Michael G. Leahy was named interim secretary of DoIT in March of 2017 and appointed as official secretary in April 2018. He is an attorney by trade with close ties to Governor Hogan. Prior to his appointment, Leahy served the Hogan administration as a senior advisor and director of real property strategies for the governor’s office. Leahy also has experience in government as the city attorney for Annapolis. Leahy’s background also includes over 20 years of law practice dealing with land use/zoning, technology development and transfer, structured finance, and administrative and privacy law in the medical, telecommunications and software fields. His legal experience in the public sector includes working as an attorney for the Federal Trade Commission and as legal advisor to the county executive of Anne Arundel County. Leahy also founded the software company Ex Os, which develops solutions for privacy and information tracking issues.

Dan Thurmon is the founder and President of Motivation Works, a company that helps leaders and their organizations move confidently through change and transformation so that they achieve and contribute MORE. Dan is an expert speaker and performer. He has delivered thousands of presentations across six continents for audiences including world leaders, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, educators, and even troops on the front lines of battle. In 2011, he was inducted into the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame. Dan recently served as the President of the National Speakers Association. During his tenure, he led the Board of Directors and the 3,000+ member organization through a critical transformation, which included new governance, a new mission, higher member value, and greater financial accountability. He’s authored two books: Success in Action and Off Balance On Purpose. Dan produces an ongoing weekly video coaching series and podcast in which he shares leadership principles and life-enhancement strategies in under three minutes. He is a health and fitness advocate. In his 50s, Dan continues to train and perform advanced acrobatics, and enjoys hobbies such as golf, mountain unicycling and the flying trapeze.

Teri Takai is the Co-Director of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. She worked for Ford Motor Company for 30 years in global application development and information technology strategic planning. From Ford, she moved to EDS in support of General Motors. A long-time interest in public service led her to the government sector, first as CIO of the State of Michigan, then as CIO of the State of California, and subsequently the CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense, the first woman appointed to this role. She then served as the CIO for Meridian Health Plan. She is a member of several industry advisory boards. Teri has won numerous awards including Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year, CIO Magazine’s CIO Hall of Fame, Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers, the Women in Defense Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Phil Bertolini is the Co-Director of the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. Previously, he served as deputy county executive and CIO for Oakland County, Michigan. During his 31-year tenure, Phil built a world-class IT organization in the second-largest county in Michigan, just north of Detroit. As Oakland County CIO, he oversaw more than 150 employees serving over 1.2 million residents. In 2005, he was also promoted to deputy county executive, holding dual positions until his retirement. Phil’s efforts earned the county national attention, winning numerous awards for technology innovation and excellence. He was named Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year and Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers. He was also honored by the President Obama White House as a Champion of Change.

Dustin Haisler is the Chief Innovation Officer for e.Republic. As Chief Innovation Officer, he has a strategic role to help shape the company’s products, services, and future direction. Primarily, he leads e.Republic Labs, a market connector created as an ecosystem to educate, accelerate, and ultimately scale technology innovation within the public sector. Dustin began he career at a very young age as the finance director and later CIO for Manor, TX, a small city outside Austin. He quickly built a track record and national reputation as an early innovator in civic tech, for which he was named a Government Technology Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver in 2009. A member of Code for America’s original steering committee, Dustin pioneered government use of commercial technologies not before used in the public sector – including Quick-Response (QR) barcodes, crowdsourcing, and gamification. Dustin went on to the private sector to help broaden the adoption of these and other civic innovations. His work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, Inc., and the Today Show on NBC. An in-demand speaker, he has given two TEDx speeches – one on Disrupting Government (TEDxAustin) and the other on Disrupting Education (TEDxLivermore).

Prior to Governor Kelly’s appointment as Secretary of Administration, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace served as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Kansas. Dr. Burns-Wallace started her career as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) with the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Burns-Wallace has been selected for various leadership opportunities, awards and honors throughout her higher ed and government career, including the 2018 White House Champions of Change College Opportunity, and earning a Superior Honor and three Meritorious Honor awards from the U.S. State Department. Dr. Burns-Wallace serves as a national trainer and curriculum developer for various national professional development organizations, non-profits, and higher ed institutions on issues ranging including micro-aggressions, multigenerational workplace differences, diversity and inclusion, change management, professional development pathways, and strategic planning. Service is also a cornerstone of her journey. Dr. Burns-Wallace currently serves on Stanford University’s Board of Governors, and has previously held board roles in numerous local, regional, and national organizations, and international selection committees including Gates Millennium Scholars, Dell Foundation Scholars, and Rhodes, Marshall, and Fulbright fellowships. Dr. Burns-Wallace holds a dual bachelor’s degree in International Relations and African American studies from Stanford University, a Master in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony Huey is a highly popular international speaker and communications consultant who offers session attendees pragmatic communications tools, tips and techniques they can use immediately in their professional and personal lives. His career includes tenures as a news reporter, magazine senior editor, crisis management specialist, media relations consultant and executive speech coach. Anthony heads Reputation Management, LLC, one of the nation’s leading communications training and crisis consulting companies. He has presented nearly 2,700 keynote speeches, workshops and seminars. His direct client work includes a wide variety of advertising, public relations and communications initiatives for hundreds of trade associations, municipalities and companies.

Kamal brings more than 30 years of global international technology and operating experience with multibillion-dollar enterprises across both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of Invesrsora Agroindustrial Global, leading technology strategy, architecture, and operations as well as global technology investments. Importantly, he has spent a significant portion of his career in New York City under the administration of multiple Mayors, including as the Chief Information Officer of the City’s Health and Human Services, a domain comprising several agencies focusing on social services, criminal justice and health.

Ian Goodhart currently works as the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer for the Maryland Department of Human Services. He is responsible for managing the Cyber Security Strategy with teams in Governance, Risk, and Compliance for Legacy and Cloud systems as the agency transitions fully to the Cloud. Ian's teams work to determine and manage the cyber tools for the agency's systems and manage audits with all of our Federal and State partners.
Ian Goodhart has over 25 years of experience in IT, with a degree in Electrical Engineering and an MBA, along with a number of certifications in the technology, cybersecurity, and project management spaces.

Kenny Holmes became the leader of go-to-market strategy for Public Sector at Fortinet in March 2019. He was selected due to extensive industry experience, expertise in a wide range of technologies, and his proven sales execution and analytics background. He is the first person to hold this role at Fortinet.
An advocate and speaker for the Public Sector, he has been in Information Technology for more than twenty years and held more than ten technology certifications and positions spanning from Engineering to Sales Executive. He is an expert in cybersecurity with a background in cryptography. He has worked in the Federal Government, State Governments, Research Institutions, and Universities on some of the largest security projects in the world. Kenny currently resides in the Chicagoland area with his amazing wife and ten-year old daughter. He spends as much time as possible with them including taking them along whenever possible on his business travels. In his spare time, he enjoys public speaking and training on religion, is a pilot, and an influencer for the rights of girls and women with Autism.

Dan Kempton serves as the state chief technology officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He brings more than 30 years of technology and business experience, having worked for large and small firms in the private sector as well as for 15 years with the state of North Carolina.
Kempton has held several IT leadership roles, including chief technology officer positions in the private industry and both deputy chief information officer and subsequently chief technology officer at the N.C. Department of Revenue. At NCDIT, he has led several teams (including the engineering section) that have brought new products, notably multi-cloud capabilities, to state agencies.
Kempton is a strong technology-focused leader who can easily discuss business needs to determine the right solution that fits them. His extensive and broad technical background provides the experience to guide business leaders to the solutions that will achieve the best results.
Kempton has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of South Carolina. He has also earned certification as a government chief information officer from the UNC School of Government.

Mr. Koshanam is an excellent Information Technology Leader with passion for bringing transformation and consumer engagement into Government and Public Service, led State IT organization to achieve national recognition for Digital Innovation and Enterprise Automation by CIO 100 in 2019 and 2020, with 25 years of diverse experience as a senior executive, program manager, technologist, and an entrepreneur, having wide experience in various functional domains such as the Healthcare, Finance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Transportation, Security, Compliance and Government.
Mr. Koshanam has led largescale, multi-million-dollar technology programs in public and private sectors. As the CIO of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE), he is instrumental in establishing, developing and leading an agile IT organization that rapidly implements cost-efficient health exchange technology solutions to meet policy mandates, enhance consumer engagement and excel in operations. Mr. Koshanam developed and inculcated a high- performing and supporting team culture that led to the transformational technological journey from a barely functional exchange solution to a robust digital platform delivering high value and active engagement with consumers and partners.
Under Mr. Koshanam’s leadership, MHBE continues to innovate, evolve and extend its technology to provide best in class health exchange solution utilizing cloud infrastructure, open source technology, integrated web and mobile platforms, data driven operations, robotic process automation, and artificial intelligence solutions.

Jeff Lewis is the Vice President of ActiveCore Product and Platform Operations. With 12+ years tenure at Comcast, he has E2E responsibility for Comcast Business’ Software Defined Networking platform, including Product Management and Development, Platform Operations, and Solution Architects. ActiveCoreSM supports a wide range of Data Products and Services, spanning next generation SDWAN, SD-Router, integration with UTM and Cloud access solutions.
Jeff has 30 years of experience in telecommunications, including his work in the Product Management team at BellSouth/AT&T, primarily focused on Business Services products and solutions. His accomplishments include the development of both Hosted VoIP and SIP Trunking solutions, as well as nationwide MPLS, and Metro Ethernet solutions.
Jeff earned an MBA from Babson College, in addition to both an MS and BS in Engineering from Boston University.
VP SDN Products & Operations, Data Product Management

Jim Meehan is the Global Investigations Senior Manager for Global Security Services where he
coordinates the forensic investigations conducted by the investigative response unit worldwide.

Prior to working at Verizon, Jim worked with the United States Secret Service. With 27+ years
of law enforcement experience, his career spanned numerous disciplines within the United States
Secret Service to include supervising technical security countermeasures and tactics. He served
in a supervisory capacity on the Presidents Protective Detail during which he advanced to the
principal assignment on the President’s Counter Assault Team. In his last assignment with the
agency he was the Deputy Special Agent in Charge of Cyber Operations. In that position he
supervised and engaged in historical transnational cybercrime investigations, oversaw the
Critical Systems Protection Program and all of the Secret Service network intrusion and forensic
examination programs.
He continues to cultivate key partnerships with members of government, academic, private
industry, national and international law enforcement entities. He is a prominent speaker on
transnational investigations both domestically and internationally.
Jim currently serves on the Advisory Panel for the International Association of Financial Crime
Investigators. He was previously a United States representative on the Five Eyes Law
Enforcement Group (Cyber Crime Operations) and the G-8 Roma-Lyon Cyber Crime Working
Group.
He has a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies (Counter Terrorism) from the National Defense
University and has graduated from the Chief Information Security Officer Program at Carnegie
Mellon University.

Zach Patton is the Chief Editor of the Content Studio at e.Republic and Government Technology. He has been covering the public sector for nearly 20 years. Until 2019, he was the Executive Editor of Governing magazine, where he also had served as a staff writer for more than a decade.

Kenyatta has served Department of Human Services (DHS) for over 20 years in several different leadership positions. As CIO, Kenyatta manages the Department’s Office of Technology for Human Services which is responsible for the overall management and direction of DHS’ legacy information systems, telecommunications and infrastructure that includes network, help desk and desktop support services.
Kenyatta is also a speaker and a mentor sharing her journey and experiences in the Information Technology Industry. She is an advocate for exposing women, youth and the underrepresented to the field of Technology. She aims to increase the number of women and minorities in the digital space by empowering them to become innovators in Information Technology and by providing resources and opportunities to learn about computer programming and engineering.

Nick Psaki is the Principal Engineer, Americas – supporting Public Sector for Pure Storage and based in the Washington, DC area. Nick is Pure Storage's senior technical resource for Government customers, providing deep technical knowledge of flash storage system architectures that enable business and technological transformation for government enterprises.
A 20-year veteran of the United States Army, Nick has extensive experience in designing, developing, deploying and operating large-scale information systems for data analysis, sensor integration and large-scale server virtualization. He was the Intelligence Information Architect for the Army G2 (Intelligence), as well as the Technology and Integration Director for Army Intelligence Futures.

In 2015, after a two-decade career in the private sector with companies like Intel, GoDaddy, and Expedia, Morgan Reed moved to the public sector as Chief Information Officer for the State of Arizona. In less than 4 years, he transformed the IT organization which helped achieve the Governor’s goal of government operating at the speed of business. In late 2019 he joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an Executive Government Advisor, to coach State and Local Government (SLG) executives through strategy, policy, and governance challenges to help them accelerate their journey to the cloud, and help governments innovate for their customers.

Dan is an Account Manager for AT&T. In his current position within AT&T, he manages the Strategic Relationship with the State of Maryland. Dan has been with ATT for over 20 years, and 15 of those have been from a teleworking environment.

Nancy Schmid is the General Manager of NIC Maryland, the State’s partner for digital government services. Nancy leads NIC’s 22-person Annapolis office that manages the State’s official website, Maryland.gov, and the delivery of digital services on behalf of the State. As an experienced eGovernment services professional, Nancy is a strategic and passionate executive with a blend of private and public-sector experience. She possesses over thirty years of success in leading, managing, executing, and launching strategic, innovative, award-winning digital products and services. Before becoming the NIC Maryland General Manager, Nancy served as the Director of Operations and Marketing for NIC’s Maryland division in support of Maryland’s statewide digital government services master contract. Before that, Nancy was Director of Project Management for the NIC South Carolina office. In addition to her work with NIC, Nancy possesses over 20 years of government experience working in the municipal, county, and federal arenas.

Ram Venkatraman is a transformation leader with Ernst & Young’s People Advisory Services. Ram has over 20 years of diverse experience across a variety of universities, public and private sector companies; he has helped clients derive improved performance and value through digital transformation and integrated change management.
Ram has been working with the State, Local and Education clients recently on remote workforce assessments and defining the new workplace initiatives in a W3 solution framework (Workforce, Workplace and Work Re-imagined).
Ram has led a variety of human capital and transformation initiatives, including HR strategy and functional assessment, shared services design and implementation, and technology integration for various public sector clients
Ram holds a M.S in Information System from Stevens Institute of Technology and his certifications include Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Green Belt. He has also completed the Harvard Leadership program.

Tom Yeatts is an experienced IT executive with a proven track record of delivering results. Before joining ServiceNow as SLED CTO, Tom served as deputy CIO for Howard County, MD. His responsibilities included designing the architecture and delivering IT projects in support of the county’s vision to connect its citizens and workforce on a secure and stable environment. Tom graduated from Virginia Tech and resides in Maryland.