Registration and Morning Refreshments

Governor’s Ballroom Lobby

Opening Remarks

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Todd Kimbriel, Interim Executive Director & Chief Information Officer, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas

Opening Keynote – Performing Under Pressure: Doing Your Best When It Matters Most

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Bill Benjamin, Partner, Institute for Health and Human Potential

Nobody performs better under pressure. Regardless of the task, pressure ruthlessly diminishes our judgment, decision-making, attention, dexterity and performance in every professional and personal arena. In this program, you will be introduced to the concept of pressure management, offering the latest science on how your brain responds under pressure, and many empirically tested strategies to help you overcome the sabotaging effects of pressure.

The content and research for this program is based on the New York Times bestselling book, Performing Under Pressure.

This program provides insight into how pressure impacts the cognitive part of your brain. Using this insight, you will learn proven strategies to enable you to perform your best when is matters most.

Shark Tank Session Pitches

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Each concurrent session will provide a brief pitch on why you should attend. Prizes will be awarded to the team with the highest session attendance.

Break

Governor’s Ballroom Lobby

Concurrent Sessions

A Recipe for Success: Finding the Right Data Ingredients to Create a Successful Open Data Initiative

Meeting Room 406

Open data and transparency have been big trends in digital government for years, and the last two legislatures have focused on the opportunities offered through open data. This session will provide attendees with an understanding of the state’s open data portal offering (data.texas.gov), tricks for selecting good data sets, and understanding the pitfalls of secure or protected data.

Moderator: Kay Meyer, Principle Industry Consultant, SAS

Panelists:

Eddie Block, Chief Information Security Officer, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas

Matt Esquibel, IT Division Manager, Web and Application Services, City of Austin

Ed Kelly, Statewide Data Coordinator, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas

George Rios, Chief Information Officer, Department of Parks and Wildlife, State of Texas

Innovating Through Change

Meeting Room 408

Change is a constant, so how do you drive positive change, improve business results, inspire others to follow, and know when it’s working? This session will address these questions in the context of three major technology changes within the State of Texas operations:

1. From Consolidation to Outsourcing - how leaders in Texas state and local government have met the demands of change successfully to drive innovation and improve efficiencies;

2. Continuous Modernization - how today’s operations and IT architectures demand continuous updates and improvement to meet the digital service demands and needs of program and constituents; and,

3. Cyber Security - how changing certain behaviors can reduce cyber security vulnerabilities and why this is so hard.

Moderator: Donna Ribinskas, Portfolio and Projects Director, Texas.gov/TxNIC

Panelists:

Ann Bishop, Executive Director (Retired), Employees Retirement System, State of Texas

Rebecca Gray, Executive Director, Information Technology, Tarleton State University

John Miri, Chief Administrative Officer, Lower Colorado River Authority

Collaboration Success Story - Ensuring Border Security

Meeting Room 410

The officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety, agents of the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and multiple local jurisdictions have responsibility to oversee 320 river miles, 250 coastal miles and 19 counties equating to over 34,000 square miles of Southeast Texas. DPS has worked closely with Border Patrol partners for many years on border security efforts in Texas, including most recently Operation Strong Safety. This collaboration is faced with many challenges in communication, governance and procedural differences. Director McCraw and Acting Chief Ortiz give examples of the cooperative efforts to protect the Texas border and perspective on organizational and personal skills necessary for collaboration.

Steve McCraw, Director, Department of Public Safety, State of Texas

Raul L. Ortiz, Acting Chief Patrol Agent, Rio Grande Valley Sector, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security

Lunch

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Lunch Keynote – Vertical Leadership in Action: 7 Principles & 1 Essential Question to Build Trust beyond Title, Leadership beyond Position and Commitment beyond Circumstance

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Manley Feinberg II, International Speaker & Business Leader, Vertical Lessons, Inc.

Technology leaders often struggle to deliver more value under tightening budget constraints and rising user expectations. Add the complications of regulations, engaging a multi-generational work force, constantly shifting technology, and the balance of personal life needs, and you have a serious challenge. After facing the same frustrations from the front lines to the executive level for more than 20 years, Manley believes the answer is to equip individuals at all levels with tools to make them think, act, and influence as leaders in their environment. Attendees will gain 7 strategies and 1 essential question to develop a leadership mindset that engages, equips, and inspires both them and their team members to step up and lead regardless of their title.

Manley is recognized as an award winning international speaker and business leader, a best-selling author, published outdoor adventure photographer and professional musician. He serves as the President of the National Speakers Association – St. Louis chapter – and is a member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Leadership Training Staff.

Break

Governor’s Ballroom Lobby

Concurrent Sessions

Tips to Reel in the Next-Gen IT Workforce: Are You Using the Right Bait?

Meeting Room 406

The competition is tough! The recruitment of next-gen IT talent is essential for creating an intergenerational workforce. Learn about traditional and non-traditional recruiting tools that work, tools that could be abandoned, and how to retain the talent once acquired. Find out what you should be looking for in the Next-Gen workforce and what they are looking for in you. Our panel includes industry experts that can help Public Sector IT Managers reel in and create a diverse organizational workforce for success.

Moderator: Sam Segran, Chief Information Officer, Texas Tech University

Panelists:

Manley Feinberg II, International Speaker & Business Leader, Vertical Lessons, Inc.

Jay Killough, Director, University Career Center, Texas Tech University

Rebecca Radney, University Relations Manager, AT&T College Recruiting, AT&T

Smarter Cities, the Big Frontier

Meeting Room 408

In the past few years, cities have migrated from analog to digital and have become increasingly "smarter." A smart city uses digital technologies to enhance quality and performance of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption, and to engage more effectively and actively with its citizens. Join these panel members in a lively discussion on how to make cities smarter with a focus on partnerships and collaboration, innovation, how to improve city services and effective ways to engage the public.

Moderator: Sherri Greenberg, Director, Center for Politics and Governance, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Panelists:

Stephen Elkins, Chief Information Officer, City of Austin

Fabrizio Fiori, Director, SDN Solutions, Software Defined Architecture, Avaya

Hugh Miller, Chief Information Officer, City of San Antonio

Sean Telles, Federal Solutions Architect, ForeScout Technologies

How Many Chiefs does it take to…? CIO/CTO/CDO

Meeting Room 410

There has been a wave of titles being thrown about in technology circles to address a variety of perceived holes in the repertoire of the incumbent Chief Information Officer – Innovation, Data, Technology… What does this mean? In some areas, one can see that an Innovation Officer can be at odds with an Information Officer if the roles are aimed at protecting the data center vs. innovating out of it. Some discussions focus on where should all these people report and what should their duties and coordination activities be? With this session, we can share some thoughts on this from those who have dipped their toes in the water and see what others are thinking about as they wrestle for relevance amid these new or different titles.

Moderator: Harsh Bajpai, Global Cloud Services Director, Public Sector, Unisys

Panelists:

Tanya Acevedo, Chief Information Officer, Travis County

Ed Kelly, Statewide Data Coordinator, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas

Casey Kennedy, Director, Information Services, Office of Court Administration, State of Texas

Kay Meyer, Principal Industry Consultant for State & Local Government, SAS

Melody Parrish, Chief Information Officer/Chief Data Officer, Texas Education Agency

Break

Governor’s Ballroom Lobby

General Session – Machines are talking Are you listening?

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

We are nearing the dawn of a very interesting age. From robotics, to smart homes, to web-connected light bulbs, HVAC units, servers and routers—machines are in use everywhere. These machines have a lot to say, but what happens when you start listening? What things come to light and what new discoveries can you make? What questions can you now ask of your world? This session will explore machine to machine analytics as government organizations deploy more applications for their citizens and contend with an exploding Internet of Things.

Bert Hayes, Senior Solutions Engineer, Splunk

General Session – One Breach Away……

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E

Cyber-attacks have become more organized, advanced, persistent, and adaptive. It is imperative for government organizations to be prepared to meet these dire challenges, and still meet current user’s demands and compliance requirements. This session will explore the enterprise deficiencies attackers use at the front lines of cyber warfare, while exposing the similarities and tactics being deployed. We will also explore ways to modernize your IT Infrastructure to better protect your enterprise and make it less complicated to manage and more adaptive to today’s modern, mobile worker so if a worst-case scenario happens to you - you can be prepared not to be one breach away…..

Moderator: Maureen Torncello, National Conference Director, e.Republic

Panelists:

Eddie Block, Chief Information Security Officer, Department of Information Resources, State of Texas

John Kimberly, Senior Systems Engineer – Federal, State and Higher Education, Centrify Corporation

Kevin Thompson, Threat Analyst, FireEye

The Texas CIO Academy Awards Ceremony and Reception

Governor’s Ballroom Salon D/E