Commonwealth of Virginia

Before he was inaugurated as the 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Ralph Northam served as an Army doctor, pediatric neurologist, business owner, state Senator and Lieutenant Governor.
A native of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Governor Northam was educated at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he graduated with distinction.
After graduation, Governor Northam was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He served eight years of active duty and rose to the rank of major.
He attended Eastern Virginia Medical School and then traveled to San Antonio for a pediatric residency, where he met his wife Pamela, a pediatric occupational therapist at the same hospital. Governor Northam did his residencies at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and served as chief neurological resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As an Army doctor, he served in Germany, treating soldiers wounded in Operation Desert Storm.
When Governor Northam and Pamela returned home, they chose to build their life in Hampton Roads. He began practicing pediatric neurology at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. He established Children’s Specialty Group, his current medical practice, to provide expert pediatric care for patients. Governor Northam also served as assistant professor of neurology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he taught medicine and ethics.
Governor Northam volunteered as medical director for the Edmarc Hospice for Children in Portsmouth, where he spent 18 years caring for terminally ill children.
Governor Northam approaches public service with the same passion he brought to his military and medical service. He is committed to working with leaders from both parties to build a Virginia that works better for every family, no matter who they are or where they live.
Governor Northam is the first native of the Eastern Shore to serve as Governor since Governor Henry A. Wise took office 1856. He is also the first VMI Keydet to serve as Governor since Governor Westmoreland Davis took office in 1918.
Governor Northam and First Lady Pamela Northam have two adult children.

Dr. Keyanna Conner currently serves as Secretary of Administration for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Previously, she served as State Director and Director of Government and Community Affairs for U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner, where she was the primary point of contact between the Senator’s office and representatives of state and local governments, public agencies and constituency organizations. Prior to joining Sen. Warner’s official Senate office, Dr. Conner was a senior advisor on Sen. Warner’s 2014 re-election campaign. Conner received her undergraduate degree in chemistry at Hampton University, and her doctoral degree in organic chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. She grew up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

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.

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.

Nelson P. Moe is the chief information officer (CIO) of the Commonwealth of Virginia and leads the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA). He was appointed by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe on June 8, 2015 and reappointed by Gov. Ralph Northam on March 28, 2018.
As CIO, he leads a 200-person organization responsible for oversight of an information technology (IT) portfolio worth $750 million in infrastructure services, IT procurements, cybersecurity and enterprise architecture. Moe serves as the Commonwealth’s chief IT procurement authority, responsible for enterprise-wide RFPs and contracts for IT infrastructure and applications. The CIO and VITA serve 65 state agencies, 55,000 Commonwealth employees and 8.6 million Virginian residents.
Moe led a multi-year transformation of the Commonwealth’s IT infrastructure services from a single-supplier model to its current multisupplier sourcing model with seven suppliers and an integrator. As one of only three multisupplier models in the country, under Moe’s leadership, Virginia is pioneering new methods of service brokerage, providing unique flexibility, partnerships, competition, emerging technologies and critical business connections to its customers.
Prior to his current appointment, Moe served the U.S. House of Representatives in IT roles for 14 years, including as its CIO for three years. As CIO of the House, Moe developed IT vision, enterprise strategic planning, budget implementation, cybersecurity operations and risk posture, business continuity management, IT services and project management for members, leadership, committees and staff. Prior to his time at the House of Representatives, Moe served in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine officer and worked for several private sector companies and an IT startup.
Moe holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy and graduate engineering degrees from both The Catholic University and George Washington University.

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).

Tricia is a Partner in KPMG’s Consulting Services practice with nearly 20 years of accounting and advisory experience. Tricia has acquired broad based business experience, demonstrated deep strategic insight and built solid technical skills while serving in various leadership roles across KPMG.
Presently, serving as KPMG’s Lead Partner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of KPMG’s service delivery, and for developing a broad ecosystem of partners and alliances in support of the local market. Previously, she spent five years as KPMG Chairman and CEO’s Chief of Staff, directing various parts of the organization to advance KPMG’s strategic pillars. Appointed to this role having successfully served clients in both public accounting and IT consulting for over a decade, and her experience leading complex programs. Her passion lies in bringing the breadth and depth of her network at one of the largest professional services firms in the world, back to her hometown and community.

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.

Milty is a solutions architect with Amazon Web Services and helps clients learn and utilize the depth of services offered within Amazon's cloud. He is involved in both pre and post sales levels and can take you to the technical depths of how to adopt the cloud in your computing environment and present options based on budget, staff, and mission-critical environment.
Milty is a former Navy Nuclear Engineer and submariner serving aboard the USS Norfolk (SSN 714) and USS Memphis (SSN -691).

Mike has over 30 years of information technology experience. Since 2016, Mike is serving as the Chief Technology Officer for Stafford County, Virginia and manages a staff of 20 and a budget of $3 million. Mike has been focused on broadband expansion throughout the County and building the first of its kind smart city testbed for the Commonwealth located in the center for Stafford.
Mike was also the Chief Information Officer for the International City/County Management Association
Prior to joining ICMA Mike served fourteen years as the Chief Information Officer for the City of Rockville Maryland.
He is a member of Valgite, the Society of Information Management (SIM) Captial Area Chapter, and ICMA.
Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business.

Bill Colbert is the leader of EY’s Government & Public Sector Financial Management Consulting practice. He provides business and technology transformation consulting services for clients in the public and private sector. His specialty is helping organizations successfully navigate difficult business transformation by leveraging enabling technology, process improvement and a thoughtful approach to the impact of change on the organization’s workforce.
Bill has spent much of his career working with clients in Government & Public Sector, Industrial Products and Aerospace & Defense sectors, leveraging his specialty in Finance & Accounting operations to advise clients in areas such as Finance operating model, shared services design and implementation, transformation and process improvement, costing and cost management, audit/public company readiness, large-scale system implementation, program risk management and implementation of enabling technologies. His work implementing a major ERP system and Shared Services organization for a global logistics company was recognized by the Association of Management Consulting Firms with its Spotlight award for excellence.
Bill received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Information Systems from Virginia Tech, and is a CPA in the state of Virginia.

Barry has worked in the IT field for over 37 years holding a variety of technology leadership positions in the public and private sectors and is presently the CIO for Chesterfield County, Virginia where he pursues initiatives based on digital transformation, open government and citizen centricity. Under his leadership Chesterfield County Va has been four times recognized as the #1 digital county in the USA. He is an adjunct faculty for Virginia Commonwealth University, an active NACo contributor, two-time president of the Virginia Local Government IT Executives (VALGITE) organization, a certified government CIO and a national top 25 Doer, Dreamer & Driver. He likes to teach, write code and blog about technology leadership

Alan is Executive Vice President of e.Republic and Publisher of Government Technology magazine, where he is involved in the annual production of dozens of events as well as the editorial direction for Governing, Government Technology, Public CIO, Emergency Management, the Center for Digital Government, and the Center for Digital Education. Held regionally in state capitols and large metropolitan areas, the events address key strategy and policy issues as well as the use of information technology in state and local government and education.
Alan has been a guest lecturer at universities and a frequent speaker for key government and industry organizations. For over 35 years, Alan has worked with industry, education and government officials to help them better understand the importance and use of information technology. Alan received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento.

Mike Davis is a Director of Consulting Services for CGI, one of the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. Based out of CGI’s Richmond office, Mike has been with the company for over 23 years and holds senior leadership positions spanning delivery management and oversight, operations, and business development. Over the past two decades, he has led IT engagements for numerous Commonwealth state agencies, including comprehensive modernizations for multiple states. Mike graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in Accounting.

Tony Encinias is a Chief Strategist and Innovation officer for State
and Local Government for the Mid-Atlantic region and joined Dell
Technologies in October of 2019. Prior to joining Dell Technologies, Tony was the Vice President of Technology for ViON Corporation. Prior to his role with ViON, Tony was the Chief Technology Officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and later appointed by Governor Corbett to serve as the Deputy Secretary for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer for the Commonwealth.
Tony is a well-respected and sought after thought leader for large scale technology operations, digital transformation and cyber security. Tony is a retired United States Naval Officer, with over 25 years’ experience in Information Technology management with the Department of Defense (DoD), state government and private sector. During Tony’s distinguished military career he served in leadership roles for the Space and
Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) and for the Department of the Navy, Chief Information Officer. In his final military assignment, he served dual roles as the SAS 70 Program Director with the Defense Information Systems Agency and as the Executive Officer of the Defense Enterprise Computing Center, Mechanicsburg.Tony was honored with Government Technology's Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders and State Scoop’s State Executive of the Year awards.
Tony earned a Masters degree in Information Technology Management from the United States Naval Postgraduate School, a Bachelors degree in Mathematics from the University of Colorado, a Masters Certificate in Project Management from the George Washington University, a Federal CIO Certification through Carnegie Mellon University and is a member of Drexel University’s MIS advisory board.

David Egts is the Chief Technologist of Red Hat’s North America Public Sector organization where he directs a global team of technical experts and field product management to help government clients improve service delivery the open source way. The Office of Chief Technologist, which he leads, adds value to flagship Red Hat technologies such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, OpenShift, and Linux containers. His team helps Red Hat achieve ideal product-market fit by ensuring current and future government requirements are factored into existing products and R&D efforts with a focus on security, compliance, standards, efficiency, and technological improvements. The government readiness activities performed by his team positively impacts public and private sector organizations in the US and internationally with a particular focus on Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UK.
David’s dynamic outward-facing role as a coalition builder reinforces and expands Red Hat’s relations with key government and open source community stakeholders nationally and internationally. He is a trusted Red Hat media spokesperson whose deep technical dives, C-suite policy discussions, and keynote speaker abilities enhance Red Hat’s technical reputation and positioning.
David received industry-wide recognition as a FedScoop 50 Industry Leadership awardee and a finalist for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards. He is a Red Hat Chairman's Award recipient and has won multiple highest employee honors from previous employers Silicon Graphics and Concurrent Technologies Corporation. He is a past Co-Chair on the Board of Directors for the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Software & Services Division (SSD) and is an active member of the Agile Government Leadership Association and the AFCEA DC Emerging Technologies Working Group. David is a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA) and a three-time graduate from the University of Pittsburgh with a BS and MS in Computer Science and an Executive MBA (Katz Graduate School of Business).
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidegts/

Dr. Sara Laskey was the inaugural CXO for The MetroHealth System in Cleveland Ohio. In that capacity she was responsible for all aspects of human-centered design and improving the experience for patients, families, visitors and staff. During her tenure she created three progressive culture-change programs culminating in the transformative “Caring People Caring For People – Welcome. Listen. Care.” workshops. Currently she is a Senior XM Scientist with Qualtrics with a focus on Healthcare and Health Insurance.

Joseph Morris is vice president of Research and a national keynote speaker on issues, trends and drivers impacting state and local government and education. He has authored publications and reports on funding streams, technology investment areas and public-sector priorities, and has led roundtables, projects and initiatives focused on issues within the public sector. Joe has conducted state and local government research with e.Republic since 2007 and knows the ins and outs of government on all levels. He received his Bachelor of Arts in government and international relations from the California State University, Sacramento.

Robert (Bob) Osmond is the Chief of Technology and Business Strategy for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Bob joined the Commonwealth and VDOT in 2015 as the Division Administrator for the Information Technology Division. In 2019, Bob was promoted to Chief and accepted leadership for business integration services, strategic innovation, and information technology. Prior to joining the Commonwealth, Bob was a Partner in IBM’s Global Business Services division where he led organizations responsible for application development, organizational change management, and human capital management. Prior to IBM, Bob worked for RWD Technologies (later acquired by General Physics) as their Director of eLearning where he led multiple global enterprise application organizational change management projects. Bob attended Virginia Tech, where he obtained his BS and MS Degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Bob has served as a lecturer for the George Washington School of Business and guest lectured at the University of Maryland.

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.

Zach Patton is the Chief Editor of the Content Studio at e.Republic and Government Technology. He has been covering the public sector for nearly 20 years. Until 2019, he was the Executive Editor of Governing magazine, where he also had served as a staff writer for more than a decade.

Carlos Rivero is the Chief Data Officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to his appointment, Rivero served as Chief Data Officer and Chief Enterprise Architect for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration in Washington, D.C. Rivero has also worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Miami, Florida, as a physical scientist and as a Research Associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, where he developed a passion for geospatial information systems, ecological modeling, and data. Rivero earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics from Saint Joseph’s University, focusing on database design, data management, business intelligence, big data, and data analytics.

Demetrias Rodgers is the Director of Enterprise Technology Services & Solutions for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. He leads various teams responsible for Platform Operations and Enterprise Services as well being responsible for the oversight and governance of all Cloud based services for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Demetrias joined VITA back in 2016 where he immediately wrote the Third party use policy for allowing for third party hosted solutions to be used within the Commonwealth which cleared the way for the introduction of cloud into the Commonwealth.
Prior to joining VITA Demetrias held top IT positions in organizations such as WorldCom, SunCom AT&T, and most recently Northrop Grumman where he served as the IT Portfolio Services Manager for the VITA contract, In his tenure with Northrop Grumman Demetrias served in various capacities over the 10 years he supported the VITA/NG partnership including acting as Program Security Officer where he supported the needs of the Commonwealth security objectives.
Demetrias currently holds the following accreditations: ITIL V3, PMP, CISSP and CCSP. He attended Strayer University as well as the Booth School of Business’ as part of their Strategy Development Executive Program. He prides himself in being a strategic thinker with a history of finding and delivering creative technology solutions that enable organizations to better perform in achieving its goals. Demetrias was responsible for developing and implementing the model for assessing and ensuring ongoing oversight for Cloud Software as a Service applications and now is responsible for approving the use of all cloud services for the Commonwealth of Virginia Executive Branch agencies. Demetrias Drafted the Governors “Executive Order 19 Cloud Service Utilization and Readiness” which was signed by the Governor Northam on September 18, 2018.

Travis Sarkees has over 12 years’ experience serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. His focus is to makes it easier and more enjoyable for citizens, private businesses, and government agencies to interact with one another.
Travis has established a reputation as a leading-edge technology consultant, enthusiastic collaborator, and most importantly, an advantageous partner to the clients he serves. At NIC Virginia, he ensures the successful design, development, and implementation of one-of-a-kind technology solutions which ensure NIC Virginia is at the forefront of creating applications that execute secure government transactions with an intuitive user experience.
His years of expertise in technology innovation is backed by a unique understanding of state and local government needs. To Travis, every project is a vital partnership between developers and clients, with a focus on fostering collaboration and active listening. Ultimately, he believes success is directly reflected by having many strong relationships with new and long-standing partners.

Anup Srikumar is the Technical Lead for Agency Informatics at the Virginia Department of Health. Driven by his passion for data value, Anup is focused on ensuring that the business teams are able to understand the health of their data, finding data value levers and identifying opportunities for optimization. He is the liaison with the Office of Information Management, leading the efforts of the Informatics team in the development of a data culture, policies, and strategy.
Anup has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics from Bharatiyar University, India and a Master of Science in Computer Applications from the University of Madras, India. His expertise is in the areas of data management, data transformation and data visualization.

Melinda Stewart is the Director of Digital Innovation & Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA). With over 25 years of experience working in the information technology field, she leads multiple IT teams that provide IT support including website, application, architecture and project management services to VITA and the Governor’s Office of Virginia. She is also responsible for several enterprise services and the Virginia.gov citizen portal. Melinda holds a Master’s of Science from the University of Virginia in the Management of IT.

Herb is a State, Local and Education Strategist. Having history in various government CIO roles he is responsible for assisting customers achieve their strategic outcomes through understanding their business issues and how policy can impact business outcomes. He has been sharing best practices learned from around the country on optimization, workforce modernization and hybrid cloud. He also is providing insight in practical implementations of AI, Smart Communities and blockchain at many government conferences.
Prior to joining in 2018, VMware Herb served as the State of Wisconsin Deputy State CIO and CTO, CIO for Health and Family Services and Corrections.

Tom Yeatts is an experienced IT executive with a proven track record of delivering results. Before joining ServiceNow as SLED CTO, Tom served as deputy CIO for Howard County, MD. His responsibilities included designing the architecture and delivering IT projects in support of the county’s vision to connect its citizens and workforce on a secure and stable environment. Tom graduated from Virginia Tech and resides in Maryland.