mitigating and monitoring AI risk and protecting the American public.  Joseph has held various global leadership roles in innovation and analytics over the past 10 years.  He is currently Deloitte Trustworthy AI leader for the Government and Public Services practice.  In prior roles he was Head of Innovation and Analytics for Bank of New York Mellon’s Internal Audit department after a track record of success as the Head of Data, Analytics and Automation, beginning 2016. Prior to BNY Mellon, Joe held two global leadership roles at AIG, starting as the Head of Data Analytics within the Internal Audit Department and progressing to the Head of Data Analytics within the Chief Data Office. From 2000 to 2012, Joe held multiple positions in the Risk Information Services group within Deloitte’s Risk Advisory Services.

Amanda Crawford is the Executive Director of DIR and serves as the Chief Information Officer for the State of Texas. In this role, she is responsible for the overall leadership, direction, and daily operations of DIR, an agency with an annual fiscal profile of more than $4 billion per year. DIR's responsibilities include protecting the state's data and critical technology infrastructure, managing a multi-billion-dollar cooperative contracts program, and providing strategic technology leadership, solutions, and innovation to all levels of Texas government. Under Mandy’s leadership, DIR led the state’s successful response to the 2019 ransomware attack that affected over 20 local government entities in Texas and secured the transition to the next-generation suite of managed IT services offered through DIR’s Shared Technology Services program.
Prior to leading the team at DIR, Mandy served at the Office of the Attorney General of Texas (OAG) for more than 17 years. She held various positions at the OAG, including ultimately serving for two and a half years as the Deputy Attorney General for Administration and General Counsel. Mandy also served as a faculty member for the National Attorneys General Training Research Institute’s Center for Leadership Development, teaching managerial leadership across the country.
Mandy earned her B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center. She is a graduate of the Governor’s Center for Executive Development through the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. 

Bryan Daniel serves as Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission where he works to promote and support the growth of Texas’ world class employers and talented workforce. To champion that goal, he advances innovative workforce and economic development strategies in collaboration with TWC’s education partners, local officials, and industry leaders to establish Texas’ competitive edge as the best place to work in the world.
Prior to joining TWC, Bryan served for four and half years on Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s senior staff where he led the Office of Economic Development and Tourism – which included the Texas Enterprise Fund, Events Trust Fund, Governor’s University Research Initiative, Texas Tourism Office, Texas Music Office, Texas Film Commission, Texas Workforce Investment Council, the Economic Development Bank, the Texas Military Preparedness Commission and the State of Texas Mexico Office.
Bryan’s tenure as the Texas State Director for Rural Development for President George W. Bush and as Chief Administrator for Trade and Business Development at the Texas Department of Agriculture, along with his private sector experiences as a marketing executive and member of the board of directors, have provided him with valuable insights on economic development and workforce issues.
Bryan is a graduate of Texas Tech University with both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. In 2019, Texas Tech’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources recognized Bryan as a Distinguished Alumnus.

Daryl Fink is a visionary leader at the forefront of digital transformation for the past 15 years. With a dynamic expertise spanning cloud computing, UI/UX design, robotics, AI, and the cutting-edge GenAI, Daryl has consistently driven architectural shifts that redefine the technological landscape.
Daryl's approach is rooted in a business-led, technology-enabled mindset. He skillfully aligns and connects business value with technology programs, ensuring a seamless integration of innovation into organizational strategies. Renowned for his passion for challenges, Daryl thrives on finding creative solutions, tirelessly dedicating himself to educate, evangelize, and implement groundbreaking technology capabilities, particularly within the public sector.
In his journey, Daryl emphasizes the significance of trust, transparency, critical thinking, and feedback as the cornerstones of success. His projects are not merely about technological advancements but about fostering a growth mindset, contributing to holistic transformations that drive success.
Daryl has a rich professional background, having contributed significantly to KPMG and the Hackett Group over the past decade. His commitment to excellence is complemented by a solid educational foundation, holding a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Texas State University.

Angela Fultz Nordstom 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. 

Mike Halas is an Account Executive Director - Public Sector at Socure. In this role, Mike partners with state government and agency leadership to develop and scale. Socure’s public sector offerings for identity verification and fraud detection. This includes leading efforts to promote and evangelize industry leading concepts in digital identity inclusion and fairness. Prior to Socure, Mike served in a senior advisory capacities in both financial services as well as in the defense industry. Mike continues to serve as an officer in the United States Army Reserves.

Flora has been a Cloud evangelist for 6+ years, and partially passionate about solving storage, computing, security, cost optimization challenges when working with large volumes of data. Flora is based out of CA, and now a Customer Engineer and Tech Lead at Google Cloud.

Bruce Hermes is an award-winning government IT leader, currently serving as IT Director for Austin Transit Partnership, where he is working alongside the architects and engineers working to fund, design, and build Austin’s light rail.  His previous work includes his recent two years as CIO for the Texas Department of Agriculture, ten years at the City of Austin, where he led the 9-1-1 center and served as deputy chief information officer, helping to streamline work in the project management office and IT operations. Before serving the City of Austin, Bruce spent a full career at various Texas state agencies, including time as the IT director at the Texas Office of Court Administration, where he led creation of the world’s first paperless appellate court collaboration and case management system. His earliest work in IT was as a software developer.

Bill leads up to 110 consultants in the delivery of cybersecurity expertise across a large catalog of managed security services to state, local, and educational organizations.
Based in Austin Texas, Bill Higginbotham is a strategic focused leader with over 32 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity leadership. He advises on operations, budgets, risk management, architectures/infrastructure, contract management, security engineering, vulnerability/threat management, and strategy. Bill currently leads a large team of consulting professionals delivering expertise in all cyber-disciplines across a myriad of cybersecurity engagements in the State of Texas.
Prior to AT&T, Bill served in the United States Air Force for 28 years, providing telecommunications, enterprise networks, and cyber technology capabilities at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. Skilled in operational excellence, transforming business and organizational constructs, strategic planning, and largescale workforce development programs, Bill led many missions and projects fusing can-do attitudes of diverse teams with the capabilities of the world's premier air power.
Bill is a CISSP, holds an M.S. in Cybersecurity, and a B.S. in Business Management.

John Kirkman has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, having spent the last 12 years focused specifically on Cybersecurity. In his role at Island, John is developing all aspects of the business: go-to-market, direct sales team, industry advisors, channel and technology partnerships. Prior to joining lsland, John built the vertical business at CrowdStrike for 6 years, and McAfee for 7 years before that. Prior to his time at McAfee, John held roles at IBM and Oracle growing the Healthcare and Life-Sciences segments.
John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business from San Diego State University. He resides in Danville, CA with his wife and two children. On any given weekend you will likely find John and his family on the slopes, or on the lake in Tahoe.

Bryan has over 25 years of sales, business development, and sales management experience. He has worked extensively in both domestic and global markets building direct and channel sales organizations for both the commercial and government markets. Bryan is now responsible for managing the State, Local & Education business in the South region for HP’s Public Sector team.
Bryan holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Georgia State University. He also serves on the Government Technology IT Leadership Advisory Boards for Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

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.

Drew McGrath is currently serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).  He oversees an Information Technology team consisting of 274 staff and roughly 170 contractors.  Drew has worked in various IT roles for the past 30 years in the private sector, as a contractor, and as an employee of various Texas agencies.  Over this timeframe, he has served in various roles including: software developer/engineer, analyst, tester, database administrator, architect, applications manager, operations manager, technology director, Deputy CIO, and now CIO. He prides himself on not only being a leader and decision-maker, but also a mentor, listener, motivator, and coach for his leadership team and staff as they grow into future leaders and CIOs.
Fun Fact:  Drew and his wife are the happy owners of 7 golden retrievers and 2 great Pyrenees mixes.

Sean McSpaden is an executive level information technology professional with over 30 years of experience in the private, non-profit, and public sectors. His background includes the start-up and management of several small businesses and he has served on the Board of Directors or in Executive Director positions for several 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Sean’s public service experience includes progressively responsible positions as an IT analyst, and in statewide coordination, management and leadership positions within the Executive and Legislative branches of Oregon state government. From June 2008 to September 2013, served as the state of Oregon’s Deputy State Chief Information Officer.
Throughout his 25-year tenure in Oregon state government, Sean and the teams he has led have received several state, regional and national recognitions and awards. In addition, Sean has represented the state of Oregon on numerous state, regional and national project steering committees, task forces, governing boards, committees, commissions and associations, and has presented on various topics at local, state, regional, national, and international meetings and conferences.
Sean earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and Certificate of Public Management from the Willamette University, Atkinson Graduate School of Management. Sean is an ISACA Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) and holds a PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Sean also holds a Secret level clearance granted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Scott Montgomery has a tenured career building information security and privacy products, helping organizations increase their defensive posture, evangelizing to technical audiences and the greater public, and driving shareholder value. Scott loves making difficult infosec concepts more accessible to wider audiences. He has presented to numerous audiences as a lecturer and has also testified before Congress. Scott has designed, built, tested, fielded, certified, sold, and supported a wide range of information security and privacy products, notably during a ten-year stint with McAfee. He has also held multiple Chief Technology Officer positions, including for private and public organizations. A native Philadelphian, Scott, his wife, two kids, and two standard poodles now live just outside Washington DC in suburban Maryland.

Anh Selissen serves as the Chief Information Officer at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) with a $500 plus million annual information technology portfolio. Anh has served as the Chief Information Officer for TxDOT since September 2019. In this position, Anh serves as a principal technology advisor to TxDOT’s Executive Director and the senior leadership team. She leads the department’s efforts to transform TxDOT by implementing smart technology solutions, promoting innovation, and strengthening TxDOT’s cybersecurity. She is responsible for transforming the agency’s technology services to exceed the expectations of the customers to meet the mission of the agency – Connecting you with Texas.
Anh has led information technology organizations in both the public and private sectors. She previously held positions as Chief Information Officer (CIO) at NuStats Inc., Director of Enterprise Systems at the University of Texas at Austin, and Deputy CIO at the Texas Comptroller’s Office. In each of her leadership roles, Anh has built a diverse range of experience working across the organization to deliver IT services to meet the needs of the organization and customer community. She is passionate about providing strong customer service and strives to work with her team to provide strong support and services to the organization and their customers. This has resulted in improved interactions with the end user communities and positive positioning of the organizations. Among several professional affiliations, Anh is on the AASHTO Transportation Technology Committee. She served two years as President of the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications, and IT Chair of the State Agency Coordinating Council.
Most recently in April 2023, Anh received a State Leadership of the Year award from StateScoop 50. In 2022, Anh was awarded the Trailblazer Award by the CIO Roundtable 2022. She was named one of the 2021 Boss Ladies by the non-profit, Austin Women in Technology. She received the 2021 IT Executive of the Year Award sponsored by Society of Information Management (SIM) Austin. In 2020 under Anh’s leadership, the Information Technology Division was awarded the TxDOT Grit Award for exemplary performance during the agency’s ransomware event. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Austin Women in Technology - Women in Tech Excellence Award also sponsored by SIM.

Cory Wilburn is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. 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 successfully established IT governance, portfolio management, and digital transformation initiatives.
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.