2024 Speakers

Vinay Singh

Chief AI Officer, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Mr. Vinay V. Singh is passionate about process and project management. He has held numerous leadership roles in the private sector for over 25 years, spanning accounting, finance, technology, and operations management spheres. He is a Certified Public Accountant. He joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as Chief Financial Officer in July 2022 from the Small Business Administration where he helped implement a new mission for the Office of Disaster Assistance. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also selected Mr. Singh as the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer in November 2023. Prior to this he was a Partner and Chief Operating Officer for KPMG in India where he led many teams all aligned to achieving operational excellence.

Hon. Shana Broussard

Commissioner, Federal Election Commission

Commissioner Broussard of Louisiana joined the Commission in 2008 as an attorney in the Enforcement Division of the Office of General Counsel. Following her nomination on October 28, 2020, the U.S. Senate confirmed by a vote of 92-4 on December 9, 2020. She immediately assumed the position of Chair and led the agency’s effort to reduce an historic backlog of enforcement matters. She has also spearheaded rulemaking efforts on internet communication disclaimers, technological modernizations, and to expand eligibility for candidate salaries to increase opportunities for individuals from underrepresented communities to run for federal office. In addition to her official duties, Commissioner Broussard often speaks before industry groups, members of the Bar, and students about her work on the Commission.

Prior to her confirmation, Commissioner Broussard was Counsel for FEC Commissioner Steven T. Walther. Before joining the agency, she was Attorney Advisor at the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Professional Responsibility, and Deputy Disciplinary Counsel at the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board. She began her legal career as a New Orleans Assistant District Attorney and was appointed in that role to the Violent Offenders Strike Force.

Commissioner Broussard is a proud alumna of two historically black universities (HBCUs), earning her B.A. from Dillard University and her J.D. cum laude from Southern University Law Center. She is the recipient of the NAACP 2015 Juneteenth Celebration Trailblazer Award for Terrebonne Parish in recognition of her achievement as the first African American attorney from Gibson, LA.

Chris Kraft (Invited)

Deputy CTO, AI/Emerging Tech, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Chris Kraft is the Deputy Executive Director for Chief Technology Officer Directorate, in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS Headquarters, Management Directorate, Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). Mr. Kraft Leads a wide range of complex architecture activities and provides vision, leadership, and advice in developing information technology (IT) strategies and approaches for the CTO. Mr. Kraft’s work efforts directly affect the formulation and execution of the strategic plans and best practices for AI and ML integration. Mr. Kraft serves as the OCIO representative for AI and Emerging Technology councils and/or boards to maintain Department-wide collaboration and
consensus on strategic direction.

Chris Kraft most recently served as the Assistant Administrator for Financial Systems in FEMA’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). In this role, Mr. Kraft serves as the principal advisor to the CFO regarding the consolidation and integration of integrated mission-essential financial, acquisition, and asset management systems. The financial systems modernization initiative is a key strategy to achieve compliant financial management (FM) services and optimize FM operations across the diverse DHS systems. The OCFO ensures the funds necessary to carry out the Department’s mission are obtained, allocated, and spent in support of the Department’s priorities and in accordance with law and policies.

Togai Andrews

CISO, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Chief Information Security Officer with proven history of building and advancing Cyber Security programs. He utilizes his experience in achieving risk reduction and minimizing the cyber threat landscape to ensure that people, processes and technologies are working together to enable the business/mission.

Diane Staheli

Assistant Director, AI Applications, White House OSTP

Bio to come.

Karim Said

CISO, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA

Karim Said is a member of the cybersecurity community at NASA with an academic and professional background in software development and human-centered computing. Karim’s current interests include breaking and building code (and teaching others to do the same), the open-source community (and the lessons we can learn from it), and communicating effectively about cybersecurity risk.

Jennifer Franks

Director, Center for Advanced Cybersecurity, Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Jennifer R. Franks directs the Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity within GAO’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity team. She oversees reviews that primarily focus on emerging cybersecurity issues and assessing an agency’s ability to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its sensitive data and computing infrastructure. Her multi-disciplinary teams actively review agencies’ computer security vulnerabilities across their enterprise-wide computing environment by assessing program management compliance and technical controls recommended for the agencies to follow in accordance with federal guidance and leading practices. In addition, Ms. Franks leads reviews in the areas of IT management and operations, financial management, data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, she is a certified facilitator of agency new hire and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) courses. Ms. Franks earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in information security policy and management, and a bachelor’s degree
from Hampton University in computer information systems.

Sterling Thomas

Chief Scientist, U.S. Government Accountability Office

Sterling Thomas is GAO’s Chief Scientist. Sterling helps lead GAO’s science and technology work with GAO’s Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team. STAA provides Congress with foresight, oversight, and insight on the most pressing science and technology issues. The team assesses emerging and evolving technologies, evaluates their application in government, and examines their impact on society.

Prior to joining GAO in October 2023, Sterling was Chief Scientist at Noblis, a nonprofit research institute. He managed the institute’s applied research programs and conducted his own research projects, which included creating new methods for synthetic biology and methods for using artificial intelligence to detect sophisticated cyberattacks. Sterling also served as a principal investigator where his research was funded by the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, and other intelligence community partners.

Sterling earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Life Sciences from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Master’s in business administration from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University. He also holds four patents for inventions related to analysis of genetic sequences without assembling, detecting low signals in high noise environments, and machine learning, and he has multiple patent applications pending.

Natalie Buda Smith

Director of Digital Strategy, Library of Congress

Natalie Buda Smith is the Director of Digital Strategy at the Library of Congress. She is a leader in digital transformation through data, emerging technologies, and human-centered design practices with over 30 years of experience in IT. She has built large teams at NavigationArts, IBM, and now the Library of Congress, and has worked for clients in the U.S., Europe, and India. She is strongly committed to ethical, human-centered products and services that adhere to best practices in inclusion, diversity, and accessibility.

Amy Henninger

Sr. Advisor for Advanced Computing, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Dr. Amy Henninger serves as Senior Advisor for Advanced Computing (AC) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) S&T Technology Centers, providing strategic vision and leadership to programs and policy makers in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Modeling and Simulation (M&S), and Quantum Information Science. 

Prior to joining DHS, Dr. Henninger’s work traversed the private/public defense sector space.  In the public sector, she has served in several special term appointment technology leadership positions in the DoD and IC that, cumulatively, span the RDT&E space.

Dr. Henninger earned a PhD in Computer Engineering with emphasis and dissertation work in AI.  She has taught undergraduate classes in computer science and graduate classes in AI, authored over 80 publications, and received multiple awards for her work.

Austin Bazydlo

Data Scientist, Social Security Administration

Austin Bazydlo is a Data Scientist in the Office of Analytics and Improvements at the Social Security Administration (SSA) and serves as an AI expert and policy advisor to the Chief AI Officer and the Responsible AI Core Team. He works to advance and develop new and existing AI use cases to assist agency operations across multiple domains and components. He completed his doctorate and master’s degree in Medical Physics with a minor in Machine Learning and Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At UW, his research focused on white matter microstructure of the brain observed using magnetic resonance imaging  and its relationship to memory processes. Prior to UW, he completed a fellowship in Computer Vision at the University of Chicago sponsored by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Austin earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics and Computational Applied Mathematics at East Tennessee State University.

Tina Donbeck

CIO, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation

Ms. Donbeck joined the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in January 2020 as the Deputy Chief Information Officer, and has served as Chief Information Officer since August 2021. She has been an IT strategist and innovator for more than 20 years in both the private and public sectors. Additionally, she spent six years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Ms. Donbeck was instrumental in bringing DevOps and Agile methodologies to her former agency, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), where she successfully led a team that launched one of the first automated development pipelines in the federal government. Additionally, she participated in numerous grassroots efforts with other federal agencies, such as NASA and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as industry partners to promote the benefits of DevOps and Continuous Delivery methodologies.

As the Deputy Director of Trademark Acquisitions, Program & Planning at the USPTO, she led the establishment of a customer requirements gathering organization and instituted governance processes to promote improved long-term IT system delivery. Additionally, at USPTO, she served as the Director of the System Configuration & Automated Delivery Division, which focused on providing Continuous Delivery and Continuous Integration (CI/CD) development practices. Before coming to USPTO, Ms. Donbeck served as the Branch Head for the Enterprise Transformation Branch for the Department of the Navy CIO (N6). Her efforts there focused on public outreach with academia and the private sector to garner IT best practices for implementation within the Navy.

Nichole Hyter

NGRMS Program Manager, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense

Ms. Nichole Hyter is an Army veteran and graduate of the Army’s Management Analyst Intern Program.  She has worked as a Budget Analyst at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management & Comptroller, Headquarters Department of the Army - Budget Formulation Division and as the Lead Financial Systems Analyst at Washington Headquarters Service – Accounting Division, where she championed and implemented the use of Robotics Process Automation across the Defense Agencies Initiatives (DAI) execution and formulation systems.  Nichole also led the DLA efforts to implement DAI Hyperion (the budget formulation tool for Defense Wide agencies).  She currently works as a Program Manager at the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) – Program & Financial Control Division and is the lead for the Next Generation Resource Management System (NGRMS) efforts, which is now the Department’s solution for the congressional mandate to modernize systems used to submit data to the Office of Management and Budget and to the Congress.

Lucy Hyde

Data Scientist, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Lucy Hyde serves as a data scientist in the Office of Information and Technology, Chief Technology Office at Customs and Border Protection. She previously worked as the Senior Program Manager for open source projects, including PyTorch, LF AI&Data, and SONiC at the Linux Foundation. Ms. Hyde began her career within the Department of Defense as an active-duty service member and later as a government civilian working in multiple agencies. She led the mobile device exploitation team at the National Media Exploitation Center and served as the Chief Data Scientist at the Joint Inter Agency Task Force, Joint Special Operations Command.

Ms. Hyde graduated with undergraduate degrees in Psychology, the Arabic Language, and Intelligence Operations from multiple universities; a Master of Science Degree (MS) in Analytics from American University; and is pursuing dual postgraduate degrees in Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Reva Schwartz

Research Scientist, NIST

Reva Schwartz is a research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). She serves as Principal Investigator on Bias in Artificial Intelligence and leads the NIST ARIA Program which seeks to improve the practices of AI risk and impact assessments.

A socio-technical researcher, her research focuses on real world testing methodologies and people-centered approaches for AI measurement. She has advised federal agencies about how experts interact with automation to make sense of information in high-stakes settings.

Her background includes a forensic science posting for almost 15 years at the United States Secret Service and adjunct researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Human Language Technology Center of Excellence. She has advised federal agencies about how experts interact with automation to make sense of information in high-stakes settings.

Mark Wheeler

Director of Data & Analytics, General Services Administration

Mark Wheeler is a director of Data & Analytics at the Centers for Excellence at the Technology Transformation Services where he leads data transformation & governance projects for federal agencies. He also serves as liaison to local and state governments for the federal AI Community of Practice. Mark has over 20 years in IT leadership for the public sector. He served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Philadelphia where he set the strategy and execution of citywide IT operations including cybersecurity, software engineering, networking, data engineering, and digital services for a city of 1.56 million residents. During his tenure, he strengthened the city’s cybersecurity posture, launched Smart City PHL and the Office of Digital Equity, and oversaw the successful modernization of tax collection, licensing and code enforcement, voting machine and e-poll book, property appraisal, and financial/procurement ERP systems and the construction of $32M state-of-the-art public safety & E-911 operations center. He has served as a Chief Geographic Information Officer (GIO) where he stood up data governance and centralized data engineering & analytics programs. Prior to city leadership, Mark spent fifteen years working as a GIS consultant leading Dev/Ops teams to build geocentric web applications and as an urban planner focused on spatial data modeling and strategic plans. Mark has a master’s in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts and was a fellow at Drexel University’s Leading for Change program.

Brittany Bernard

Educational Technology Lead, DC Public Schools

Brittany Bernard, a dedicated Educational Technology Manager based in the District of Columbia, brings a dynamic spirit and passion for education to her role. Originating from Harrisburg, PA, she is committed to supporting educators and students in leveraging technology for enhanced learning experiences. She is an accomplished professional in the field of education, with a diverse background that includes media and technology. She graduated with a B.A. in Radio, Television, & Film, focusing on Telecommunications Management from Howard University. After starting her career in media as a Talk Programming Assistant at SiriusXM Satellite Radio and Producer/Board Operator for the Behind The Mind Radio Show on 1480AM, Brittany transitioned to education.

She served as a preschool Lead Teacher at AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. for five years. Eager to enhance her impact in education, Brittany pursued and earned her M.Ed in Instructional Technology from the University of Maryland Global Campus. This led her to become the Standards Coordinator at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), where she furthered her expertise in instructional technology. Currently, Brittany serves as an Educational Technology Manager for the District of Columbia, based at Central Office, where she supports educators by providing strategies on seamlessly integrating district-licensed apps and programs into instruction with fidelity. Brittany resides in Bowie, MD, with her husband Rejinal, sons Elijah and Xavier, and daughters Kerlande and Harper.

Craig Haseler

PARS Technical Lead, U.S. Department of Energy

Craig Haseler leads the technical team behind PARS, the Department of Energy's System of Record for Capital Asset Project Performance Information. With a background in software development and cybersecurity, Craig has led the expansion of PARS capabilities over the past several years as a new JSON upload format has been developed and the scope of the system has expanded. More recently, Craig and his team have spearheaded the Department of Energy's efforts to embrace safe, secure Artificial Intelligence tools to improve productivity and further the Department's mission.

Amber Young

Physical Scientist & PARS Lead, U.S. Department of Energy

Amber Young is the PARS System Owner at the Department of Energy's Office of Project Management, Project Controls and Policy (PM-30). An EVMS professional with extensive experience with both DOE and DOD data structures, she has been pivotal in leading review efforts using new tools like the IP2M METRR and is a pioneer in integrating detailed AI analysis into the Environment and Maturity Assessment process. Ms Young's background in physics and mathematics has allowed her to apply a spirit of scientific inquiry to understanding, analyzing, and teaching complex data structures in project management and Earned Value. Ms Young leads the DOE Office of Project Management AI Governance board and works closely with the other board members to review and approve PM's implementation of AI technologies.

Oki Mek

CISO (Federal Civilian), Microsoft

Oki Mek recently joined Microsoft as Chief Information Security Officer for the Federal Civilian Sector. His civil servant career spans nearly 20 years inside the federal government. Oki is also a veteran of the Army National Guard, who believes in service to others as a personal mission and purpose. Oki previously served as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Equideum Health. In his U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) roles, he served as the first appointed Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO), Acting Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Office of the Secretary, Senior Advisor to the HHS CIO, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Product Officer, and Senior Information Security Manager.

Kamala Kodihally Nanjundeshaiah

Senior Manager, Quality Insurance, Pfizer

Morgan Reed

President, ACT | The App Association

Bio to come.

Ryan Eddy

Director, Homeland Security Program, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Ryan Eddy is the Director for Homeland Security Programs in the National Security Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He oversees work performed for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which encompasses over 50 diverse projects spanning the DHS components in areas such as explosives detection, nuclear security, artificial intelligence/machine learning, and cybersecurity.

Before joining PNNL, Mr. Eddy served as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Presidentially-appointed Director at the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office within DHS, the Confidential Assistant to the Director for the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, and the Executive Management Consultant for the Office of the Governor of Arizona. Mr. Eddy is a certified Project Management Professional and has a Bachelor of Science in political science from Arizona State University.

Ken Huang

Co-Chair, AI Safety Working Groups, NIST

Ken Huang is an acclaimed author of 8 books on AI and Web3. He is the Co-Chair of the AI Organizational Responsibility Working Group and AI Control Framework at the Cloud Security Alliance. Additionally, Huang acts as CEO of DistributedApps.ai, which provides training and consulting services for generative AI security.

In addition, Huang contributed extensively to key initiatives in the space. He is a core contributor to OWASP's Top 10 Risks for LLM Applications and heavily involved in the NIST Generative AI Public Working Group. He also provides feedback on publications like NIST SP 800-226.

Huang published the book "Generative AI Security: Theories and Practices" with Springer (https://link.springer.com/book/9783031542510) , which takes a systematic, principle-based approach to securing generative AI systems.

Shiron Lindsay

Instructional Technology Strategist, Baltimore City Public Schools

Shiron Lindsay, with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park and an M.Ed. in Educational Technology from Loyola University, taught computer science and engineering in City Schools for 12 years, concluding her teaching career at her alma mater, the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. Two years ago, she transitioned to the Office of Special Education's Instructional Technology Team as an instructional technology strategist, with a focus on enhancing inclusive practices through the customization of tools and resources to meet the diverse needs of students.

Sachin Sinha

Director of Technology Strategy, Microsoft

Sachin Sinha is a Data Engineering leader who has been passionate about designing systems that help his customers make decisions based on data. He has helped startups in healthcare get off the ground by building a business on data and mature from seed to series funding. He has also helped organizations in the Public Sector achieve their mission by enabling them to make decisions based on data. Now at Microsoft, as Technology Strategy Director, he helps customers on their cloud journey with Microsoft Cloud offerings. His areas of expertise include Digital Transformation, Solution Architecture and Design, Data Platforms, Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence & Analytics and Artificial Intelligence focusing on the Healthcare and Public Sector domains.

Ryan Dolan

Director of Data & Analytics, General Services Administration

Ryan Dolan is a Director in the AI and Data Centers of Excellence at the U.S. General Services Administration (TTS) in Washington, D.C., There, he spearheads initiatives to foster the adoption of artificial intelligence across federal agencies. In his role, he is also co-leading the AI Community of Practice, focused enhances collaboration and knowledge sharing among AI professionals across the government. Ryan brings over 14 years of federal experience, including pivotal roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Census Bureau, where he led significant projects in data analytics and visualization. In his spare time, you will often find Ryan on the ice playing hockey, gardening, or pouring over sports statistics.

Lorelei Kelly

Research Faculty, Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy

Lorelei Kelly is a founder or director of many projects and organizations in Washington, D.C. with the purpose of building a more informed, responsive and effective democracy, starting with the US Congress. She is on the Research Faculty at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy where she leads the Congressional Modernization portfolio. Lorelei was at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation before coming to work on nuclear security issues in Congress, where she led "Security for a New Century" a bipartisan study group in the House and Senate that convened for 14 years. Lorelei supported the liberation movements of Eastern Europe during 1988-89--living in West Berlin at the twilight of the Cold War. She attended Grinnell College, Stanford University and the Air Command and Staff College of the US Air Force. Lorelei grew up in Northern California and the Four Corners region of New Mexico.

Aubrey Wilson

Director of Government Innovation, POPVOX Foundation

Aubrey is Director of Government Innovation at the POPVOX Foundation and recently served as former Deputy Staff Director for the Committee on House Administration (CHA) in the 118th Congress. In this role, she coordinated efforts to make the House work more effectively, including overseeing the inaugural session of CHA’s bipartisan Subcommittee on Modernization. Prior, Aubrey served as Director of Oversight and Modernization for CHA during the 117th Congress. She is a former House legislative assistant and member of the R Street Institute Governance Policy and federal affairs team.

J.P. Auffret

Director, Center for Assurance Research & Engineering, George Mason University

J.P. Auffret is director, Center for Assurance Research and Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing, and director, Research Partnerships in the School of Business at George Mason University, USA. He is also co-founder and current president of the International Academy of CIO (IAC), an NGO headquartered in Tokyo. Auffret’s work spans applied technology fields including CIO and ICT governance; cybersecurity; and innovation of emerging technologies including for medicine and healthcare. Auffret earned a B.S. from Duke University where he was an A.B. Duke Scholar, M.B.A. from the University of Virginia and Ph.D. in Physics from American University.

Joe Rohner

Vice President of Artificial Intelligence, Booz Allen Hamilton

Joe helps defense clients apply AI and advanced analytics to yield better mission outcomes through AI adoption and strategy, engineering, and model development; quantum services; and AI systems.

For more than 17 years, Joe has supported Booz Allen’s defense clients, first at the Department of the Navy before expanding his role across the services and promoting reuse to accelerate AI adoption and solutions. He is also the firm’s AI talent lead responsible for the strategy and execution of training, recruiting, and retaining the largest AI workforce supporting the federal government.

Since 2017, Joe has helped organizations use hackathons to crowdsource their data science challenges and unlock the true value of their data, including acting as the lead architect of the data science track at the Navy's HACKtheMACHINE. He also provides leadership for the world’s premier data science competition for social good, the Data Science Bowl®, presented by Booz Allen and Kaggle.

Recognized for his leadership, expertise, and contributions to the field, Joe received two “40 Under 40” awards in 2019: from the San Diego Business Journal and the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association (AFCEA).

Erin Weiss Kaya

Senior Strategist, Innovation Group, Booz Allen Hamilton

Erin Weiss Kaya is an expert in cyber organization and talent strategy. She specializes in shaping and delivering transformative cyber solution adoption capabilities. Based out of our Falls Church, Virginia, office, she applies expertise in large-scale strategic transformation and human capital programs to help clients meet their cybersecurity missions.

With nearly 20 years of experience, Erin leads teams supporting both private sector companies and federal agencies, driving emerging service offerings to manage the people side of cybersecurity risk and resilience. Included among the projects she has led is Booz Allen’s work on the landmark development of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-151. She currently leads talent management for our work on the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program and the Veterans Affairs Information Technology Service Solutions and Modernizations program.

Erin’s passion is capacity and capability building across all sectors. She engages that passion at Booz Allen by helping clients execute on STEM-focused missions through large-scale engagement and talent impact.

Huralain Mohamed

Founder & CEO, Cytec Solutions

Huralain Mohamed is the Founder and CEO of Cytec Solutions, a Woman Veteran-Owned Minority Small Business based in Washington, DC offering cybersecurity solutions and training to government agencies and private organizations.

Huralain brings over 15 years of expertise in the InfoSec industry supporting and overseeing strategic security programs with various agencies including the DoD, DHS, DOE, CISA, DISA, USSOCOM, & AFSOC.

Kajhon Soyini

Senior Security Researcher, Microsoft

Bio to come.

Calaunte Winston Jr.

Founder and CEO, Anpu Labs

Bio to come.

John Carthern

Innovation Engineer, Bowler Pons Solutions Consultants

Bio to come.

Jerry Dotson

Vice President of Public Sector, Avaya

Jerry Dotson is Vice President of Avaya’s Government Solutions, a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions and a key technology partner for the US Federal, State, and Local Government. In his current role, Jerry oversees the business operations supporting the missions of all US Federal (Civilian & Intel) and Department of Defense customers. He joined Avaya in 2005, focusing on the Public Sector. Prior to his current position, Jerry served as the Regional Sales Lead for Avaya’s Foreign Account Module, managing key accounts such as HUD, NRC, and EPA, among others. With over 32 years of experience in the Information Technology industry, Jerry's expertise spans installation, operations, implementation, engineering, and proposal management. Throughout his entire career, Jerry has dedicated himself to supporting government entities, contributing to various challenging requirements, including pioneering the first VoIP implementation for the US Department of State. Jerry earned his PhD in 2011 from Kingsbury University. He is blessed with a wonderful wife of 24 years, a son who is currently attending Liberty University, and a daughter who is a senior in high school. Jerry and his wife are deeply committed to their community, having established and operated a food bank in Fairfax County, VA. This food bank has supported as many as 500 families a month over the past six years.

Jenifer Bond

Vice President of U.S. SLED, Avaya

Jenifer Bond is Vice President of Avaya’s US SLED (State, Local, and Education) sector, a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions and a key technology partner for the US Federal, State, and Local Government. In her current role, Jennifer is responsible for the overall business operations supporting the mission of all US SLED customers. Jennifer first joined Avaya in 2007 and is an accomplished, high-energy sales leader with over 20 years of proven success. She is consistently recognized for exceeding sales goals with a customer-centric approach. Jennifer is passionate about building high-performance sales teams. She is a strong communicator, strategic thinker, mentor, and coach. Jennifer graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1994.

Rana Gujral

CEO, Behavioral Signals

Rana Gujral is an entrepreneur, speaker, investor, and CEO at Behavioral Signals, an enterprise software company that excels at distinguishing behavioral signals in speech data with its proprietary deep-learning technology. As a thought leader in the AI/technology space, he often leads keynote sessions and joins panel discussions at industry events such as World Government Summit, VOICE Summit, The Next Web Conference, and Blockchain Economic Forum. His bylines are featured in publications such as Hacker Noon, Voicebot.ai, SpeechTechMagazine, and is a contributing columnist at TechCrunch and Forbes. He’s been recognized as ‘Entrepreneur of the Month’ by CIO Magazine, awarded ‘US-China Pioneer’ by IEIE, and listed as a Top 10 Entrepreneur to follow in 2017 by Huffington Post and an AI Entrepreneur to Watch in Inc. In 2020 he won “Contributor of the Year: Chatbots” in Hacker Noon’s Noonie’s Awards.

In 2014, Rana founded TiZE, a cloud software for specialty chemicals, and held the role of CEO until its acquisition in 2016. Prior to TiZE, He was recruited to be a part of the core turnaround team for Cricut Inc. At Cricut, Rana led the initiative to build a first-of-its-kind, innovative product for the DIY community and prompted the turnaround of Cricut’s EBITDA position from bankruptcy to profitability within a short span of 2 years. Previously, Rana held leadership positions at Logitech S.A. and Kronos Inc., where he was responsible for the development of best-in-class products generating billions in revenue and contributed towards several award-winning engineering innovations.

Benjamin Boudreaux

Policy Researcher, RAND

Bio to come.

Juli Nixon

Founder, Social Work Expat

As the founder of Social Work Expat™, Juli Nixon, MSW, CH provides AI literacy and consulting services bridging social work and artificial intelligence. With a certificate from Berkeley Law's AI Institute, Juli is currently the only AI-certified professional social worker in the United States.

Juli is a proud graduate of the UConn School of Social Work and has over 15 years of cross-industry experience in social work, healthcare, education, law, and government. Social Work Expat's focus is on bridging technology and policy to foster responsible AI development and use.

Rijul Gupta

CEO & Founder, Deep Media

Named a Forbes Next 1,000 - 2021 award winner for his entrepreneurial innovations, Rijul leads Deep Media, a company specializing in Deepfake Detection and Media Intelligence. Serving clients like the US Department of Defense and top tech firms, Deep Media is positioned as the gold standard in AI security and fraud prevention, leading the burgeoning market.

Emma Brown

CMO & Co-Founder, Deep Media

Emma is an expert on geopolitics and foreign relations and joined Deep Media as a co-founder in 2020. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer there and leads all the marketing and promotional efforts of Deep Media. She is fluent in 7 languages.

Jocelynn Hartwig

Lead Consultant, Associate Solutions Architect, Excella Consulting

Jocelynn is a Lead Consultant and AI Architect at Excella Consulting. In her client projects, she specializes in AI Engineering and Architecture, Generative AI Integrations, and Data Engineering. With a strong technical background and expertise in these areas, Jocelynn helps clients navigate the complexities of AI and data-driven solutions, delivering innovative and impactful projects.

Beyond her consulting role, Jocelynn is passionate about lowering the barrier to entry to technical education for marginalized communities. Driven by this passion, she co-founded and lead Marginal Entropy, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching kids about logic and code through the engaging platform of Minecraft Education.

Through her work at Excella and Marginal Entropy, Jocelynn demonstrates a strong commitment to advancing the field of AI and empowering the next generation of diverse tech talent. Her unique blend of technical expertise and social impact initiatives positions her as a thought leader and change-maker in the industry.

Thelma Van

UX Design Xpert & Managing Consultant, Excella Consulting

Thelma Van is a user experience strategist, product designer, and UX leader with over a decade of experience in making complex systems intuitive through human-centered design. She currently serves as a UX design innovation expert for Excella. Thelma has held roles such as product director for elections and campaign systems, designing experiences for aviation, and managing nuclear chemistry solutions.

For the past two years, Thelma has been deeply involved in exploring the best approaches for implementing human-centered AI and machine-learning solutions while collaborating with teams in federal government agencies.

Whether working on traditional software products or cutting-edge AI initiatives, Thelma leverages her creative and analytical skills to uncover core user needs and frame the right problems to solve. Through activities like inclusive design workshops, she ensures that solutions are aligned with real human needs from the outset. For over a decade, Thelma has combined logic and creativity to make even the most intricate systems user-friendly and understandable.

Dr. Umbereen Nahal

Former Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director and Clinical Lead, Massachusetts Medicaid

Bio to come.

Noble Ackerson

Director of Product Management, Ventera

Noble's professional career merges at the intersection of data ethics and emergent technology. His impact in product leadership spans industries Health, Edtech, International development, and media.

Day-to-day, he leads product strategy for enterprises looking to implement complex applications and responsible artificial intelligence solutions in a human-centered way, including AI bias mitigation, explainability, privacy-preserving approaches, and continuous learning automation to streamline software.

Mr. Ackerson is a Certified AI Product Manager, a Google Certified Design Sprint Master, and a former Google Developers Expert for Product Strategy.

Jenn Halweil

Chief Story Engineer, #GoBeyond

Originally, an electrical engineer focused on sustainability, Halweil became interested in digital health post-Covid after being diagnosed with the same autoimmune disorder as her cat. A Forbes Next1000 awardee and National Merit Scholar, Halweil is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully bootstrapped two companies. A graduate of Johns Hopkins’ CTY Program, Halweil is a contributor to over a hundred publications including Scientific American, LiveScience, and Interesting Engineering, and is featured in a Marvel comic "The Unstoppable Wasp" as a real life superhero. Halweil has worked with a number of top companies in the data and health tech sectors including Palantir, IBM, Nexthink, White Plains Hospital, and Deloitte.

Hallie Stern

Founder, Terra Optica

Bio to come.

Wes Shields

Founder, Synthminds

Wes Shields, Principal and founder of Synthminds.AI, leads a team of 15 experts, propelling clients' AI strategies and objectives with ethical and innovative solutions. Under his stewardship, his full-service Artificial Intelligence agency provides bespoke services that exceed their strategic needs to an extensive list of clientele from academia to various industries including aviation, customer service, legal, marketing, logistics, education and technology. He was named one of the first 18 global “OpenAI Experts”, an endorsement awarded and recognized formally by OpenAI. Shields' exemplary work has earned him and his Synthminds team the "Expert-Vetted" AI Consultant accolade from Upwork, a title conferred on the top 1% of the 18 million professionals on the platform.

Recognized as an accomplished strategist and speaker in the field of AI, he is also the host of the popular podcast, 'How to Talk to AI.' He has a notable presence on Promptbase.com, the premier prompt sales marketplace, where his prompts rank him amongst the top 200 worldwide.

Michael Novak

Sr. Responsible AI Advisor, InfinityOne.ai

Michael is a technical executive helping enterprises and public sector agencies leverage conversational AI and Web3 solutions to make better business decisions, drive AI value chain growth, and increase operational efficiency.

A Senior Responsible AI Advisor for the Open Voice Network, he produces quarterly meetings, leads GTM campaigns, and Conversational AI Privacy and Ethics work group discussions. He co-wrote a Linux Foundation class chapter on "Ethical Considerations for Conversational AI".

He contributes to the 2024 NIST AI Safety Institute. He replied to the GDPR Virtual Voice Assistants RFI. As a member of the ACT-ACT Emerging Technology Center of Excellence, he authored sections of Safety, Privacy, Security in an AI-Enabled World whitepaper, and response to NIST Artificial Intelligence and User Trust (NISTIR 8332).

A member of the Government Blockchain Association, he has taught sections on Web3, blockchain, NFT's, and cryptocurrency to university business students.

Jill Heinze

Research Director, WillowTree

Jill is a Research Director and a Lead of the Data and AI Research Team (DART) for a major digital consultancy. Her career in user research spans academic and industry settings where she advocates for accessible products and human-centered solutions. Most recently at WillowTree, she’s focused on guiding teams at Fortune 500 companies through identifying and proactively mitigating AI risks and establishing an internal AI Governance function.

Jill brings a background in UX, Library Science, Competitive Intelligence, and Marketing with more than 15 years experience doing and supporting research in higher education and in the private sector.

Jill is a frequent speaker in the technology and library/publishing communities, having addressed domestic and international audiences on myriad topics like service design, progressive web apps, doing UX research across the user journey, and how to integrate UX research with Agile.

Amber Ivey

Vice President, Social Finance

Bio to come.

Matthew Ross

Director of Government Solutions, Eduworks

Matthew is a former F-15E Instructor Pilot who implemented AI into fighter pilot training, and is now focused on bringing AI solutions to the warfighter at the edge.

M. Alejandra Parra-Orlandoni (mapo)

Advisor, Chimney Trail Health

Bio to come.

Rebecca Del Palazzo

VP of Business Development & Partnerships, Onsights.io

Bio to come.

Maili Neverosky

Chief Growth Officer, TopicLake Insights

Bio to come.

Genevieve Leveille

CEO and Founder, Agriledger

Genevieve Leveille is a social impact entrepreneur with over 25 years experience of in leading at the intersection of finance, supply chain optimization, and technology. She is currently the CEO and Principal Founder of AgriLedger, the award-winning blockchain solutions company. AgriLedger revolutionizes the agricultural supply chain, enabling greater trust, authenticity, and transparency through traceability.

In 2020, Genevieve implemented a blockchain solution in the fresh fruit value chain in Haiti in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and the World Bank. Participating small-holder farmers saw an increase of over 750% in their revenues. AgriLedger is building an extension of Reimagined Finance (ReFi) for the maize and peas value chains in Haiti.

Grazia Russo Lerner

Sr. Consultant of Natural Language AI Services, AWS

Grazia Russo Lassner is a Senior Consultant with the AWS Professional Services Natural Language AI team. She specializes in designing and developing conversational AI solutions using AWS technologies for customers in various industries. Outside of work, she enjoys beach weekends, reading the latest fiction books, and family.

Janet Waring

CEO, ArtForm Business Solutions

Janet Waring is CEO and co-founder at ArtForm Business Solutions. Janet’s career has spanned over two decades working for digital marketing and advertising agencies gaining experience with clients in the private and public sector including NTT Data, Carahsoft, The US Chamber of Commerce, The Smithsonian, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Uday Kumar

Founder & CPO, Metashore

Uday is a Technical Product Manager with a foundation in software engineering and agile methodologies. He currently leads Metashore, a Data and AI product consultancy, after roles as Chief Digital Officer at Akira Technologies and Platform Product Leader at Capital One. Uday is passionate about building solutions that leverage data and AI technologies to enhance both business operations and consumer experiences. This passion is driven by his curiosity, diverse industry experience, and a commitment to leading/growing dynamic tech teams. A lifelong learner, Uday speaks on various topics, including pathways to product management, the importance of diversity within teams, and Responsible AI. Beyond his professional endeavors, Uday mentors emerging startups, contributes to Loudoun County Public School’s Career and Technical Education program, and serves as a Payments Technology expert within Google’s Developer Experts (GDE) program.

Tracy Goodhue

Founder, More Good Solutions

Tracy is an experienced project manager based in South Florida. Hard of hearing since the age of three due to chronic childhood illnesses, she has firsthand knowledge of how technology and remote work can transform careers. To bring awareness to the struggles and hurdles disabled persons often encounter in a technologically diverse world, Tracy founded More Good Solutions. As an accessibility advocate, she is dedicated to improving communication for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and disabled community.

Tracy recently spoke at the 2023 Women In Agile Conference as part of their Launching New Voices initiative. Her speech highlighted how the pandemic opened doors for disabled workers through advancements in technology and alternative work settings. Currently, she is studying cybersecurity, with a focus on governance, risk, and compliance. Tracy's unique perspective and dedication to accessibility make her a powerful voice in the ongoing conversation about inclusivity in technology and cybersecurity.

Angela Polania

Principal, Elevate

I am very blessed to have over twenty years of professional services experience with hundreds of organizations in the areas of:

- Information Security, IT Audit and IT Compliance
-Privacy (GDPR, US, Asia, Canada)
- Business Process Auditing and Consulting
Most recently AI Governance and AI Risk Management

I most recently completed a 9 month program with the University of Texas-Austin in Advanced Machine Learning, Data Science and GenAI.

I have started working on ISO 42001 , NIST AI RMF assessments for Technology companies with AI embedded products and are working on developing an AI Governance and Risk Management Solution for the Government and Companies.

In the past I have worked extensively with many industries including Financial Services, Healthcare, Legal, Consumer Products, Technology B2B SAAS, Commercial Companies working with the Federal Government and others. I have lead and I have deep knowledge in frameworks, regulations and/or standards such as: SOX 404, PCI, HITRUST, FedRAMP, CMS EDE, HIPAA, GLBA, ISO 27001/2/17/18, 27701:2019, SOC, Privacy Law and what it takes to get ready, improve cyber security posture and pass these assessments/ audits.

Peng Wei

Associate Professor, The George Washington University

Peng Wei is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the George Washington University, with courtesy appointments at Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Computer Science Department. By contributing to the intersection of control, optimization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, he develops autonomous systems and decision support tools for aviation, aeronautics and aerial robotics. His current focuses are (1) safety, efficiency, and scalability of aircraft autonomy, multi-agent autonomy and human-autonomy teaming; and (2) AI safety, security and certification for safety-critical systems. He is leading the Intelligent Aerospace Systems Lab (IASL). Prof. Wei is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He serves as an associate editor for AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems, and the chairman of the AIAA Air Transportation Systems Technical Committee. He received his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University in 2013.

Peichang Shi

Senior Lead AI Engineer, Booz Allen Hamilton

Mr. Peichang Shi holds a PhD in machine learning and health informatics, complemented by two master's degrees in computer science and applied statistics. With a rich background spanning over 15 years, he has cultivated extensive expertise in handling healthcare data. His professional journey has taken him through esteemed research institutions such as Washington University School of Social Work and University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, as well as engagements with private insurance companies. His proficiency shines in the realms of data analysis, modeling, and the integration of AI within healthcare contexts.