Mr. Haydn Blaize is a graduate civil engineer with a post-graduate degree in environmental engineering from New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering. Haydn has over 25 years of experience in the design, installation, operation and maintenance of infrastructure, including water, sewer and storm water management systems. Since November 2013, Haydn has been employed with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, where he is currently Acting Manager for the Floodplain Unit, responsible for overseeing watershed flood risk management projects throughout the state of Georgia, including the management of mapping contracts for the delivery of flood insurance rate maps and flood insurance studies. Prior to joining GA DNR, Haydn served as Water Services Systems Manager and Ag. Deputy Director for Fulton County in Metropolitan Atlanta, in addition to working in the private sector as a consultant/contractor for several years. Before working in Atlanta, Haydn was a Project Officer for a multi-national development agency responsible for implementation of complex environment and infrastructure projects in several countries, financed by international lending agencies such as the Caribbean Development Bank, European Economic Commission and World Bank.

Sen. Bruce Thompson was elected to the Georgia State Senate in 2013. He represents Senate District 14, which includes portions of Cherokee, Bartow and Cobb counties. Sen. Thompson serves as Chairman of the Senate Science and Technology Committee. He is also a member of Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Higher Education Committee. Chairman Thompson is a native of the small town of Big Sandy, Montana. Sen. Thompson is a veteran, a successful businessman and serial entrepreneur who currently owns several companies including Quoteburst, Lifecycle, and Coverstar Automatic Pool Safety Covers. He lives in Cartersville with his wife and two children.

Peter F. Cipriano serves as an Industry Director for the Unisys’ Digital Government Global Public Sector group in the Enterprise Solutions Division, focusing on providing clients with business and user-centric solutions. Peter brings over 20 years of experience with commercial, Federal and DoD clients advising them on transforming their legacy IT environments into modern Digital Government leveraging cloud, mobile and security solutions.
Peter is a patented engineer with deep global experience advising clients on cloud migrations, communicating digital requirements and integrating managed services into existing business models. At IBM, Peter was a recognized thought leader on cloud and cloud migrations strategies briefing senior Federal and DoD leaders on how to take advantage of Digital Technology by promoting best practices adoption and cyber security.
Peter is a 1996 graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY with a degree in Computer Science. Peter attended Marist College through the Montgomery G.I Bill and proudly served in the United States Army Reserves as an Engineer in the 854th Engineer Battalion finishing his enlistment at the rank of Specialist.

Damron joined the Department of Administrative Services on August 1, 2014 as the Director of Risk Management Services. He started his risk management career in 1988 as a property and casualty underwriter for The Travelers Insurance Company. Wade has 20 years of Corporate risk management experience working in theprivate sector directing the risk management programs for firms in both the waste management and healthcare fields. He has also spent 7 years as a Risk Management consulting for domestic and international clients working in conjunction with the insurance brokerage firm of AON. Wade is a 1988 graduate of the University of Georgia with a BBA in Risk and Insurance Management.

Mike Dudgeon currently serves as the state Representative for District 25, which covers the southern part of Forsyth County and the northern parts of Johns Creek in Fulton. He serves as Vice Chair of the Education Committee, Secretary of the Energy, Utilities, & Telecommunications Committee, and is on the
Appropriations, Science & Technology, and Small Business committees.
Prior to taking office at the state on January 10, 2011, he served from 2007-2010 on the Forsyth
County Board of Education. On the school board he was an advocate for high standards for the students, digital learning, fiscal discipline, and direct communication with the public.
Representative Dudgeon has bachelors and masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, holds five U.S. patents, and has been in the technology business his entire career. He helped build the Alpharetta based startup Radiant Systems in the 1990s and was part of the group that took the company public. In 2001 he founded Tier One, an engineering consulting business in Forsyth County. Within a few years it was recognized as a leading provider of embedded systems projects in the Southeast. After selling his interest in Tier One, Representative Dudgeon and partners in 20
07 founded Qualia Labs to perform research into new computer architectures and artificial intelligence. In 2009 he joined Alpharetta based video game startup Hi-Rez Studios where he currently serves as Chief Technology Officer.
Representative Dudgeon has a passion for youth and public service and is very active in the community. He is an usher, youth Sunday school teacher, lay leader, and past chair of the church council at Johns Creek United Methodist. For 20 years he refereed high school basketball and football across north Georgia and worked the GHSA state tournament in 2007. Representative Dudgeon is very active in leadership of the Boy Scouts. He is past chair of Cub Scout Pack 3143 and currently serves as Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 143 in Johns Creek. He has led five different 10 day high adventure trips of high school aged scouts on backpacking and canoeing trips at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and Northern Tier base in Ely, Minnesota. Representative Dudgeon was the longtime president of the Kappa Sigma House Corporation at Georgia Tech where he helped launch efforts to rebuild the aging fraternity house.
Mike and his wife, Lori, have three boys ages 19, 17, and 15 and lives in southern Forsyth county.

Doug has worked for the State of Georgia for more than 25 years. In 2013, he joined the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) as chief information officer, after serving in the same role at the Department of Juvenile Justice for 15 years, and as a software development manager at the Department of Corrections for 8 years. Prior to joining the State of Georgia, he worked as a software development consultant with Computer Science Corporation, Martin Marietta Data Systems, and SYSCON Corporation over a period of 16 years on various contracts with NASA and the U.S. Navy.
At DBHDD, Doug has led several innovative and exciting projects, such as the development of a mobile application to evaluate the health, wellness, and safety of individuals with developmental disabilities who are transitioning from a state hospital to a community residential setting.
Doug oversees DBHDD’s technology staff of 97 people, which supports more than 5,000 employees at five state hospitals, the department’s state office, and six local field offices. The team is responsible for many hospital software applications (electronic medical records, pharmacy, labs, etc.). In 2014, the Office of Information Technology began implementing a department-wide conversion to Office 365 and has facilitated more than 200 collaboration pages on the department’s new SharePoint-based Intranet.
Doug graduated from Kennesaw State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He also studied math and computer science at Northern Virginia Community College and the University of Virginia.

Steven Ferguson is a 21-year veteran of the IT industry. As the Chief Information Officer for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), he leads a talented team of IT professionals in support of TCSG’s technical education, adult education and economic development divisions across the 85 campuses of Georgia’s 22 technical colleges. Recently, he spearheaded the adoption and deployment of a system wide Voice over IP system, successfully championed a data center infrastructure consolidation initiative, standardized and expanded enterprise cybersecurity technologies and led the system through the rollout of a new mobile app.
Ferguson holds an M.S. in Information Technology from Southern Polytechnic State
University, a B.S. in Business Administration, Information Technology from Columbia
Southern University, and an A.S. in Engineering from Gainesville State College.
Ferguson is the only Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert employed by the State
of Georgia, becoming CCIE #10202 in September of 2002, adding the coveted
certification to a stable of certifications from CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco and RedHat.
Beyond his service to the State of Georgia, Ferguson is very active in his local community, currently serving on the board for the Development Authority of Lumpkin County, as the Communications Chair for Leadership Lumpkin County and as a volunteer for various non-profit and educational organizations.

Casey is an experienced Health Care and Information Technology executive with a proven record of success in providing strategic guidance and corresponding delivery of enterprise solutions to Fortune 500 companies.
Casey has held a number of leadership roles firm and our Life Sciences and Healthcare Industry practice including five years on the Health Plan leadership team. Casey also led our Business Analytics practice leader across the Life Sciences and Healthcare Industry practice. In this role, Casey led Consulting’s efforts to improve data management, reporting and analytic capabilities and to harness the power of high quality information helping to nearly double the size of the practice in his three years in the role.
Casey’s current role is running the day to day operations of the Deloitte Consulting Innovation Software Product Development team. The iLab is a 300+ person team, based in our Atlanta and Bangalore locations focused, on developing, operating and supporting products, solutions and platforms that help enable hybrid businesses for our Firm.
Casey has also distinguished himself as the co-author Deloitte’s Intersections Newsletter, which discusses a variety of perspectives on technology-enabled growth strategies facing today’s Health Plan industry. His work has been featured in numerous professional journals and he is a frequent speaker at industry events such as AHIP.
Casey holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Saint Francis Xavier University in Canada.

Melanie is a leader in Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital Practice. Throughout her 30 year career she has assisted employers in assessing and implementing Human Resource and Talent solutions.
Melanie is responsible for leading the delivery of Deloitte services focused on employers’ HR challenges. She works with other Deloitte professionals to develop new service solutions and leading practices, develop and deliver practitioner training, create methodologies and quality assurance protocols, and drive enterprise knowledge related to our HR advisory services.
Melanie has led large-scale transformation projects focused on achieving strategic objectives such as operational efficiency, cost efficacy, and regulatory compliance. She has worked on numerous business transactions including HR transformations, enterprise cost reduction, and post-merger integration. Her clients encompass a wide variety of multi-national businesses that include Fortune 500, non-profit, and public entity organizations.
In addition to her client work, Melanie serves as the Chief Talent Officer for Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice. As a member of the Human Capital leadership team and the Deloitte Consulting Talent Leadership Team, Melanie is responsible for working with business leaders to develop and execute talent strategies across the full talent lifecycle.

Dr. Robert H. Laurine Jr., is the vice chancellor and chief information officer for the University System of Georgia. In this role, he oversees the technology solutions for the 29 public colleges and universities in the state and an annual investment of more than $75 million in higher education.
Prior to the University System of Georgia, he served as chief technology officer for Consulting and Intelligence, HP Enterprise Services, U.S. Public Sector, overseeing and driving innovation, growth and thought leadership for the Department of Defense and Intelligence market set. In addition, Dr. Laurine serves as an adjunct professor of Engineering Management for his alma mater, The George Washington University. Previously, Dr. Laurine served as HP’s Intelligence Community chief strategist, charged with creating, communicating, executing and sustaining strategic initiatives between HP and the federal government. Dr. Laurine retired in January 2014 as a senior executive for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
During his 30-plus years of federal service, Dr. Laurine served in key leadership positions to include: NGA’s chief information officer, directing NGA’s IT portfolio and overseeing a budget of more than $2 billion; west executive, managing the daily operations of NGA’s 3500 employees located off the east coast; business executive, responsible for agency-level cross-cutting issues to include facility planning, investment portfolio planning, financial program execution and resource management; and director of Research and Development, designing, developing and implementing technology and process solutions to lead NGA into the future.
Dr. Laurine graduated from the University of Maryland with bachelor’s degrees in geology and computer science, and holds a Master of Science degree in computer science and a doctorate in Engineering Management from The George Washington University. He has been honored with the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, the Federal Executive Board’s Leader of the Year Award, both the Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Executive Awards, and the National Intelligence Award for Information Sharing.
Dr. Laurine resides with his wife Kelly and their children, Jack and Annie. He has two adult daughters, Stephanie, an agent with Sotheby’s International, and Rebecca who is in medical school in North Carolina.

John is an innovative IT professional with over 25 years’ experience in the design, implementation and operation of IT organizations in both the private and public sectors. He is certified in all of the major industry standard process frameworks (CMMI, ITIL, COBIT, 6 Sigma, TQM), and has implemented IT programs to increase operational effectiveness and efficiencies for Fortune 50 companies. He began his IT career as a programmer trainee and has steadily progressed to hold positions as, Application Developer, Development Manager, Quality Assurance Director, Operations Director, Director of IT Service Management, and Vice President of IT. He received his Baccalaureate degree from the University of Maryland with a BS in Information Systems Management, and a MBA from Wesley College with a concentration in Executive Leadership. In addition, John holds a Software Engineering Process Management Certificate from Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute and was also awarded a Certified Government Chief Information Officer designation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His organizations have been recognized in Georgia for Innovation, including 2012, 2014, 2015 Innovation of the Year. Nationally, Information Week recognized his Georgia Outdoor Map product as one of the Elite projects in the U.S. for 2014, and GovDelivery selected it as the Nation’s top innovation for state agencies for 2015. He also had the honor of being a finalist for the CIO of the Year for Georgia in 2015. He is currently working as the Chief Information Officer for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Susan Miller is Georgia’s inaugural State Geospatial Information Officer (GIO). In this new role Susan works to foster collaboration among local, regional, state and federal agencies in the development and maintenance of critical data and tools used to improve the overall safety and economic prosperity of the citizens of Georgia. GIS and spatial data is developed and used at every level of government every day to drive policy and decision-making. Ensuring these data are developed and shared as efficiently and effectively as possible will improve the quality of the decisions they are used to make, and will save taxpayer dollars by eliminating redundant data development efforts.
Susan’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation Biology and a Master’s of Science in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She has recently been appointed to the Board of Advisors for Georgia Tech’s Centre for GIS and as the Georgia delegate to the National States Geospatial Information Council, a group which advocates State interests on national geospatial policy and initiatives.

Tim first joined IBM in 1995 as an industry solutions consultant. He came to the company after his college years studying international relations along with deterrence theory and nuclear war gaming. He has spent 18 years at IBM in numerous leadership roles spanning strategy, solution sales and solution portfolio management teams.
Tim now serves as the Worldwide Government Leader for the IBM Cognitive Solutions Team which is focused on helping government agencies around the world harness cognitive analytics to transform operating models and optimize the business of government. Tim has had the honor of working personally with 100’s of government agencies both in the United States and abroad, at the national, provincial and local levels. He is passionate about enabling governments for the first time with the ability to create insight and apply learning across vast streams and sources of data - with speed.
While fluent in all segments and levels of government, Tim also has a particular dedication in helping public safety, emergency management, intelligence and defense agencies harness information as a strategic asset for protecting the societies they serve.
Tim has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in Government, with a specialization in international deterrence and war gaming. He is a member of the IBM Industry Academy since 2013. Tim is also a nationally certified fire rescue instructor, and recently retired from 15 years on the thin red line as a firefighter in Simsbury, CT, where he achieved a terminal rank of captain.
Tim lives in Connecticut with his wife Angela, three children, and their Labrador retriever. He is also an avid mountain biker and fly fisherman.

Jacque is the head of Operations for Qmatic US, a leader in customer journey management technology solutions. In her role, Jacque is responsible stewarding operational excellence in client deployments.
A veteran leader in the tech community, Rushin has a proven track record of operational excellence with global enterprise organizations. She has led successful complex deployments of technology solutions to customers across various industries.
A passionate leader in the non-profit sector, Rushin is president of Women in Technology, Inc., a regional organization that advocates for women in the tech industry and STEM education for girls. She also serves on the Technology Association of Georgia board of directors, as well as several others grounded in supporting her community such as Project Healthy Grandparents.
She is a writer and has her Masters of Business Administration from Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Samir began his career with the General Electric Company (GE) graduating from its highly regarded Information Management Program (IMLP). After IMLP, he assumed numerous leadership roles at GE headquarters in Fairfield, CT and its Energy division based in Atlanta, GA. While at GE Energy, Samir took his first divisional CIO role at age 25 supporting a $250M temporary power business called GE Energy Rentals. Following this role, he was positioned to build an internal IT shared services organization providing centralized Oracle ERP implementation services to GE Energy Services, the largest business unit under GE Energy. While at GE, he continued his leadership development efforts graduating from numerous programs delivered thru GE’s highly recognized Crotonville training center.
Following his 9-year career with GE, Samir moved to Las Vegas, NV where he worked for MGM Resorts International (MGM) as Vice President for Corporate Systems. In this role, Samir was responsible for the successful implementation of the largest back-office technology standardization initiative in the gaming sector across 17 casino resorts.
Following this role, Samir was seeking a position where he could leverage technology to deliver transformational social change at a local level. He moved back to Atlanta and accepted a position as the SVP, CIO for the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA), the first housing authority in USA with a nationally recognized model to de-concentrate poverty for low-income families by providing housing in market rate, mixed income communities established thru private-sector partnerships. While at AHA, Samir lead a Transformation initiative that significantly reduced the agencies operating costs, improved regulatory reporting, and improved overall service delivery and business productivity.
Continuing his firm commitment to service the public at a local level, Samir is currently the Commissioner and CIO for the City of Atlanta. As CIO, Samir is accountable for information technology services for all 25 city departments to include Public Safety, Justice, Operations, Administration, and Hartsfield-Jackson Int’l Airport.

Anthony Seal is a Global Practice Director at AT&T with responsibility for orchestrating AT&T’s Government, Education, and Healthcare Sales Segment’s Internet of Things (IoT) sales strategy, building customer credibility, and driving IoT revenue within the Government, Education, and Healthcare Sales Segment. A key element of Anthony’s focus is helping state and local government agencies and healthcare organizations leverage the Internet of Things to deliver services to citizens and patients that enhance people’s lives, while doing so in an efficient and cost effective manner.
Anthony has 30+ year’s experience delivering technology solutions to enterprise business customers. He has a broad range of experience with managed technology solutions involving software, and wireline and wireless communication solutions. Anthony has a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama, and an MBA from Coles College of Business.
Anthony lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife Laura, and two daughters, who are currently attending college. When not working, Anthony enjoys various fitness activities, golf, and is an avid college football fan.

Dr. Woodard has a broad range of managerial, business development skills and technology consulting experience both within the public and private sectors. Dr. Woodard is Professor Emeritus of Management Information Systems at Georgia College & State University, Georgia's Public Liberal Arts institution. He recently retired as Associate Chief Information Officer for Academic Technology. Previously he served as the Coordinator of the Graduate Logistic Program in the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business.
Formally, Dr. Woodard served on a special assignment as the Chief Information Officer for the Georgia Department of Education. Before his academic career, he served as president of a consulting company specializing in information systems in domestic and international banking.
Dr. Woodard's research interests include information systems planning and success, educational strategic planning, and technology utilization in higher education administration. He has written numerous publications on technology, training and learning.
Dr. Woodard holds a Certified Computing Professional certification.

As Support Services Manager for Georgia Power’s Community & Economic Development
organization, Ms. Zeller is responsible for directing the engineering, research and creative
teams that support business recruitment, expansion and retention initiatives, and the
department’s work in helping communities prepare for growth. Jennifer is also responsible
for the Georgia Resource Center, a world-renowned multimedia facility for assistance with
strategic location decisions.
Jennifer joined the Georgia Power team in 2007. She was formerly Vice President of
Research for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, where she worked for more than
10 years, and for the Lee County, Florida, Office of Economic Development.
Ms. Zeller serves on the boards of the federal Workforce Information Advisory Council
(WIAC) and the Council for Community & Economic Research (C2er). She is a member of the
National Association of Business Economics and serves on the Brand Awareness
Committee of the Technology Association of Georgia.
Jennifer holds a Bachelors degree in Economics and Political Science from Florida State
University. She also received a certificate in economic development and Web design from
Georgia Tech.
Originally from Toronto, Jennifer resides in the City of Atlanta with her husband and two
children.