John Hoffman serves as the Chief Technology Officer for the Texas Department of Information Resources and the Interim State Chief Information Officer. John joined the DIR team in 2010 and has held various roles within the agency in network and security. He is responsible for providing comprehensive strategic planning for the state's technology efforts as well as the agency. John oversees DIR's reporting such as the State Strategic Plan for Information Managers, the Biennial Performance Review. John and the CTO team also ensures strategic development of contracts and services which DIR offers including shared technology services, data center services, enterprise architecture, application management, innovation, and technology implementation.
John brings over 30 years of experience in the technology sector. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri and a Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University.

Dan Thurmon is the founder and President of Motivation Works, a company that helps leaders and their organizations move confidently through change and transformation so that they achieve and contribute MORE. Dan is an expert speaker and performer. He has delivered thousands of presentations across six continents for audiences including world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, educators, and even troops on the front lines of battle. In 2011, he was inducted into the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame. Dan recently served as the President of the National Speakers Association. During his tenure, he led the Board of Directors and the 3,000+ member organization through a critical transformation, which included new governance, a new mission, higher member value, and greater financial accountability. He’s authored two books: Success in Action and Off Balance On Purpose. Dan produces an ongoing weekly video coaching series and podcast in which he shares leadership principles and life-enhancement strategies in under three minutes. He is a health and fitness advocate. In his 50s, Dan continues to train and perform advanced acrobatics, and enjoys hobbies such as golf, mountain unicycling and the flying trapeze.

Teri Takai is the Co-Director of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. She worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in global application development and information technology strategic planning. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of General Motors. A long-time interest in public service led her to the government sector, first as CIO of the State of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California, and subsequently the CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health Plan. She is a member of several industry advisory boards. Teri has won numerous awards including Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year, CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Phil Bertolini is the Co-Director 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.

Dustin Haisler is the Chief Innovation Officer for e.Republic. As Chief Innovation Officer, he has a strategic role to help shape the company’s products, services, and future direction. Primarily, he leads e.Republic Labs, a market connector created as an ecosystem to educate, accelerate, and ultimately scale technology innovation within the public sector. Dustin began he career at a very young age as the finance director and later CIO for Manor, TX, a small city outside Austin. He quickly built a track record and national reputation as an early innovator in civic tech, for which he was named a Government Technology Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver in 2009. A member of Code for America’s original steering committee, Dustin pioneered government use of commercial technologies not before used in the public sector – including Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification. Dustin went on to the private sector to help broaden the adoption of these and other civic innovations. His work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Inc., and the Today Show on NBC. An in-demand speaker, he has given two TEDx speeches – one on Disrupting Government (TEDxAustin) and the other on Disrupting Education (TEDxLivermore).

Prior to Governor Kelly’s appointment as Secretary of Administration, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace served as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Kansas. Dr. Burns-Wallace started her career as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Burns-Wallace has been selected for various leadership opportunities, awards and honors throughout her higher ed and government career, including the 2018 White House Champions of Change College Opportunity, and earning a Superior Honor and three Meritorious Honor awards from the U.S. State Department. Dr. Burns-Wallace serves as a national trainer and curriculum developer for various national professional development organizations, non-profits, and higher ed institutions on issues ranging including micro-aggressions, multigenerational workplace differences, diversity and inclusion, change management, professional development pathways, and strategic planning. Service is also a cornerstone of her journey. Dr. Burns-Wallace currently serves on Stanford University’s Board of Governors, and has previously held board roles in numerous local, regional, and national organizations, and international selection committees including Gates Millennium Scholars, Dell Foundation Scholars, and Rhodes, Marshall, and Fulbright fellowships. Dr. Burns-Wallace holds a dual bachelor’s degree in International Relations and African American studies from Stanford University, a Master in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony Huey is a highly popular international speaker and communications consultant who offers session attendees pragmatic communications tools, tips and techniques they can use immediately in their professional and personal lives. His career includes tenures as a news reporter, magazine senior editor, crisis management specialist, media relations consultant and executive speech coach. Anthony heads Reputation Management, LLC, one of the nation’s leading communications training and crisis consulting companies. He has presented nearly 2,700 keynote speeches, workshops and seminars. His direct client work includes a wide variety of advertising, public relations and communications initiatives for hundreds of trade associations, municipalities and companies.

As Director AT&T’s 5G Center of Excellence, Jason Inskeep leads a cross-functional team focused on 5G Solutions for Business. Jason and his team, comprised of product and technology experts, work directly with AT&T Business customers to shape the evolution of the 5G network to support Business centric use cases. Over the past years, Jason has been at the forefront of the AT&T vision for 5G, serving as the primary presenter in the AT&T Executive Briefing Center. His leadership in this capacity earned him back to back AT&T Visionary Awards in 2017 & 2018.
Most recently, Jason was instrumental in launching the AT&T 5G strategy for Edge, known as Multi-Access Edge Compute (MEC).His background in technology and experience with customers were instrumental in the design, deployment and customer agreement of multiple live 5G trials in environments like one of, if not the first, 5G Manufacturing environment, a Proof of Concept focused on localizing the cellular network to support massive IoT. The success of this and other engagements has not only led to new opportunities in other industries like Healthcare and Retail, but it catapulted AT&T Business to the forefront of the 5G revolution.
Prior to his role in 5G, Jason supported various organizations within AT&T including Sales, Consulting, IoT and Foundry Innovation. Jason obtained his BBA in Computer Information Systems from James Madison University where he was also 2-time All-Conference and Co-Captain of the football team.
Jason and his wife Lauren have 2 children Madison and Audrey and a four-legged daughter Kayso residing in Plano, TX.

Tanya oversees the strategic planning and operational activities for a variety of technology systems and applications at Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby, and Ellington Airports.
Her role is to lead a dynamic team that plays a key role in ensuring the successful execution of HAS’ mission through innovative and enabling technology. Key areas of focus will highlight technologies delivering way finding, passenger flow/tracking, a stronger cyber security posture and a renewed commitment to service level agreements.
With almost three decades of experience, Tanya has a proven track record of successfully implementing innovative solutions that increase efficiency and automate processes resulting in revenue generation and cost savings. Previously, Tanya was the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Travis County in Austin, Texas where she was responsible for the technology strategic direction of an operational budget of $35 million and 6,000 employees. She’s also held various technology roles within County of Orange in Santa Ana, California as well as Toyota Financial Services, Edmunds.com and Answerthink consulting.
Tanya holds a Master's of Business Administration from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Michigan State University. She is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Tanya received the 2013 IT Woman of the Year from the Austin Innotech 16th Annual IT Executive of the Year Awards, 2016 Public Sector Chief Information Officer of the Year from Public CIO Magazine and the 2017 Government Technology Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers Award.

Michael Anderson is a seasoned executive with a proven track record of establishing collaborative teams and state-of-the-art programs for both private and public organizations. His inspirational leadership, technology depth and emotional intelligence help him to drive business objectives, while building alliances. Michael is admired for his analytical acumen, attention to detail and for being an excellent listener. As an entrepreneur, he provides security advisory services and security practitioner mentoring for young and seasoned professionals across North Texas. Leaders and friends characterize him as confident, results-oriented, and patient; able to make difficult concepts easy to understand.
As the Chief Information Security Officer for Dallas County; the eighth largest County in the United States, he oversees the Information Technology (IT) security program for over 6800 County employees and the electronic records for over 2.6 million residents. Using NIST 800 series publications, Michael is currently in the process of building an IT security practice for Dallas County that will become a prototype for other Counties.
Michael earned a Master’s in Information Systems and Management from Capella University. He served in the Army for 10 years in the Intelligence Corp and has 20+ years of strategic and tactical expertise across a wide-range of IT disciplines. When Michael isn’t evangelizing cybersecurity, he enjoys spending time with his family, making music and learning more about the Science of Mindfulness.

Brian Beresford has over 30 years of Public Sector Sales background, covering Federal, State, Local, Higher Ed and K-12 throughout his career. Prior to joining CenturyLink in 2019, Brian has held Leadership roles with GTE/Verizon Business and most recently as the Texas SLED Manager at Time Warner Cable/Charter Communications. As both a People Leader and individual contributor in the past, he’s thrived on carrying a briefcase and obtaining the satisfaction that comes from setting and accomplishing both your personal and professional goals. He has a saying that he lives by “while I might have been in the Public Sector industry for over 3 decades, what I do know is I don’t know everything and am always looking to bend the ear of those who know more and have different experiences than I do”.

Rich Clayton is Vice President of Product Strategy for Oracle Analytics and is responsible for the global adoption of Oracle’s analytic solutions. He has a passion for helping companies transform their organization with data by researching market and technology trends, and engaging customers and partners. He presents at analytics forums around the world on Oracle’s strategy and the future of analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Prior to joining Oracle, he was vice president of product strategy for Hyperion. Before joining the technology industry, Rich held various corporate finance roles and was a certified public accountant with McGladery in Chicago.
Mr. Clayton currently serves as an officer on the Board of Regents for Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa and led the development of the first Business Analytics MBA program in the state. He teaches analytics at University of Oregon and is the executive sponsor for the annual analytics challenge at CalPoly. Mr. Clayton earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from Loras College.

Amanda Crawford is the Executive Director of the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), the agency charged with 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.
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 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. Mandy is also a faculty member of the National Attorneys General Training Research Institute’s Center for Leadership Development, teaching managerial leadership in attorney general offices across the country.

Building on his former role as enterprise architect for the state of Iowa, Chris serves as a trusted advisor to state leaders and legislators. He has helped numerous states and organizations modernize applications, drive business process improvements, define and optimize a automation strategy, and deliver impactful citizen and worker impactful services.
With his deep technical expertise, commitment to client success and insight into public sector priorities and challenges:
• Tennessee Dept of Human Services reduced time to resolve citizen inquiries by 70%,
• Texas Dept of Information Resources achieved 83% CSAT
• Iowa DOT reduced worker onboarding from 6 hours to 30 minutes
• Chris is a proud native Iowan, actively involved in USA Judo, YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, and other family services social groups.

Shonte Eldridge currently serves as an Executive Government Advisor with Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this role she is responsible for engaging State and Local Government leaders to build cloud frameworks that reduce cost, improve service delivery, change customer experience and transform the enterprise into a modern, inclusive, equitable and innovative enterprise. Prior to joining AWS, Ms. Eldridge worked in the public sector for over 20 years and held various C-suite positions including the Deputy Chief of Operations for the City of Baltimore, Chief of Policy, Planning and External Affairs for the Office of the States Attorney for Baltimore City and Chief of Policy for Maryland’s Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. During her time in government she was known for using technology to solve some of the largest operational and social challenges her state and local governments faced, as well as changing the culture to more readily accept and try new technologies. Ms. Eldridge’s work in the industry has appeared in numerous national publications and is often called upon to speak and conduct workshops on the importance of creating holistic digital transformation strategies and how to implement technology that improves operations and delivers a better customer experience.

William A. (Butch) Grote Jr.’s professional career might best be described as diverse and colorful. As a consummate user of automation, technology, project management and e-commerce, he understands and uses technology to aid in identifying ways to save time and money and to streamline virtually all aspects of a company’s day-to-day business and operations.
In addition to working with computer software and hardware for more than 35 years, Butch has a degree in Computer Science and Management, has helped take several start-up companies public, has managed and mentored employees, has been an executive staff member acting in as a liaison between several CEOs and engineering departments.
From 1981 to 1995 Butch held various titles at the Texas Department of Transportation, headquartered in Austin, TX and was the agency’s network/automation administrator for the Texas Department of Transportation. From July 1995 through March 2003, Butch served as the General Manager, Operations Director, Compliance Director and Special Projects Engineer reporting directly to the CEO at GameTech International Inc., then headquartered in Tempe, AZ.
In March 2003 Butch transitioned to a new role as Vice President and General Manager, once again reporting to the CEO at Metro Automation Inc., headquartered in Irving, TX.
In February 2007, he joined the executive management team of Beneplace Inc., where he reported to the CEO. His primary responsibilities were within the Operations, Information Technology and E-commerce areas focusing on product/project management and general management.
In April 2010, Butch returned to State government at TxDOT and began a mission to search for a senior management position. From December 2012 TO June 2015 Butch served as the IT Operations Manager for the Texas Facilities Commission.
In July 2015, Butch joined the Texas Department of Agriculture as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Information Resources Manager (IRM) where he provides leadership for the agency’s technology roadmap, management of information technology services, automation systems, systems architecture.
In July 2020, Butch joined the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Information Resources Manager (IRM) where he provides executive leadership for the agency’s large statewide technology roadmap, management of information technology services, automation systems, systems architecture.

Daniel Hankins is the State of Texas’ Cybersecurity Coordinator. He works promote collaboration, awareness, and education of cybersecurity throughout the state. He also advises and assists public sector entities in risk management, compliance, and security and chairs the Texas Cybersecurity Council. Daniel has over 20 years of experience in a wide range of information technology positions with both public and private sector entities. Daniel has a Bachelor of Science in IT Management and Master of Business Administration from Western Governors University, and holds multiple certifications including CISM, CISA, and ITIL.

Ken Liska is the Systems Engineering Manager for the Citrix State and Local Government team and is based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He brings more than 15 years of engineering, consulting, and virtualization architecture experience to his current role. His current focus is on unifying apps and data into secure digital workspaces for the multitude of state and local government entities across the country to enable their employees and citizens to work more efficiently on any device, anywhere.
Prior to rejoining Citrix, Ken worked at NetApp as the Virtualization Solution Architect, on the U.S. Public Sector team, helping to design and deliver high performance storage solutions to key government and educational virtualization projects across the country. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Destah is a technology and innovation enthusiast with a career built around driving business disruption, customer advocacy and connecting good ideas and good people. A veteran of several of the smallest Silicon Valley Startups as well as some of the biggest behemoths, he has picked up enough knowledge and information to be relatively dangerous. From his humble beginnings as an Electrical Engineer he has touched the data networking, wireless data, and machine learning technologies as a customer facing evangelist and problem solver.
When using his powers for good, he is identifying emerging technologies and finding synergistic solutions for customers and professional colleagues. The latest shiny objects to have caught his fancy are XR (mixed reality), Cybersecurity, and IoT/Smart City technologies.

Tony currently serves as a government technology strategist for state and local governments in the south-central region of the U.S for Dell Technologies. Previously, Tony served as a technology leader with the state of Florida with more than 28 years. In the past 15 years, Tony has held the roles of Executive Director of the Southwood Shared Resource Center, Chief Information Officer in both the Florida Department of Health and the Florida Department of Revenue. During Tony’s distinguished career he led large, complex strategic enterprise transformational initiatives to include datacenter consolidation of state IT resources within three state datacenters, $120 million-dollar Child Support Management System, $110 million-dollar Tax and Revenue Management system (SUNTAX) as well as lead the largest Cloud migration initiatives to date in Florida State Government. Tony earned his bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Maryland (European Division). He served honorably in the United States Air Force and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War. Tony is married to his high school sweetheart Candace and they have two children, Nicola and Quinton.

Kumar Rachuri is a business and information technology (IT) leader with 25 years of experience in leadership, IT program and project management, strategic planning, operations, and corporate business development. He specializes in the identification of State and Local Government business requirements and the development of innovative technological solutions to meet the unique challenges of government. Kumar is currently the Vice President of SLED Services, IBM US Market. Prior to IBM Kumar worked as the Industry Principal for Digital Government Solutions, SLG vertical at Adobe. Previous to Adobe, Kumar worked for the State of Ohio for eighteen plus years. During his long and fulfilling career as a public servant, he contributed his services across five different agencies in various executive roles as a CIO and as a Deputy Director.

After an initial career as a member of a flight crew in the International Airline industry, Sam Segran joined the Information Technology field in 1985 and has been active in this field for over 30 years.
After three years as Deputy Chief Information Officer, he was promoted to the current position of Chief Information Officer for Texas Tech University in April 2003. In this role, he is responsible for all information technology operations and management for Texas Tech University. He is trained in a number of fields, and holds current certifications in IT Service Delivery, Security Leadership, and Legal Issues in Information Technology.
He serves on various national and regional advisory boards, councils and groups, including the Texas Cybersecurity Council, and he is a current Director on the Texas Lonestar Education and Research Network Board (non-profit corp.)
He was also recognized as the 2012 Texas CIO of the Year for the public sector by the Texas CIO Academy and Government Technology.

Anh Selissen serves as the Chief Information Officer, at the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT). She is honored to be a part of this mission critical agency and to be a part of the TXDOT family. Anh has served as the Chief Information Officer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) since September 2019. In this position serves as a principal technology advisor to TxDOT’s Executive Director and the senior leadership team. Her role is responsible for transforming the agency’s technology portfolio to exceed the expectations of the customers to meet the mission of the agency – To Connect you with Texas.
Anh has led information technology organizations in both the public and private sectors. She previously held positions as Chief Information Officer at NuStats Inc., Director of Enterprise Systems at the University of Texas at Austin, and Deputy CIO at the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Among several professional affiliations, Anh is President of the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications, and IT Chair of the State Agency Coordinating Council. 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 in 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.
Anh was recently awarded the 2019 Austin Women in Technology - Women in Tech Excellence Award.

Renee Tarun has over 20 years' experience in the cybersecurity and information technology fields with leadership experience in development and engineering, operations, strategy, policy, and portfolio management, across the intelligence community, law enforcement, and private industry. As Deputy CISO at Fortinet, she focuses on enterprise security, compliance and governance, and product security. Prior to joining Fortinet, she served as Special Assistant to the Director, National Security Agency (NSA), for Cyber and Director of NSA's Cyber Task Force, in which she advanced NSA's execution of its cybersecurity and cyber-related missions by overseeing resources; defining and integrating mission capabilities; and shaping agency strategy and national level policy at the White House. Renee is also a board member for the George Mason University Volgenau School of Engineering, creating synergy between the school and the professional community by addressing workforce development demands, industry expectations, and employment trends. She is married with two children.

Juliana Vida is the Chief Technical Advisor – Public Sector at Splunk, Inc. In this technology evangelist role she provides guidance, direction and thought leadership around Splunk’s data platform capabilities. She brings over 30 years of experience as an accomplished leader and IT professional. Prior to leaving government for industry, she retired after 24 years as a dual-warfare qualified Surface Warfare Officer and decorated Naval Aviator. Her top military awards include the Air Medal and Meritorious Service Medal. Her final years in uniform culminated in senior leadership roles in the Navy’s CIO organization, where she ultimately served as the Navy’s Deputy CIO in the Pentagon.
Juliana is a ’94 US Naval Academy grad, making her one of the first women to be legally permitted to serve in a combat role, which she did on two Navy warships and four squadrons as a helicopter pilot. She deployed five times, including Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.
Prior to joining Splunk, Juliana was a Vice President in Gartner Executive Programs, leading a team of executive partners supporting federal government Chief Information Officers (CIO) and IT senior leaders. Both before Splunk and now, she continues several volunteer activities, including being a Board Director for AFCEA International and a member of the AFCEA International Cyber Committee, Special Advisor to the Washington Cyber Roundtable, a mentor for Women in Technology, and advisor to Naval Academy Alumni Association’s Greater Washington Chapter.

Cory is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Information Resource Manager for the Texas General Land Office (GLO), serving as a trusted partner to the agency’s senior leadership. The GLO has a diverse mission that includes managing a multibillion-dollar real estate trust that helps fund education, providing benefits to Texas veterans, protecting natural resources on the Texas coast, and managing historic treasures like the Alamo. As CIO, Cory is responsible for all aspects of information technology for the GLO’s different lines of business, including innovation, strategic planning, and operations. His team aligns the agency’s technology resources to support business goals, providing innovative solutions that drive continuous improvement throughout the organization.
Cory has 21 years of experience in IT, covering a wide range of roles that includes software development, business and systems analysis, project management, and enterprise architecture. He has a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Business Administration. Cory is a recent graduate of the Governor’s Executive Development Program. He currently serves as a technology advisor to non-profit organizations and holds the office of Treasurer of Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications (TASSCC).