Sam Aiello is a Consulting Architect with Verizon Enterprise Solutions with 30 years industry experience in the field of information security and telecommunication as practitioner and manager. He has been involved in numerous convergence & security software implementations, developed security policy, end-user training, and consulted for many international and US enterprises. Sam has guest lectured at Georgia State University and presented at various ISSA and ISACA events. He holds industry certifications including CISSP, CISA, & CCSK. He is a member of InfraGard- Atlanta, ISACA- Atlanta, & ISSA- Atlanta. He holds an MSc in Information Security, an MBA with a concentration in Finance, and a BA in Industrial Education.

For the past 12 years Mark Albright has worked in a variety of roles for the Georgia Technology Authority, including consulting with agencies, developing new products and services, and business development. Most recently he has developed a new program for GTA focusing on creating IT services contracts for use by State and local government organizations throughout Georgia. Mark began his career in marketing and sales roles in the telecommunications industry, and later held Executive Account Management roles focusing on government accounts.

Tamika Bass is an Information Security professional with extensive experience in information security. Her expertise includes assessing and mitigating risk, analyzing impacts, business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Tamika focuses on building cohesive relationships with all levels of staff, management, and suppliers. She holds a Master in Business Administration and a Master in Information Systems Management. She is an adjunct professor and is a Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA). Tamika is also certified in Risk and Information Security Controls (CRISC) and a Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP).

Jim Carlson’s career with CenturyLink has spanned 29 years and he has held roles in IT, Finance, Billing, Product Management, Product Development Marketing and Sales. Jim has lead initiatives at CenturyLink to bring new technologies to market, rationalize CenturyLink’s product portfolio and CenturyLink’s entry into the “web world”. He currently works with CenturyLink sales teams across the country helping them describe the power of CenturyLink’s Public Safety portfolio of solutions to their customers.

Mr. Coberly coordinates IT aspects of Georgia’s Strategic Planning process. He assesses impact of IT on agency vision, mission and goals and identifies areas that rely on information technology for success. He also provides guidance to Georgia agencies on innovating and digitizing business processes using appropriate technology. He facilitates working sessions of diverse, often contentious groups to drive to a workable consensus around use of technology to realize business vision.
Before leading IT strategic planning for Georgia Mr. Coberly had a diverse career with a wide range of experience. He was an IT strategist and business consultant focused on helping organizations make the best use of available technology. Employers and clients in this role were companies ranging from the fortune 100 to internet startups and included Equifax, BellSouth, BAPCO, and MCI. Activities included technology forecasting, business planning, market assessment, and business process reengineering.
Prior to his work in business effectiveness, Mr. Coberly performed artificial intelligence research and reviewed articles for leading journals. He began his career as an engineer for the Eastman Kodak where he worked on image chain analysis for satellite imagery and received extensive management training.

Michael has over 30 years of experience in planning, leadership and managing operating business units in support of organizational mission objectives. He possesses executive managerial skills with a strong focus on IT and business strategy, strategic and operational planning and organizational performance. He has an extensive background in enterprise strategic planning directed towards achieving enterprise goals. As a senior leader, Michael has also completed a distinguish military career in the United States Army.

As Chief Digital Officer for the state of Georgia, Nikhil Deshpande leads the Office of Digital Services Georgia (DSGa) under the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA). DSGa’s mission is to make government websites and services user-centric and accessible.
Nikhil envisioned and led state government’s transition to a cloud hosted enterprise digital-publishing platform. The platform currently hosts over 85 state agency and elected official websites compliant with usability and accessibility standards. Under his direction, Georgia became the first state in the nation to use open source technology across it's enterprise and also meet special needs of constituents with a range of disabilities affecting vision, hearing, motion and cognition making the platform Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 AA compliant. Nikhil strongly advocated the use of social media for Georgia.gov when using social media for government was not common, and established a presence for the state on Facebook and Twitter to quickly address citizens’ questions and concerns.

Ben Easterling is Strategic Alliance Lead of AT&T Smart Cities, a business unit inside of AT&T’s Internet of Things Solutions. Ben is responsible for the ecosystem of solution providers & strategic alliance partners that drive the product development, business development and go-to-market strategy for AT&T’s Smart Cities initiatives.
As a Strategic Alliance Lead, Ben is responsible for finding & cultivating strategic relationships with the right best in class companies with the best in class technologies that builds a robust ecosystem of partners leveraging ATT 4G LTE connectivity to deliver a complete solution to Cities. These include Fortune 100 companies like GE, Hitachi, and Southern Company. This solution delivers economic development, public safety, transportation, and sustainability benefits to the City to improve operational efficiencies for the city and improve the quality of life for their citizens.
Ben was previously with GE as Director of Sales in the GE Energy Management / Digital Energy group and prior to that held numerous leadership positions within Southern Company during his 28-year career. Ben has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University.
Currently, Ben chairs the City of Alpharetta Recreation & Parks Commission. He also is very active in supporting local and national charities, including Rotary International, the American Red Cross, YMCA, and American Partners Corporation – mentor’s veterans.

Sergeant First Class Gary Langford is the Statewide Firearms Coordinator for the Georgia State Patrol. He has 22 years of law enforcement experience and has been teaching active shooter response since 2006. He is certified as an instructor in Civilian Response to Active Shooter events.

Greg McCormick is the Co-Director of the Georgia Smart Communities Challenge, a smart communities grant challenge for the state of Georgia, championed by the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech and sponsored and supported by a team of community organizations and industries in partnership with Georgia Tech. Mr. McCormick is a Senior Research Engineer at Georgia Tech Research Institute and holds an MBA, Master's, and Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Eric Meyer is the Planning Division Manager for Cobb County Department of Transportation. His division oversees the development of the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, Trail Plan, Transit Service Plan, and other planning efforts.
Prior to joining Cobb County, Eric spent seven years on the Mississippi coast after Hurricane Katrina. He served as the Director of Planning and Economic Development with the City of Ocean Springs and City of Gautier.
Eric Meyer has over twenty years of policy, legislative, planning and design work experience including work at the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, Regional Business Coalition, and Georgia Conservancy.
Eric Meyer earned his B.S. Industrial Engineering and M.S. Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”). Most of his weekends are spent watching his daughter play soccer or hiking with his son.

Mary Beth Moore is an AI and Language Analytics Strategist at SAS. She is responsible for the global SAS messaging of artificial intelligence and text analytics. Prior to SAS she spent her career as an intelligence analyst and senior instructor in the US Department of Defense and Intelligence Community, primarily supporting expeditionary units and special operations.

Sarah Rees currently serves as the Director for the Cyber Workforce Academy of the Georgia Cyber Center at Augusta University. In this capacity, Mrs. Rees is responsible for helping academic, public and private sector entities to identify, manage, resource and reconcile their cybersecurity training needs. Her role with the Georgia Cyber Center is to provide a robust offering of capabilities to make a meaningful impact on the growth, development and sustainment of the cybersecurity workforce throughout the state.
Previously, she worked as a Course Manager and Instructor for the Department of the Army’s Cyber Technical Education Division doing curriculum development and instruction in the cybersecurity field. Her career covers 17 years of work within the Information Technology and Cybersecurity domain in Government and Private Institutions to include the Department of the Army, National Security Agency, US Army Intelligence and Forces Commands, and various private and non-profit institutions. She also serves in the South Carolina National Guard as a Warrant Officer attached to the 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command out of Anderson, SC.
Mrs. Rees holds a Master’s of Science in Telecommunications and Network Management from Syracuse University and numerous industry certifications including: GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP, R/S), ITILv3 foundations.

Christopher Rose is a Principal with Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Analytics practice specializing in the execution of complex strategy, enterprise cost reduction, and service delivery model transformation engagements. Chris currently practices in Robotic and Intelligent Automation offering for Deloitte’s Government and Public Services practice. Chris’ robotics and cognitive automation experience includes program strategy, client process and readiness assessments, and bot development/sustainment in the Federal Government, State Government, and Higher Education sectors.
Chris has served a diverse client base that spans local, state, federal, and higher education sectors over 25 years to include 14 years with Deloitte Consulting. Chris’ goal is to help public sector and higher education institutions find the right balance between mission effectiveness and delivery efficiency. Chris has a Bachelor of Science in Business from Wake Forest University and a Masters of Public Administration from NC State University.

Tom graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 1993. After working in the private sector, he joined Gwinnett County in 2000, became the Traffic Signal and ITS Section Manager in 2007 and was promoted to Deputy Director in late 2017.
Tom oversees both the Traffic Engineering Division and the Traffic Operations and Road Maintenance Division. Together, these Divisions are responsible for the maintenance and operation of over 720 traffic signals, the County’s ATMS/ITS network, 2,600 centerline miles of roadway and over 2,500 miles of sidewalk and other associated infrastructure.
Tom is a registered professional engineer in the state of Georgia and a member of Georgia Section ITE and ITS Georgia.
Tom and his wife, Tracy, are the proud parents of 2 boys, Austin and Wesley.

Dr. Todd Watson is the Information Security Officer for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. He is a key leader in the enterprise-wide cybersecurity program and directs the USG cybersecurity operations center.
In his 35+ year career, he has aligned cybersecurity and technology to business strategy at Hitachi, ADP, TCA Communications, the U.S. EPA, and as president of Computer Engineering Associates. He co-developed a high-reliability computer memory integrated circuit at Hitachi and later developed several cryptographic systems, one of which was in continuous use aboard commercial communication satellites for more than 20 years. Dr. Watson also serves as an adjunct professor of cybersecurity, technology policy, and public management.
He holds a Doctorate in Public Policy and Administration, a Master of Science in Computer Science with a concentration in Information Assurance, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and a member of InfraGard, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and a perennial speaker at EDUCAUSE and other industry events.

Ananias Williams III serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS). He has over 20 years of experience in the strategic guidance of innovative, robust, and secure information technology initiatives across global environments. He provides leadership for information technology governance, delivery of IT services and infrastructure, information security and compliance to support enterprise business functions for DHS. Prior to joining DHS, he served as the Assistant Chief Information Officer for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, where he provided leadership on strategic IT planning, business development and IT alignment.
Mr. Williams’ technology experience spans various business arenas in both the public and private sectors. In those arenas he provided consulting, as well as, directed IT infrastructure and operations in the implementation of enterprise systems including: health and human services, risk management, financial accounting and the energy sector. He is also an active participant in several technology organizations that promote the advancement of technology through community engagement.
Williams is a volunteer and champion for community and civic organizations and a veteran of the U.S. Navy having served in the Fleet Marine Force. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and holds a Master of Information Technology.