John Azariah has worked in the technology sector for over 20 years and is a Solutions Engineer with Cloudera since 2019, during this time he has been helping government customers with their data management strategies including modernization , analytics and governance with Cloudera's Hybrid Data Platform. Prior to Cloudera, John has also worked at Oracle and Accenture consulting where he was involved in architecting high performing data warehouses and mission critical business applications. He has also played instrumental consulting roles in large global platform modernization and digital transformation projects across various industry sectors. John holds an MS in Computer Science from Texas A&M university.

Carlos De León has worked in the technology sector for over 25 years and is the Security Architect for the WA State Department of Revenue since 2018, during this time he has been helping the agency mature its security posture and prepare for cloud adoption beginning with SaaS and working towards IaaS while meeting compliance requirements. Prior to state service, Carlos worked at Rackspace where he was involved in managing enterprise customers hosted and cloud infrastructure. Carlos is passionate about technology and security, and he currently runs ToorCon Security conferences in California and Washington. He also is the Chairman of the board for OlyMEGA a makerspace in downtown Olympia.

Tami Fillyaw is the Finance and Administration (F&A) Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Her role is to help state and local government agencies leverage the cloud to improve business operations, financial performance, and customer interactions. Prior to AWS, Tami served 22 years in Florida government leading statewide policy initiatives and enterprise operations as the state’s Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Deputy Secretary of Workforce Operations, and Chief of Staff. During her time in public service, she founded Florida’s transparency portal for state expenditures and contracts, modernized the state’s $2.7 billion group health plan, and transformed labor, retirement, and procurement functions using cloud-based tools.

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

In his role as CTO Stephen leads KCIT’s 275-person Technology Division with responsibility and accountability for the delivery of End-User Support, Core Infrastructure, Production Operations, and Engineering products and services. Stephen has over 20 years of information technology experience including technical and leadership roles within financial services, consumer products, and local government organizations. Stephen has held a variety of roles at King County including Lead Software Developer, Application Development & Support Manager, Software Engineering Manager, and Deputy Director of the Infrastructure, Operations and Engineering Division.

Patrick Keaton is an IBM sales and delivery executive with over 25 years of State and Local, Life Sciences and Healthcare expertise. Patrick’s previous experience has allowed him to help many clients deploy critical, regulatory compliant industry solutions in the domains of Customer Relationship Management and Advanced Digital Automaton as well as Clinical Data solutions. Currently, Patrick is responsible for all of IBM’s Public Sector Expert Labs delivery within North America.

Bill Kehoe joined WaTech as the Director and State CIO for Washington on August 2, 2021. He joins us from Los Angeles County in California where he has served as the Chief Information Officer since 2017.
While at Los Angeles County, he managed enterprise security, information management, enterprise architecture and technology consulting services for 37 county departments. He also advised the Board of Supervisors and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) regarding enterprise technology strategy, policy, and governance.
He has a long history of managing information technology departments in local and state governments, including over 15 years in Washington state agencies and counties. Before working as CIO for Los Angeles County, he held the Chief Information Officer and Information Department Director for King County from 2010-2017 and served as the first Chief Information Officer for the Department of Licensing from 2002-2010.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Gonzaga University and a project management certificate from the University of Washington. He has also completed Lean Six Sigma training.

Megan Kennedy is the Director of the UW Resilience Lab. As a leader and facilitator, Kennedy aims to build healthy and compassionate learning communities. From engaging stakeholders in vision-setting to partnering with students, staff, and instructors, her approach to leadership centers on collaborative relationships. She believes that building high-quality wellness and educational programs requires teamwork at every level. Currently, Kennedy is developing and evaluating systems-based approaches to well-being that combines applied research, education, and collaborative programming across three University of Washington campuses. This includes partnering with academic departments, student wellness groups, and community-based organizations seeking to deepen their capacity for mindfulness and resilience. Kennedy earned her master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Science from Bastyr University and is a licensed therapist with over a decade of experience in public and private practice.

Daniel Key is the director of the City of Tacoma's Information Technology Department. He is responsible for establishing the City’s technology vision and leading technology advancement in support of the City’s broader mission and objectives. His scope of responsibilities include: strategy, program and portfolio planning, telecommunication services, digital government services, business applications services, governance and risk management, cybersecurity, and infrastructure operations.
Key joined the City of Tacoma in April 2018 from Seattle City Light, where he had served as Information Technology Director. He believes in helping community members live healthier and more sustainable lives through the application of information technology.

Jim Loter is the Interim Chief Technology Officer for the City of Seattle and Director of the Seattle Information Technology Department. He has worked in public sector and higher education IT for 28 years. Jim has a Master’s degree in film studies from the University of Iowa.

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.

Jon Morrison Winters is the Digital Equity Program and Broadband Manager for the City of Seattle. Jon has over a decade of leadership experience in the non-profit and government sectors, with a focus on human services and transportation planning. He has managed social connectivity and digital equity initiatives since 2020. He holds a Master of Urban Planning degree from the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.

For 15 years, Dugan Petty served in Oregon state government. His goal was to improve its effectiveness at the enterprise level. He served as the state’s chief information officer for six years. His collaborative leadership led to a new e-government delivery system, open government applications, strengthening security, and improvements in IT governance.
He moved to Oregon in 1998 to become the state’s chief procurement official. During this time, he co-led a cross jurisdictional taskforce in the modernization of Oregon’s procurement statutes. In 2003-2004, he led a sourcing initiative called Smart Buy that improved contract outcomes and reduced spending. During this time, he gained a reputation as a trusted leader who could work with diverse groups to achieve consensus-based outcomes in procurement, risk management, sustainability, and information technology.
Before coming to Oregon, he served in Alaska state government for over 24 years. He started his career in facilities management. His effectiveness as an innovator and leader was recognized, and he was promoted to deputy director of General Services and eventually director of General Services. Then, his knowledge and effectiveness in managing state procurement resulted in an appointment as the state’s chief procurement officer.
Dugan is a past president of both the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO). Additionally, he was a founding member and past chair of the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA). He received the Julio Mazzone Distinguished Service Award in public purchasing in 2004, and Government Technology magazine named Dugan one of its Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers for 2011.
Petty holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Oregon.

Kris is originally from Canada and has lived and worked across North America with global companies and their partners.  Most recently she worked in the gathering of data, engaging predictive and cognitive analytics, to improve and enhance business outcomes – which was foundational to creating complex and powerful solutions for her clients.   Kris is an accomplished IT & Business Professional, having worked for several years at IBM enabling clients to use technology to drive better outcomes and the enhancement of workforces and workplaces.  Kris has seen the power of Artificial Intelligence as the marketplace has advanced from the simplicity of chatbots to tools and models that have enabled governments to leverage their analytics more broadly across society.  Kris is an advocate for ‘we don’t know the outcome yet thinking’, and that only through courageous use of technology can we explore and advance to new possibilities.

Bryan Schneider is a Director in the Fortinet Capture Team. His expertise includes 20+ years of experience in Public Sector advanced solutions business development for a range of Wireless carriers, including leading strategic initiatives such as Mobile Security, Endpoint protection, Digital Transformation, Mobile Forms, LBS, Interoperability, IOT and OT, covering SLED, K12 and Federal Agencies. Bryan also brings domain expertise into Public Safety, Next Generation 911, FirstNet, Telco/ISP, CJIS, Remote WFH solutions, and Federal ZTA initiatives.

Greg Smith is a mission-driven technology leader with a history of delivering strategic solutions, operational excellence, and a results-oriented culture focused on delivering business value. Greg's strategic leadership, ability to forge partnerships, and technical depth ensure internal technology strategies and efforts align with the expectations of the customer. Greg is the Chief Information Security Officer, and Director of the Security and Infrastructure Division within the Seattle Information Technology Department. He has over 25 years of experience in public sector technology and is responsible for the City's cybersecurity program as well as the strategy and service delivery of foundational technologies on which City business operates. He leads and directs a broad range of high-level teams tasked with delivering the best in-class digital services for the City's many resident-facing departments.

John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of California Irvine. John is passionate about technology, and he currently runs a Special Interest Group of technical and business leaders charged with delivering innovative digital services to their industry.

For more than a decade, Dr. Kevin D. Starks has proven to be a noteworthy leader in the space of equity in education. In his current work as a K-12 Education Industry Segment Advisor with T-Mobile, he partners with districts and libraries across the central region to help close the digital divide. In addition to thought-partnering with academic institutions spanning 15 states, Dr. Starks can also be credited for his research on cultural sensitivity within children’s literature. He recently completed a 3-year term as a board member for St. Louis nonprofit, Noble Neighbor, bringing in-person authors and free books to underserved schools and children throughout the St. Louis region. Dr. Starks is also an adjunct professor at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville where he teaches Master’s level capstone courses to education’s promising future school administrators. Dr. Starks holds a doctoral degree in education administration from Lindenwood University.

Nick Stowe joined WaTech as the state’s Chief Enterprise Architect on June 1, 2021, where he’s responsible for the enterprise architecture program, the open data program and several key state initiatives including the resident identity management initiative and the enterprise cloud computing program.
Nick has served in many IT roles during his career. Prior to joining WaTech, he was the Chief Information Officer for the Employment Security Department. Before ESD, he was the CIO at the Department of Commerce and also worked as a consultant with Booz Allen. Nick also served in the military providing architecture and technology management support to the Army and the National Guard.
Nick earned his undergraduate degree in Engineering Management from Lafayette College and has a graduate certificate in Chief Information Officer (CIO) competencies from Carnegie Mellon University.
Nick and his wife Trista – who met in an online video game and still play together – have a two-year-old daughter. He is passionate about environmental sustainability, gamification and augmented reality.
His personal motto: “Do the thing.”

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.

Mr. Russel Weiser has supported Identity Access Management, specifically focused on directory services such as LDAP, X.500, PKI, and numerous identity solutions, for 27 years. He is a security product development manager at Verizon working on IAM products such as the Verizon ID and Integrated PKI Authentication (IPA).

Scott West has worked in private sector information technology for 27 years and public service for 6 years. His focus has been on Entrepreneur technology, accounting and finance, and procurement technology. Scott focuses on simplifying work processes through modernization and innovation with an eye to the future and how technology can solve more complex challenges in the state. Scott currently sits as the Department of Ecology’s CIO where he is working with his team to embrace change and fail often.