Chris Behre is an Information Systems Manager with the West Virginia State Police. He has 10 years of experience developing solutions for law enforcement as well as overseeing state criminal justice systems and networks which have led to a passion for technology integration and automation.

Walta Belai is a Program Expert at the West Virginia Department of Education. Originally from Ethiopia, West Virginia is his adopted home. With 14 years of experience specializing in infrastructure, Walta has worked in health, private industry, and education. He believes we should never stop learning and growing.

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.

In 2020, Sarah completed training at NewForce, a full-stack software development program. Prior to becoming a junior full-stack software developer, Sarah worked over ten years in retail. Currently, Sarah works at West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, WV, where she helps to minimize tedious work with automation programming.

Neil started IT work at age 6 with a Digital Equipment PDP8 computer and teletype in 1968. Neil has three adopted children. Neil has worked as an Air Quality Inspector, a developer and an oracle database administrator since starting at WVDEP in 1996. Neil has a BS in Computer Engineering.

Jon Cutler is the Chief Information Security Officer. In the past 24 years, he has worked in a number of roles in the Marshall Information Technology team. Reporting to the CIO, he responsible for campus IT Information Security, and participates in a number of IT service and security initiatives.

Chuck began work at the WVDEP in 2012 and has spent his entire time with the Division of Water and Waste Management. He currently enjoys a challenging and varied work assignment in Groundwater/UIC which has also allowed him to visit every county in the state in short order. He is married to an environmental professional and they share two children.

Mr. Gilbert serves as a Cybersecurity Advisor in the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He supports the Cybersecurity Advisor (CSA) program, the region and CISA’s mission through the goal of strengthening the security, reliability and resilience of the Nation's critical cyber infrastructure and serves in this role across the states of Virginia and West Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia.
As a CSA, Mr. Gilbert conducts various cyber preparedness, risk mitigation and incident response coordination activities though public and private partnerships and outreach efforts across the region and serves as a regional point of contact to CISA. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Gilbert had served as a senior analyst with the CSA program’s headquarters where he led the development of various tools used by the CSA program to measure and strengthen the cybersecurity management capabilities of critical infrastructure organizations.
Mr. Gilbert has been with CISA, and the Department of Homeland Security for over 11 years and has over 17 years of experience in cybersecurity spanning the commercial, federal civilian, and DoD communities. He currently holds the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, the Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) certification, the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) certification.

Ian McQuinn is the General Manager of NIC’s West Virginia Enterprise Office. Since 2013, Mr. McQuinn has led his team of experienced digital government professionals as they have delivered over 400 high-impact government services and websites for 165 state and local government agencies.

Rowan Miranda, Ph.D. leads public sector strategy at Workday. Prior to Workday, Rowan led Accenture’s Public Sector Finance & Administration practice. Rowan has served as a CFO in city/county government and in the higher education sectors. He has also served on the graduate faculty of several universities teaching public finance, information systems and public management.

Jamison Mitchell was selected to be the Director of Applications for the State of West Virginia Office of Technology, in June 2018. Since his time at the WVOT, he has begun re-identifying the State’s Program Management Office and platform level services, targeting strategic customer engagements that focus on identifying technology investment and adoption opportunities that will improve overall product return on investment and cost sharing at the state enterprise level.

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.

Sharon started work with the WVDEP September 4, 2012 as an Office Assistant 3, since then Sharon has become an Environmental Resource Associate.  Sharon has always worked in the Division of Water and Waste Management since starting at WVDEP in 2012.

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.

Donald Peal is a retired Captain from the Charleston Police Department and is currently the Director of Information Services for the City of Charleston WV. During his 21-year career as a police officer, he served the last 11 years commanding the Records, Research, and Technology bureau. Under his leadership, the police department was transitioned to a digital era of systems which included modernizing the organization’s public safety applications and mobile computing solutions. After retiring from the police department, he assumed the role of IT administrator for the City of Charleston where he served as the Project Manager and cybersecurity consultant for various enterprise technology initiatives. Don has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity with a focus on criminal justice and leadership.

Mary Jane Pickens was appointed Deputy Cabinet Secretary for the Department of Administration on January 1, 2015. On that date she was also hired as Executive Director of the state’s Board of Risk and Insurance Management. During 2016, Ms. Pickens served as Acting Secretary for the Department of Administration in addition to her role at BRIM.
Prior to her service in the Department of Administration, Ms. Pickens served as General Counsel of the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner from 2003 to 2011, and was employed by a Charleston law firm in the Government Relations and Regulatory Compliance Practice Group from 2011 through 2014. Prior to her public service, Ms. Pickens worked in private legal practice from 1985 through 2000.
Ms. Pickens is a native of West Virginia and graduated from West Virginia University in 1982. She earned her law degree from Ohio Northern University in 1985 and was admitted to practice law by the West Virginia State Bar that year. Ms. Pickens is admitted to practice before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Dr. Carl Powell is the Director of the West Virginia Network, a technology service provider for West Virginia’s education, non-profit, and local government organizations. With over thirty-five years of experience in senior IT leadership, he is a seasoned CIO with extensive experience in executive leadership, strategic planning, and technology management.

Joshua Spence was named Chief Technology Officer for the State of West Virginia, Office of Technology, in November 2018. Under his leadership, the state has begun a digital transformation designed to build a digital government capability seeking to leverage technology to improve both citizen services and internal government operations. To date, the state has embarked on a number of initiatives to include: establishing a holistic cyber risk management approach to cybersecurity, the modernization of the physical technology infrastructure with data center 2.0, and a workforce technology development endeavor dubbed Project Sunrise.

2021 marks the 28th year in Dave’s information technology career. In his current role as CIO for the WV Secretary of State’s Office, he has overseen several process and application modernizations, assisted with office pandemic adaptations, and aided in the transition of elections technology into the U.S. Critical Infrastructure.

Teri Takai is 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.

Sheryl Webb was appointed as the Director of the Division of Personnel in 2017. Since her time at the DOP, she has worked to maximize customer relations, streamline processes, and be a resource for applicants and agencies that we serve. Prior to her time at the DOP, Sheryl was the Deputy Secretary of State/Chief of Staff with the Secretary of State’s Office. She also served in the Communications Department with the State Treasurer’s Office. Sheryl has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Organizational Communications from Marshall University.