Dr. Akers recently retired with over 45 years of information technology work experience in the public and private sectors. He served in several leadership roles in senior IT management including the Florida Crime Information Center, the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, the Alabama Department of Revenue and the Alabama Department of Finance. Dr. Akers also served as the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer for the state of Alabama. His private sector experience includes managing the development of large application systems and as Vice President of a privately owned small business. Before his retirement from Auburn Montgomery in June of 2013, Dr. Akers served as the Senior Director for the Center for Advanced Technologies, University Outreach. He directed all of the activities of the Center in providing blended services in advanced information technology solutions to improve the operation and knowledge of information technology organizations in the private and public sector. Dr. Akers managed numerous contract agreements with public sector organizations providing consulting services focused on technology strategic planning, large IT procurement, organizational analysis, business continuity and disaster recovery, application development, staff augmentation, digital government, security management, risk management, business process reengineering and simulation, and project management.
Dr. Akers also served as an Adjunct Instructor in the College of Business, Information Systems and Management Department teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in information technology.

Jayson Goldman is the Managing Director of the North American division of Asysco.
Asysco is a legacy transformation company with 35 years’ experience in delivering turnkey mainframe migration solutions leveraging sophisticated technology that automatically converts entire IBM Mainframe, Unisys Mainframe and any COBOL workloads to modern, distributed, standards based platforms.
Once migrated, legacy applications and data gain all the advantages from the capabilities of the target technology while faithfully retaining the intrinsic value of the original legacy system and can readily be modernized in a strategic, agile approach.
Asysco customers include Global 100 and Public Sector organizations across North America and EMEA in all industries.

Robert Hines is the Director of Operations at Alabama Interactive, NIC Inc.’s subsidiary in the state, and for the last eleven years has helped to deliver over 260 custom applications to Alabama government entities. For the past seven years, he has been a key player in the team that designs, builds and maintains mobile applications for the state, and has overseen the development of various iOS, Android and responsive cross platform applications. Mr. Hines received his undergraduate degree in Information Systems and his MBA from Auburn University in Montgomery.

Denise Jeffries joined Regions AD-Core, Enterprise Data Services in June of 2013. She and her team work closely with the internal Business Units to maximize opportunities for using data warehouse systems to improve the development and delivery of business information. Her team supports Region’s Hadoop based Operational Data Store and an Oracle Exadata based warehouse using prominent technologies around data such as ETL, data quality/reconciliation, analysis, reporting and dashboard delivery. Big Data is a focus for the organization’s informational needs.
A primary responsibility of her group is in enabling Data Governance to promote the strategic use of information, and provide the standardized methods and tools to empower the business to effectively use data. She served as SVP of Enterprise Data Warehousing at BBVA Compass from 2007 – 2013 where she implemented their enterprise data warehouse. From 1995-2007 she worked for R.L. Polk & Co. in Southfield, Michigan a global automotive data provider where she held various levels of responsibility from Chief Architect & Sr. Technologist, Director Data Warehousing and started the Enterprise Data Management Group.
Denise is a proponent for data management and business intelligence technologies in the Birmingham technical community, she currently serves as 2016 Chair for Tech Birmingham, as well as being an Advisor to UAB’s Information Engineering Program. In 2013 Denise helped start Birmingham Women in Technology (BWIT), this group’s purpose is to give women in Birmingham a forum for networking and connecting while having a common mission of encouraging young women in pursuing technology fields. She a volunteer for the United Way and Junior Achievement firmly believing giving back is an important aspect of everyone’s career.
Denise holds certifications including Masters Designations from The Data Warehousing Institute, The Data Management Assn and the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals, as well as holding CMMI certifications from Carnegie Mellon. She earned her Six Sigma Green Belt from the University of Michigan’s Management School. Her formal education includes a Bachelors of Science from Colorado Technical University and a Masters in Engineering from UAB’s Information Engineering Management School.

Eric Johnson currently leads the Americas Cloud Consulting Practice in a IT Strategist role responsible for the Cloud Consulting Product Line for TS Consulting. Eric has over 20 years of experience working with fortune 500 companies, primarily focused in the Fortune 100 across a wide assortment of industries (Financial, Manufacturing, Insurance, Technology, etc...) enabling them with a focus on business outcomes that leverage technology rather than just focusing on the technology itself.

Kathy Johnson is Director of the Office of Broadband Development (OBD) for the State of Alabama under Governor Robert Bentley. OBD’s role is to promote partnerships, policies and initiatives that advance deployment of broadband infrastructure and increase use of broadband to better serve Alabamians. In addition, the Office is focused on collecting and analyzing data on broadband availability and usage in the State; supporting Governor Bentley's efforts to enrich Alabama's economy and quality of life for all Alabama citizens; making recommendations to the Governor regarding state policies and initiatives that promote the advancement of broadband infrastructure; collaborating with state agencies and other stakeholders in support of broadband utilization efforts; and leading the Governor’s broadband advisory board and task forces.

Prior to joining Governor Bentley’s team in May 2015, Kathy served as director for statewide broadband initiatives in Idaho and Wyoming, and was a part of the broadband leadership team in Wisconsin. She is the former director of Governor Bob Riley’s Alabama Broadband Office and the Governor’s Connecting Alabama initiative. In addition to leading other state programs, she served as executive director of Alabama’s Children First Foundation and the state director of the Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Johnson is a sought-after keynote and motivational speaker nationwide. She has spoken to over 100,000 people across the country and has presented at numerous national and state conferences. She is a graduate of Leadership Alabama and was named 2012-13 Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women.

Teresa Reilly is a dynamic multi-faceted executive with 30+ years experience in information technology. She has in-depth experience in program / project management, project assurance, governance, enterprise applications, change management and strategic planning. She has effectively demonstrated leadership and expertise within multiple industries including state and federal government, information technology, consumer goods, retail, services, manufacturing and banking.
Currently Teresa is the Director of the Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (EPMO) at the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) and provides guidance and oversight of the $750 million of technology projects in the portfolio. The EPMO provides the governor’s office a view into the progress of the largest IT initiatives, provides assurance and oversight to agency business leaders on their IT projects, conducts analysis for budgeting and procurement of new investments, conducts assessments of agencies existing IT processes and technologies, and supports agencies with professional staffing and consulting needs. She also served as the enterprise PeopleSoft Program Director for the state of Georgia.
Prior to joining GTA, Teresa managed consulting practices with Siemens Business Services, Price Waterhouse and Accretive Solutions. Her consulting experience included working with client senior management to provide assistance with strategic planning and issue resolution, managing large project teams with multiple vendors, developing global strategies for system implementations and managing a system support group.
Teresa has her M.B.A. in Information Systems from the University of Dallas and a B.S. in Accounting and minor in computer science from the University of Alabama

Robert Shults has the role of Enterprise Account Manager and has been with Intel since 1999. During this tenure, Robert has managed the Southeast Region Internet Service Provider Program, the Southeast Region Channel VAR Program Group and worked in the Enterprise Solutions Group. He is currently managing the Southeast for Intel’s Public Sector Strategic Programs Group which helps educators, technology advocacy groups, policy makers, and State IT professionals craft and implement high impact technology programs and solutions. Prior to Intel, Robert worked in the telecommunications industry where he held upper level management positions.
Robert graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and is an active member of NetLiteracy (IN-Board Member), TechAmerica Southeast Chapter (GA-Board Member & Co-Chair), and the Atlanta Metro Chamber (Education Policy Committee).