2019 Plenary Speakers

 

Michael Dukakis, Chairman, Boston Global Forum

As Co-Founder and Chairman of The Board of Directors and Board of Thinker of The Boston Global Forum, Michael Stanley Dukakis culminates a half-century career dedicated to public service, political leadership, fostering the careers of young leaders, and scholarly achievement.

Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan, this former Massachusetts governor, has established The Boston Global Forum as a globally recognized think tank noted for developing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s most contentious issues, among them: fair labor practices in third-world nations, US-North Korean denuclearization negotiations, and the militarization of the South China Sea. Most recently, Gov. Dukakis has called for the ethical development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and other 21st century Internet advances that permeate out daily lives.
To promote the work of the Boston Global Forum and to recognize those who support its goals, Gov. Dukakis co-created: “World Leader in Peace and Cybersecurity” Award; “World Leader in AI World Society” Award, and the AI World Society Initiative. Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan he also established December 12 as the annual Global Cybersecurity Day. Gov. Dukakis also coauthored, "The concepts of AI-Government," “Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security (ECCC),” and the “BGF-G7 Summit Initiative Report.”

Gov. Dukakis’s dedication to public service began modestly when he was elected Town Meeting Member in his native Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. He was later elected chairman of his town’s Democratic organization in 1960 and won a seat in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1962 where he served four terms as a state legislator. In 1970, he was the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor and the running mate of Boston Mayor Kevin White in a gubernatorial race lost to Republicans Frank Sargent and Donald Dwight, Jr.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Robert Ames, Senior Director, National Technology Strategy, VMware Research, VMware

Robert Ames is Senior Director, National Technology Strategy at VMware Research where he acts as a key link between government customers with challenging missions and VMware’s cutting edge Research and Development capabilities. Mr. Ames has made a career of driving innovation in government and public sector. He was formerly at In-Q-Tel where he led several practices, creating and executing investment strategies while building deep relationships with government leaders, technology startups and entrepreneurs. Through those activities, Mr. Ames has had a foundational role in modernizing big data architecture and analytics over the past decade. Prior to IQT, Mr. Ames was Director and Deputy CTO for IBM Federal, where he worked to apply innovations from IBM's Research and Development organizations to government missions, bringing advancements in Virtualization, Automation and the early days of Cloud Computing to the Government.
Plenary Sessions

Lisa Bari, Senior Technical Advisor, Value-Based Transformation Initiative, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Lisa Bari is the Senior Technical Advisor for the Value-Based Transformation Initiative at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the health IT and interoperability lead at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. Lisa was previously the health IT lead for the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus model, the largest test of primary care payment and delivery system reform in the country. Prior to joining CMS, she was the Associate Vice President of Marketing and Growth at Practice Fusion, a primary care-focused electronic health record platform. Lisa holds a Master of Public Health with a concentration in health policy and public health leadership from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Master of Business Administration from Purdue University, and an undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science from the University of California, Berkeley. 
Plenary Sessions 

Paula Braun, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

Paula Braun is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and special advisor on Interoperability and Innovation at CDC.  She is an internationally recognized expert on HL7’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard, design thinking, and ways advances in technology can help modernize public health reporting. She also launched, and continues to run, a successful collaboration between CDC, the Georgia Institute of Technology (including the Georgia Tech Research Institute), and federal/state/local public health agencies who want to use open data standards to help solve pressing interoperability challenges within their organizations. 
Previously she taught public health informatics in the Executive MPH program at Emory University and worked as a data scientist for Elder Research, a predictive analytics firm. Earlier in her career, Paula lived and worked two consecutive years at the US Embassies in Baghdad, Iraq and Kabul, Afghanistan. She began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow and was later selected by the American Association of University Women as a Selected Professions Fellow to pursue a graduate degree in analytics at the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University. 
Plenary Sessions

Kevin Davis, CSO, Armored Things

Kevin Davis led the Baltimore Police Department as its 39th Police Commissioner from 2015 – 2018 following the historic riots and during the Department of Justice’s civil rights investigation.  Commissioner Davis negotiated a federal court-ordered consent decree with DOJ during a presidential transition of power.  He has substantial crisis leadership experience in a national spotlight while leading reform initiatives in use of force, training and technology that received international attention and accolades.  Commissioner Davis is a collaborative leader and consensus builder amongst diverse community groups, faith communities, elected officials, law enforcement peers and business partners. 
Plenary Sessions

Kristen Finne, Director, HHS emPOWER Program and Senior Program Analyst, US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Emergency Management and Medical Operations

Kristen Finne, is a Senior Program Analyst in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Office of Emergency Management and Medical Operations and has over 20 years of expertise in health care and public health policy, programs, service delivery, research and emergency management.  Ms. Finne assesses disaster-induced stress on the health care system and develops interventions to minimize adverse health outcomes for at-risk populations and help communities build capacity to address access and functional needs. She is the Director of the HHS emPOWER Program, an ASPR and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services collaboration, that provides Medicare data, maps, tools and training to support federal-to-community level emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities for electricity and healthcare dependent beneficiaries that live independently and may adversely impacted in a disaster.  
Plenary Sessions

Laura Furgione, Chief, Program, Performance and Stakeholder Integration, Department of Commerce, Census Bureau 

Ms. Laura K. Furgione leads the Census Bureau Office Program, Performance, and Stakeholder Integration.  This allows her to work as the Bureau integrator and Program Improvement Officer.  She is responsible for program/project functions to include strategic management, requirements engineering, program/project management, cost estimation, quality assurance and evaluation, and external stakeholder integration. 
Furgione had a distinguished career at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 1993 to 2016.  She served as the NOAA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and the Deputy Director of the National Weather Service (NWS) from 2010 to 2016.  In this role, she was responsible for the day-to-day civilian weather operations for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas.  In 2013 she was designated to serve as Permanent Representative (PR) of the US to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).  As the US PR, she was charged by the Department of State to maintain the US formal representation to the WMO.  Through the WMO’s 191 Member States and Territories, she enabled international cooperation and leadership essential for the development of weather, climate, hydrology, and related geophysical sciences. This contributes to the protection of life and property against natural disasters,noble safeguards the environment, and enhances the economic and social well-being of all sectors of society in areas such as food security, water resources and transport.
Plenary Sessions

Thomas Hazel,  Founder, CTO, and Chief Scientist, CHAOSSEARCH

Thomas Hazel is Founder, CTO, and Chief Scientist of CHAOSSEARCH. He is a serial entrepreneur at the forefront of communication, virtualization, and database technology and the inventor of CHAOSSEARCH's patent pending IP. Thomas has also patented several other technologies in the areas of distributed algorithms, virtualization and database science. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University of New Hampshire, and founded both student & professional chapters of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
Plenary Sessions

Captain Michael Kanaan, Co-Chair for Artificial Intelligence, Defense, U.S. Air Force

Captain Mike Kanaan serves as the Co-Chair of the U.S. Air Force’s Cross-Functional Team on Artificial Intelligence. In this capacity, he is tasked with authoring the Air Force's artificial intelligence strategies, guiding integration plans, and synchronizing efforts across the Air Force. Prior to this role, Captain Kanaan led a National Intelligence Community Campaign targeting the Islamic State through the application of advanced analytic methodologies.

Mike is on the 2019 Forbes “30 Under 30” List and the recipient of the U.S. Federal Government’s 68th Annual Arthur S. Flemming Award for Leadership and Management. He holds an undergraduate degree in Management from the U.S. Air Force Academy and is a graduate of Air Force Intelligence Officer School. 
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity
Plenary Sessions

Suzette Kent, Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of Management and Budget

Suzette Kent is an industry leader in large-scale business transformation and has worked with many of the world’s most complex organizations.  Her experiences cover a wide spectrum, which include technology development, product design, customer servicing, merger and acquisition, technology and risk policy and establishing new global industry capabilities.  Before taking the role of Federal CIO, Suzette spent over 25 years in the financial services industry where she served as a principal at EY, partner at Accenture, consulting president at Carreker Corporation, and Managing Director at JPMorgan.   Ms. Kent has served as an enterprise leader for organizational learning, diversity and inclusiveness, and career development at every organization at which she has worked. She has been a frequent speaker in global industry forums, publisher of thought leadership pieces, and holds patents in banking processes.
Plenary Sessions

 

Scott Lundstrom, Group VP and GM of IDC Government Insights, IDC and AI World Government, Conference Co-Chair

Scott Lundstrom is a long-time industry analyst focused on the transformative and disruptive nature of technology. Mr. Lundstrom has been focused on IT driven business innovation and change in a variety of industries and settings.  Mr. Lundstrom is an expert on the emerging third platform, and speaks regularly on the future of cloud, analytics, mobility, and social media to digitally transform and radically alter the process and services offered to customers in the marketplace.
Plenary Sessions

William Mark, PhD, President, Information and Computing Sciences, SRI

Dr. William Mark is President of SRI International’s Information and Computing Sciences Division, which creates new technology in information security, system design, speech and natural language, vision and perception, planning and reasoning, and formal methods. The group’s leading-edge research is complemented with a strong focus on intellectual property creation and commercialization. Projects include Internet interaction, intrusion detection software, physical and virtual information spaces, and technology for dynamic enterprise management.
Plenary Sessions
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Sara Mattingly-Jordan, PhD, IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical AI, Assistant Professor Center for Public Administration & Policy, Virginia Tech  

Sara Jordan is chair of the Center for Public Administration and Policy, Arlington at Virginia Tech.  She serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Initiative for Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems of the IEEE.  Sara is the co-chair of the Editing Committee for the 2nd Edition of Ethically Aligned Design, the Chair of the Glossary Committee, and is the co-chair of the Standards Committee for the Society for Social Implications of Technology,
Plenary Sessions
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Shawn McCarthy, Research Director, IDC Government Insights, IDC

Shawn P. McCarthy is Research Director for IDC Government Insights, responsible for collecting and assessing government market data, providing IT investment and positioning strategies for both government and vendors, and market sizing for tech suppliers. His core coverage area includes U.S. federal and state and local IT budgets, agency-level technology priorities and government enterprise architecture standards. He also covers government use of blockchain solutions. He manages the IDC Government Insights: United States Government Infrastructure and Systems Optimization Strategies research advisory service, which includes technology recommendations and key industry forecasting for government IT systems. He also issues IDC’s semi-annual U.S. Government IT Spending Guides (federal, state and local and education).
Plenary Sessions
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Raj Minhas, PhD, Vice President, Director of Interaction and Analytics Laboratory, PARC 

Raj Minhas leads the AI research lab at PARC that focuses on people, their behaviors, and interactions with machines. The lab conducts research on all aspects of human-machine interaction including computer vision, conversation agents, explainable AI, and human-machine teaming. Raj joined PARC in September 2013 and, prior to that, he was the Director of Xerox Research Center India where he led its growth, development, and outreach for two years. He also held a variety of leadership roles at Xerox Research Center Webster including manager of analytics and large-scale computing research. Dr. Minhas earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Toronto.
Plenary Sessions

Paul Noble, Founder, CEO, Verusen

As founder and CEO of Verusen, an innovator in materials inventory and data management technology, Paul Noble oversees the company’s vision and strategic direction. He has extensive experience in the supply chain and working to apply AI technology that harmonizes disparate material data across ERP systems and other systems to reduce inventory costs.  
Prior to founding Verusen, Noble spent over a decade with The Sherwin-Williams Company, where he specialized in supply chain/manufacturing and led its Eastern U.S. Industrial Distribution business unit. Additionally, he is a founding member of the business accelerator LaunchHouse based in Cleveland, Ohio.  
Noble graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management and Marketing from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee. 
Plenary Sessions

Adelaide C. O’Brien, Research Director, Government Insights, IDC 

Adelaide O'Brien is Research Director for IDC Government Insights responsible for Government Digital Transformation Strategies. Ms. O'Brien is recognized as a valued thought leader by U.S. federal agencies and the vendors serving government and has been named one of the top 100 leaders throughout the federal IT community.
Ms. O'Brien assists clients in understanding the full scope of efforts needed for digital transformation, understands agency requirements and mandates, and has deep technical expertise in analytics, AI, and cloud. Ms. O'Brien's research also includes a particular emphasis on journey maps that assist clients in understanding the full scope of efforts required to achieve outcomes. Her research also includes the threats and opportunities now facing government's ecosystems in leveraging agency information as a critical asset, allowing stakeholders to make better decisions, provide better services and experiences for constituents, and react in real time to limit liabilities and manage risks.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics
Plenary Sessions

Allison Oelschlaeger, Director & CMS Chief Data Officer, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

Allison Oelschlaeger is the Chief Data Officer and Director of the Office of Enterprise Data & Analytics (OEDA) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In this role, Allison focuses on transforming the American healthcare system through connecting people to data and analytics.  Allison oversees the systems and policies for sharing CMS data with health system stakeholders such as beneficiaries, researchers, and providers. She coordinates and directs the public release of CMS data and information products. Allison also manages the development of advanced analytics using CMS data that help inform policy decisions and evaluate programs.
Before joining CMS, Allison worked at the Lewin Group where she specialized in program evaluation and data analysis. She is a graduate of Georgetown University.
Plenary Sessions

Paola M. Santana, Founder & CEO, Social Glass

Paola Santana is a lawyer, public procurement expert and tech entrepreneur creating the world's next political system after democracy. She's the founder and CEO of Social Glass, a software ecosystem using Artificial Intelligence to power high-performing governments. Previously she co-founded Matternet, Silicon Valley's pioneering drone delivery startup. Under her leadership, Matternet engaged with The White House, US Congress, FAA, and NASA to enact the first drone rule in the United States in 2016, and became the first drone delivery platform authorized for permanent operations over people in 2017. A Fulbright scholar and faculty at Singularity University, she’s known for her track record introducing cutting-edge technologies into highly-regulated markets, her most recent experience being co-drafting the public-private partnership to enable the first multi-state Hyperloop system in the United States. She’s been featured as CNET Top 20 Latin in Tech, Forbes Top 50 Women of Power from Central America & The Dominican Republic, LinkedIn Top Professionals Under 35, and served as Chair of the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Drone Authorization Committee, and as member of the first FAA Drone Advisory Committee.
Plenary Sessions

Curt Savoie, Program Director, Global Smart Cities Strategies, IDC

Curt Savoie is the Director, Global Smart Cities Strategies program. The central components of his work revolve around data: its use, security, meaning, accessibility, and governance. He brings to IDC a deep interest in algorithms, artificial intelligence, resiliency, identity, ethical considerations, privacy and anonymization, reducing information asymmetry, and how data can power a better future. At the intersection of theoretical, strategic, and practical experience in the domains of big data, analytics, urban informatics, city operations and innovation, data science workflows and methodology he can help answer not just what but how and why.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Anthony Scriffignano, PhD, Senior Vice President & Chief Data Scientist, Dun & Bradstreet

Anthony Scriffignano in an internationally recognized data scientist with experience spanning over 35 years, in multiple industries and enterprise domains. Dr. Scriffignano has extensive background in linguistics and advanced algorithms, leveraging that background as primary inventor on multiple patents worldwide. He provides thought leadership globally. Recently, he briefed the US National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee regarding reports to the President on Big Data Analytics and Emerging Technologies Strategic Vision. Additionally, Scriffignano provided expert advice on private sector data officers to a group of state Chief Data Officers and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He also served as a forum panelist and keynote speaker at the World Internet Conference hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuzhen, China. He was recently published in CIO Review, Huffington Post, Mint (India) and quoted in various publications including China Daily, Xinhua and Peoples Daily. He was profiled by InformationWeek and by BizCloud, and is a recurring CXOTalk guest. He regularly presents at business, government and academic venues globally regarding emerging trends in data and information stewardship, the “Big Data” explosion, artificial intelligence, multilingual challenges in business identity and malfeasance in commercial settings.
Plenary Sessions
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Rudina Seseri, Founder and Managing Partner, Glasswing Venures     

Rudina Seseri is Founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to investing in the next generation of AI-powered technology companies. With over 16 years of investing and transactional experience, Rudina has led technology investments and acquisitions in startup companies in enterprise SaaS, IT software and data, marketing technologies and robotics. Rudina’s portfolio of investments include Celtra, CrowdTwist, Inrupt, SocialFlow, Talla and Zylotech. Rudina served as Entrepreneur-In-Residence for the Harvard Business School for 4 consecutive years and has most recently been named to the 2018 HBS inaugural group of Rock Venture Capital Partners. She is also a Member of the Business Leadership Council of Wellesley College. Rudina serves as Advisor for GSK Consumer, L’Oreal USA Women in Digital, and on the Philanthropy Board for Boston Children’s Hospital. She has been named a 2017 Boston Business Journal Power 50: Newsmaker, a 2014 Women to Watch honoree by Mass High Tech and a 2011 Boston Business Journal 40-under-40 honoree for her professional accomplishments and community involvement. She graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Economics and International Relations and with an MBA from the Harvard Business School (HBS). She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon honor societies.
Plenary Sessions

Mona Siddiqui, MD, Chief Data Officer, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Dr. Siddiqui is the Chief Data Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services where she is focused on promoting open data, building an enterprise wide data governance structure, creating a business analytics unit and developing strategic partnerships with external stakeholders.  Prior to this role, Dr. Siddiqui was at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation working towards implementing a rapid cycle testing platform for payment models.  She has also served with the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (“nudge” unit) during the Obama administration leading work in the health space.  She has a MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she is now on faculty, a masters in quantitative methods from the Harvard School of Public Health and in management/technology from the Stanford School of Engineering.
Plenary Sessions

Brian Thomas, PhD, Agency Data Scientist and Program Manager for Open Innovation, NASA 

Brian Thomas is the NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) Data Scientist. He has 25+ years of experience supporting or leading scientific research, data analysis and scientific programming. This experience spans diverse environments at a number of institutions and facilities including helping guide the agency data science strategy and mission for NASA (NASA/HQ), developing scientific data archives (National Optical Astronomy Observatory; NOAO, the Astronomical Data Center; NASA/GSFC), and developing and working in operations at a scientific satellite operations center (XTE SOF; NASA/GSFC).  Dr. Thomas is fluent in most of the common technologies and methodologies needed for effective scientific and information systems research and development including various programming languages (Java/J2EE, Python, Perl, Ruby/Rails, C/C++), solving research problems with scientific and/or big data, working with semantic technologies, machine learning, natural language processing, XML/RDF/JSON, webservice development, service oriented architectures, microservices, scientific/data visualization, continuous/agile/testdriven software development, database modeling, database architecting, database application design and administration (relational, XML & NoSQL databases).
Plenary Sessions

Bill Valdez, President, Senior Executives Association

Bill Valdez was appointed as the President of the Senior Executives Association (SEA) in September 2016.  As President, Bill sets SEA’s overall strategic direction and is focused on strengthening the Senior Executive Service (SES) through legislative and policy initiatives, building a leadership pipeline for the Executive Branch, and establishing SEA as a thought leader in the Washington, DC policy debates that impact not only the SES, but all civil service employees.

Bill retired from Federal service as a career Senior Executive in July 2014.  His career with the Department of Energy spanned over 20 years.  Bill was also co-chair of the National Science and Technology Council’s Science of Science Policy Interagency Working Group from 2005-2014, and was a senior advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the 1990s. Bill was awarded the Presidential Rank Award (meritorious) in 2007, was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2006.
Plenary Sessions

Margaret Williams, Learning Policy and Program Support (TL), Human Resources, U.S. Postal Service 

Margaret D. Williams serves as the Learning Policy and Program Support Specialist (TL) for the U.S. Postal Service Learning and Development Team. In this role, Ms. Williams, a 33-year Postal veteran, is responsible for the organizations Strategic Learning Initiatives and Learning and Development policy for over 640,000 employees.
Prior to being awarded her current position, Ms. Williams served as the National Public Information Representative for the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service for over four years, the law enforcement arm of the agency.
Ms. Williams was the Manager, of the Business Development Team, responsible for managing the engagement programs for Postal products and overseeing the reform of engagement activities and revenue generation.
Ms. Williams has held numerous positions, including Mailing Solutions Specialist, Small Business Specialist, where she was responsible for oversight of Business & Customer Connect Programs that connected internal and external Postal partners, growing business and generating revenue. She also supervised in Mail & Delivery, Express Mail, and Computer Forwarding Systems.
Ms. Williams was listed in Business Guides and Membership Directories for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Dun and Brad Street, and Hoovers.
Ms. Williams has earned her bachelor’s degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. She graduated with her B.S. in Telecommunications with a concentration in Public Relations. Ms. Williams is a Master of Science in Project Management, she earned her degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and she’s currently working on her PhD in Advanced Studies in Human Behavior at Capella University in Minneapolis, MN.
Plenary Sessions

2019 Conference Session Speakers

Berke Attila, Chief Financial Officer - Department of General Services, City of Baltimore 

Berke Attila is the CFO & Chief of Fiscal and Strategic Management Office of the Baltimore Department of General Service (DGS) where he has served since October 2014. Attila’s strategic vision has led the department to use financial and performance data to guide management decisions. He reengineered the fiscal division to incorporate the Business Process Improvement Office, which applies principles of lean government, process automation and continuous improvement to government settings. These efforts have resulted in quicker, more streamlined internal processes, automation of routine tasks and rapid improvements to key performance indicators. As a result, he was recognized by The Daily Record as one of the 2018 Very Important Professionals (VIP) Successful Before 40 in Maryland.
Most recently, Attila led a nationally recognized cross agency Gain Sharing effort to incentivize employees to produce operational cost savings. This has resulted in over $1 million in cost avoidance to the City of Baltimore in just over one year.
Prior to joining DGS he served as the served as the Utility Rate Manager of the Baltimore Department of Public Works, one of the 10 largest Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Utilities in the country. Attila earned a bachelor’s degree in 2001 in Materials Science and Engineering from Yildiz Technical University in his native Turkey, a Master of Business Administration in 2004 from the University of Baltimore.
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Mark Beall, Chief of Strategic Engagement and Policy, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center's (JAIC)

Mark Beall is the JAIC’s Policy Chief and leads the international partner engagement effort. Prior to this,  Mr. Beall was in the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Office, where he served as the Deputy Director for Iran and the Gulf, Middle East Policy; and as Policy Advisor, Defense Support to Civil Authorities with a focus on domestic preparedness and response strategies, plans, and capabilities for naturally-occurring disease outbreaks and biological weapons attacks. Previously, he was the Country Director for Afghanistan, where he was the action officer responsible for supporting the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia on the development of the Afghanistan National Security Forces, rule of law and anti-corruption, detention operations, and Leahy vetting.
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Ian Beaver, PhD, Lead Research Engineer, Intelligent Self Service, Verint

Ian Beaver, PhD is the lead research engineer at Verint Intelligent Self Service, a provider of conversational AI systems for enterprise businesses. Ian has been publishing discoveries in the field of AI since 2005 on topics surrounding human-computer interactions such as gesture recognition, user preference learning, and communication with multi-modal automated assistants. Ian has presented his work at various academic and industry conferences and authored over 20 patents within the field of human language technology. His extensive experience and access to large volumes of real-world, human-machine conversation data for his research has made him a leading voice in conversational analysis of dialog systems. Ian is currently focused on means to detect and resolve misunderstandings between humans and machines. He is also leading a team in finding ways to optimize human productivity by way of automation and augmentation, using symbiotic relationships with machines.
Seminar: Intelligent Assistants

Lee Becker, Chief of Staff, Veterans Experience Office, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Lee Becker currently serves as the Chief of Staff, Veterans Experience Office, enabling the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to improve the customer experience for Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors. Lee previously served as a Division Chief, at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, providing leadership and development of the VA appeals modernization efforts to reduce the backlog of Veterans’ appeals.
Prior to VA, Lee served at the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, and Headquarters Marine Corps, as the Deputy Officer in Charge, Wounded Warrior Regiment Medical Division. There he developed wounded warrior programs to help the transition of wounded, ill, and injured Marines and families through the continuum of care and ensuring a seamless transition post-military into society and sustained care at the VA.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Lee is a Navy Veteran (former Chief Hospital Corpsman) and served in various operational capacities and platforms providing care to Marines and Sailors in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lee obtained his Bachelor’s of Arts in Management from American Military University, and a Master’s of Science in Management from The Catholic University of America.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

 

Steve Bennett, Director, Global Government Practice, SAS, Former Director of the U.S. National Biosurveillance Integration Center in the Department of Homeland Security 

Steve Bennett drives strategic industry positioning and messaging in global Government markets. A thought leader in decision science and the application of analytics in government, Bennett works to enable delivery of effective solutions to government customers around the world. Following the events of 9/11, he led the design and application of quantitative analysis to inform some of the United States’ most challenging security decisions, most recently as the Director of the National Biosurveillance Integration Center. Bennett has a passion for improving government decision making, and pursues better organization, management, and understanding of government data since it is critical to that endeavor.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Ted Boll, Sr. Advisor for Economic Policy, Office of the Secretary, Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation

Prior to joining DOT, Ted was Deputy Staff Director of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and before that he was the Committee’s Chief Economist. Previously, Ted was Director of Financial Planning and Analysis in Lockheed Martin’s Global Telecommunications business unit whose focus was international commercial satellite communications. He started his career in Washington, D.C. as an Economist at the Federal Communications Commission. He holds an MA in economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Track 3: Smart Cities

David Bottom, CIO, Intelligence and Analysis Office, US Department of Homeland Security 

Dave joined the DHS Intelligence & Analysis Office as a member of the Senior Executive Service in June 2016.  He is charged with aligning and delivering technology capabilities to enable and continually improve the Department’s Intelligence mission, while realizing resource efficiencies.  He currently leads the CIO team that is responsible for the acquiring, securing, and operating the classified analytic solutions and Intelligence Systems across the Department.   In this role, he is also responsible for managing the information sharing agreements between the Department and the Intelligence Community on behalf of the Under Secretary of Intelligence & Analysis.

Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

 

Harout Boujakjian, Data Scientist, Booz Allen Hamilton

Harout Boujakjian is a computational mathematician in the Strategic Innovation Group. He is interested in applied mathematics, machine learning, and NLP. He uses advanced analytics techniques to solve complex problems for his federal clients. 
Harout has a degree in applied and computational mathematics from George Mason University. He studied differential equations and used them to model physical phenomena, with a focus on applications in biology. This included deriving a mathematical model to simulate the transmission of Ebola in West Africa during the outbreak in late 2014. He joined Booz Allen in 2019 and will be starting a MS in Statistics at George Mason this fall. 
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

 

David Bray, PhD, Executive Director, People-Centered Internet Coalition; Senior Fellow, Institute for Human-Machine Cognition

Dr. David A. Bray was named one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 by Business Insider in 2016. He was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for 2016-2021. He was named a Marshall Memorial Fellow and traveled to Europe to discuss Trans-Atlantic issues of common concern including exponential technologies and the global future ahead. Since 2017, he serves as Executive Director for the People-Centered Internet coalition co-founded by Vint Cerf, focused on providing support and expertise for community-focused projects that measurably improve people’s lives using the internet. He also provides strategy to both Boards and start-ups espousing human-centric principles to technology-enabled decision making in complex environments.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Alison Brooks, PhD, Research Vice President, Smart Cities and Communities – Public Safety, IDC

As Research Director Smart Cities Strategies, Public Safety, Dr. Alison Brooks specializes in public safety related research for the global Smart Cities Strategies program at IDC. Ms. Brooks has held a number of positions with IDC over the past 10 years, previously working as IDC Canada’s Director of public sector research. Dr. Brooks’ research will focus on the digital transformation of public safety within Smart Cities. Research will explore digital evidence management, intelligence-led policing, Real-time Crime Centers, advanced analytics and visualization, and mobile crime-fighting solutions.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Rich Brown, Director, Project VIC International

Richard W. Brown, BA, MAS is the Co-Founder and CEO of Project VIC International, an international child rescue organization www.projectvic.org. Project VIC champions a transformation in the approach to child exploitation investigations internationally by developing and adopting innovative technologies and victim-centric forensic workflows. Project VIC International’s global outreach has resulted in a sharp increase in law enforcement’s ability to detect illegal video and imagery, as it traverses global networks. Project VIC International’s participation with law enforcement, industry, academia and other non-profits has enabled technology and innovation to be transferred globally to developing countries to fight the abuse of children and rescue them from harm.
Previously, Richard has had a long career in the areas of intelligence/law enforcement networks in first world and developing countries. As the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children’s Law Enforcement Liaison www.icmec.org, he had opportunities to work with  countries to build law enforcement’s capacity to address crimes against children. Rich continues to work with the State Department, Homeland Security, United Nations, FBI, NCA, Interpol and others by donating and licensing technologies while training their specialists.
Before his Non-Profit work, Captain Richard Brown served through the ranks within the New Jersey State Police. Holding positions as an Intelligence Detective, Cybercrime Investigator, Forensic Specialist and Forensics Manager, Rich continued his career departing after 25 years as the Chief of Intelligence Management for the New Jersey State Police www.njsp.org
Richard Brown holds a Graduate Degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a concentration in Computer Forensics and Network Security.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Jeff Butler, Director of Data Management, IRS

Jeff Butler leads the Data Management Division in the IRS Research, Applied Analytics, and Statistics organization where he manages a peta-scale environment for advanced analytics that he created.  He also spends time helping lead enterprise data and analytics strategy at the IRS.  Previously he was Associate Director, Office of Statistical Computing, Department of Transportation.  His emphasis is on large-scale projects that use data, advanced analytics, and cutting-edge technology to drive new discovery and innovation.

He has 30 years of experience in statistical computing, machine learning, and data warehousing.  He has taught multiple courses in these fields and published or presented at numerous academic, government, and industry venues or conferences.  He has a total of seven industry awards for innovation and best practices in data warehousing.  He holds a B.A and M.A. in Economics and has completed M.S. Statistics coursework.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Mark Carroll, PhD, Research Scientist, Computer and Information Science and Technology Office, NASA

Mark Carroll is a Research Scientist in the Computational and Information Science and Technology Office (CISTO) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  He received his PhD from the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park.  As a remote sensing scientist focused on land cover mapping and change detection he has led projects to develop global maps of surface water, fractional tree cover, and identifying local, regional and global changes in land cover over time.  In his current role with CISTO he is developing a unified approach to data science across disciplines to maximize the utility of the data and compute resources at NASA GSFC.
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Dan Chenok, Executive Director, IBM Center for The Business of Government, IBM

Dan oversees all of the Center's activities in connecting research to practice to benefit government, and has written and spoken extensively around government technology, cybersecurity, privacy, regulation, budget, acquisition, and Presidential transitions.  Mr. Chenok also serves as a CIO SAGE with the Partnership for Public Service, Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Chair of the Cybersecurity Subcommittee of the DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, Member of the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security Board of Directors, Member of the American University IT Executive Council, and Co-Chair of the Senior Executives Association Community of Change for Governance Innovation; previously, he served as Chair of the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) for the government-led American Council for Technology (ACT), Chair of the Federal Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and two-time Cybersecurity commission member with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin, teaching at the school's Washington, DC Center.  As a career Government executive, Mr. Chenok served as Branch Chief for Information Policy and Technology with the Office of Management and Budget, where he led a staff with oversight of federal information and IT policy, including electronic government, computer security, privacy and IT budgeting.  
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Sung-Woo Cho, PhD, Senior Associate/Scientist, Social and Economic Policy, Abt Associates

Sung-Woo Cho, Ph.D., applies artificial intelligence to social policy decisions to enable data to benefit social-service recipients. He has extensive experience in workforce training and career pathways, community college systems, and the administrative data these sources generate. He also designs and implements program evaluations.  Dr. Cho currently oversees the machine learning applications of the Descriptive and Analytical Career Pathways Study, a project funded by the US Department of Labor (DOL) that uses data science to understand career pathways research and individuals’ employment trajectories. He also collaborated with Miami Dade College in an effort that predicted college graduation rates with 93 percent accuracy and determined the top factors of student success, using gradient boosting models. 
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Nazli Choucri, PhD, Professor of Political Science, MIT

Nazli Choucri is Professor of Political Science. Her work is in the area of international relations, most notably on sources and consequences of international conflict and violence. Professor Choucri is the architect and Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), a multi-lingual web-based knowledge networking system focusing on the multi-dimensionality of sustainability. As Principal Investigator of an MIT-Harvard multi-year project on Explorations in Cyber International Relations (ECIR), she directed a multi-disciplinary and multi-method research initiative, constructing a cyber-inclusive view of international relations (Cyber-IR System) – with theory, data, analyses, simulations – to anticipate and respond to cyber threats and challenges to national security and international stability. She is Editor of the MIT Press Series on Global Environmental Accord and, formerly, General Editor of the International Political Science Review.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Ruthbea Clarke, Vice President, IDC Government Insights, IDC

Ruthbea Yesner is the Vice President of Government Insights at IDC.  In this practice, Ms. Yesner manages the US Federal Government and the Worldwide Smart Cities and Communities Global practices. Ms. Yesner's research discusses the strategies and execution of relevant technologies and best practice areas, such as governance, innovation, partnerships and business models, essential for Smart City and Community development.  Ms. Yesner's research includes Big Data and analytics, artificial intelligence, Open data and data exchanges, digital twins, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and mobile solutions in the areas of economic development and civic engagement, urban planning and administration, public safety, transportation, and energy and infrastructure. Ms. Yesner contributes to consulting engagements to support state and local governments and IT vendors’ overall Smart City market strategies.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Lord Tim Clement-Jones CBE, Former Chair of the UK’s House of Lords Select Committee for Artificial Intelligence and Chair of Council, Queen Mary University of London

Lord Clement-Jones is a Consultant of the global law firm DLA Piper.  Former positions within DLA include London Managing Partner (2011-16), Head of UK Government Affairs, Chairman of its China and Middle East Desks, International Business Relations Partner and Co-Chairman of Global Government Relations.  He is Chair of Ombudsman Services Limited, the not for profit, independent ombudsman service that provides dispute resolution for the communications, energy, property and copyright licensing industries.  He is a member of the Advisory Board of Airmic (the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers in Industry and Commerce) and Board Member of the Corporate Finance Faculty of the ICAEW.  Tim was made CBE for political services in 1988 and life peer in 1998.  Until July 2004 he was the Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman and thereafter until 2010 Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport, in the House of Lords.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Michael Conlin, Chief Data Officer, U.S. Department of Defense 

Michael Conlin, vice president and chief technology officer for defense at Perspecta, has been named the first chief data officer of the Defense Department, FedScoop reported Thursday.
The appointment is part of DoD’s prioritization of data management operations.
Conlin will help the department move out of its legacy information technology systems to gain more access to data.
The Pentagon CDO acknowledged in an interview with ExecutiveBiz in 2017 that aging systems prevent public sector organizations from maximizing their data, which can only be accessed through applications’ user interface.
“The public sector’s reflexive habit of classifying data as the default further complicates this challenge,” he added.
Conlin previously served as the chief technology officer for the U.S. public sector at DXC Technology, which was formed in 2017 through the merger of Computer Sciences Corporation and HP Enterprise Services.
He also held several IT-related leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard and its former subsidiary, EDS.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Thomas Creely, PhD, Director Ethics and Emerging Military Technology Graduate Program, U.S. Naval War College

Tom Creely is an international and national expert in the Ethics of Technology.  He piloted and is Director of the Ethics and Emerging Military Technology (EEMT) Graduate Certificate Program at the United States Naval War College.  Dr. Creely represents the Navy on The Conference Board Global Business Conduct Council.  As a member of the Boston Global Forum, he serves on A.I. World Society Standards and Practice Committee and Editorial Board of Shaping Futures Magazine.   At Brown University Executive Master of Cybersecurity, Dr. Creely facilitates the cyber simulation ethical decision-making exercise.  Dr. Creely is on the Executive Advisory Board of AI World Government 2019.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Daniel Crichton, Program Manager, Principal Investigator, and Principal Computer Scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

Daniel Crichton is a program manager, principal investigator, and principal computer scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which he joined in 1995. He is the leader of the Center for Data Science and Technology, a joint center formed with Caltech, focusing on the research, development and implementation of data intensive systems for science and missions. Mr. Crichton has program management appointments to multiple JPL program offices for data science and data intensive system projects working in earth science, solar system exploration, and technology for NASA and non-NASA sponsors. He is one of the founding members of the International Planetary Data Alliance (IPDA), an organization committed to building compatible international planetary science data archives. He also serves as principal investigator of several distributed data system projects for NASA and the NIH, including the Informatics Center for the NCI Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). He architected an open source software framework, Apache OODT, for the management, distribution, and analysis of massive scientific data. This won runner-up for NASA Software of the Year 2003 and is now hosted by the Apache Software Foundation as a top-level project, NASA’s first. Mr. Crichton recently served on the U.S. National Research Council Committee on the Analysis of Massive Data, which released its report on big data analytics. He has published over 100 papers on software and information architectures, distributed systems, and scientific data management and analysis, as well as five book chapters.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

 Chris Devaney, Chief Operating Officer Executive - Business Operations, DataRobot 

Chris Devaney, COO at DataRobot, is responsible for making functions across the company – including Marketing, Sales, DataRobot University, Product and Public Sector – work in an integrated fashion.  Chris has more than 30 years of experience in various Sales and Operations roles.  Most recently, he was one of the early employees at Cloudera, where he managed strategic customers. Prior to Cloudera, Chris founded PGA Investments and Business Intelligence Solutions Group. 
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Justin Fier, Director of Cyber Intelligence and Analytics, Darktrace

Justin Fier is a leading US cyber intelligence expert, with insights widely reported in leading media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, CNN, the Washington Post, and VICELAND. With over 10 years of experience in cyber defense, Justin has supported various elements in the US intelligence community, holding mission-critical security roles with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems and Abraxas. Justin is also a highly-skilled technical specialist, and works with Darktrace’s strategic global customers. 
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Dimitry Fisher, Chief AI Officer, Analytics Ventures/Dynam.AI 

Dimitry Fisher is Chief AI Officer at the AI-focused venture studio Analytics Ventures and Dynam.ai, a California-based provider of tailored, end-to-end AI solutions focused on detection & analysis, prediction & forecasting, and yield optimization. Dimitry has 20+ years of R&D experience in academia, government, and private sectors, spanning multiple areas of physics, neuroscience, ML and AI. 

Dimitry received his PhD in Physics from Weizmann Institute in 2002. He did independent research in physics before shifting his focus to neuroscience and to mechanisms of learning in neural networks. Dimitry joined Brain Corporation in 2012, doing bleeding-edge R&D for Qualcomm, DARPA, and several internal projects, including the first self-driving janitorial AI. Dimitry saw Brain Corporation grow from 10 people to 100 before resigning his position to join Analytics Ventures. He has 12 granted US patents and over 40 publications in scientific journals
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Arti Garg, Director, Emerging Markets & Technology, AI, Cray, Inc.

Arti Garg is Cray’s Director of Emerging Markets & Technology, focused on developing the company’s AI strategy. Before joining Cray, she led the Data Science and Services Team at Datapipe, was an early member of GE's Data Science team and worked for the White House Budget Office overseeing R&D investments at the Department of Energy, including the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program. Arti holds a PhD in Physics from Harvard University, an MS in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering and bachelor's degrees in Physics and English from Stanford University. 
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

Sabine Gerdon, Fellow, AI and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, World Economic Forum, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Sabine has worked in data and tech policy making for the last 5 years in the UK Government and the OECD in Paris.  She is currently seconded from the UK Governments Office for AI to the World Economic Forum Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution in San Francisco where she focusses on developing a framework for the public procurement of AI and ML powered solutions.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Bob Gourley, Co-Founder and CTO, OODA LLC

Bob previously founded Crucial Point LLC, a technology research and advisory firm. He is the publisher of CTOvision.com Bob collaborates in the operation of OODALoop.com. Bob’s first career was as a naval intelligence officer, which included operational tours in Europe and Asia. Bob was the first Director of Intelligence (J2) at DoD’s cyber defense organization JTF-CND. Following retirement from the Navy Bob was an executive with TRW and Northrop Grumman, and then returned to government service as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).  Bob was named one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the globe by Infoworld. He was selected for AFCEAs award for meritorious service to the intelligence community, and was named by Washingtonian as one of DC’s “Tech Titans.”  Bob was named one of the “Top 25 Most Fascinating Communicators in Government IT” by the Gov2.0 community GovFresh. Bob was noted as “Most Influential on Twitter for Big Data” by Forbes. The blog he founded and publishes, CTOvision, is now ranked among the top 50 federal technology blogs.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Jun Heider, CTOO, RealEyes Media

Jun works as the CTOO at RealEyes Media, the premier industry expert in advanced application development with unparalleled expertise and experience in all aspects of streaming media. In addition to being a partner of choice for NBC Sports and the largest live streaming events in the world, RealEyes assists companies such as Oracle, Adobe, and Motorola. RealEyes also has a long history of helping the public sector realize their media and streaming needs. In his role at RealEyes Jun love directing innovative, talented developers, helping to optimize media workflow, and determining how to harness the power of AI and Machine Learning. Jun has also been adjunct faculty at University of Denver, PMC member and committer at Apache, and spoken at numerous conferences such as NAB, Adobe MAX, and Streaming Media Conferences.
Track 6: Compliance, Security & Trust

Brett Horvath, President, Guardians.ai

Brett Horvath serves as counselor to elected officials, policy makers, Fortune 100 CEO’s, military strategists, and leading scientists as they confront the rapidly evolving landscape of global information warfare.
Brett is the President of Guardians.ai whose mission is to protect democracies and open markets from information warfare and engineered volatility.
Brett has worked at the intersection of technology, politics, and risk for over 10 years, He was also co-founder and Head of Strategy at Scout.ai who’s mission is to anticipate the social impact of technology by combining investigative reporting with near-term science fiction.  After the 2016 presidential election Brett co-led a five-month investigation into what happened and in February 2017 published “The Rise of The Weaponized AI-Propaganda Machine” - one of the first pieces of reporting and analysis to explore the depth of Cambridge Analytica’s global efforts and how they fit into the larger information warfare landscape of Russian botnets, private political networks, and the broader threat to democracy. The report has now been read over 4 million times and cited in United Nations, academic, and governmental reports about the threat of information warfare. 
Brett and his work has been covered in The New York Times, Buzzfeed, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Mashable, Politico, Vice, The Daily Beast, The Daily Dot, Gizmodo, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies Annual ‘Future of Defense’ Assessment, and several academic studies on information warfare.
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

 Sukumar R. Iyer, CEO, Brillient and Chair of Intelligent Automation Working Group, ACT-IAC

Mr. Sukumar Iyer is the founder and CEO of Brillient Corporation. Sukumar has more than 26 years experience in management consulting, information technology and software at companies such as Accenture and with Fortune 100 clients in different industry sectors.
At Accenture as a senior executive, Sukumar worked with Government and Fortune 50 commercial clients, establishing a track record of successful projects, exceeding client expectations and as a consultant that delivered innovative solutions to challenging business problems. Prior to Accenture, Sukumar led the technical sales activities for a small engineering software company developing business with varied clients in the automotive, aerospace, semiconductor, biomedical, electronics, and retail industries. His areas of expertise include business / organizational strategy, data science driven applications and AI driven solutions to deliver client value. Sukumar’s passion lies in understanding a client’s problems or challenges and then crafting and delivering an innovative, cost effective solution.
Sukumar founded Brillient with the vision of helping solve client problems combining innovation with the right mix of technologies and business processes to deliver uncontestable value. His business philosophy with the Brillient team is to hire partners (rather than employees) and share the rewards; tying incentives directly to each person’s personal contribution and accomplishments. 
Sukumar is active in the Emerging Technologies COI of the ACT-IAC and is the industry chair of the Intelligent Automation Working Group. He was the Chair of the AFCEA Small Business Committee and is an active member of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA).
Sukumar graduated with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Akron. He holds a private pilot’s license and has a variety of hobbies he indulges in when he is not spending time with his children.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Jesus Jackson, Senior Director & Head, eGT Labs

Jesus Jackson is the Senior Director of Technology Strategy at eGlobalTech and head of eGT Labs, eGlobalTech’s tech innovation hub. He specializes in big data, distributed systems, microservices, data science, and full stack development and integration. With expertise in leading, building, and deploying user-centric and scalable products to millions of users, he heads product development at eGlobalTech. Jesus graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a BS in computer science and mathematics.
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Tim Janssen, AI Governance Lead for Operations, National Security Agency 

Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

 

Phil Komarny, VP for Innovation, Salesforce

Phil is a seasoned, award winning c-suite executive and an evangelist for change via technology currently serving as the Vice President of Innovation at Salesforce.com. He is an industry expert in Blockchain and other decentralizing technology and advocate for the proliferation of the role of the ‘Chief Courage Officer’ within organizations during this time of transformational change. His successful 25+ year track record has been focused on innovation and aligning businesses with the right technological approach to reach their customers. He is also a member of the Constellation's Business Transformation 150 (BT-15), an elite list that recognizes the top global executives leading business transformation efforts in their organizations, as well as the CIO100, which celebrates Chief Information Officers who continually push the boundaries of what can be done with technology. During his leisure time, you’ll find Phil speaking to and advising a variety of organizations when he is not out hiking with his wife Laurel near his home in Colorado Springs.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Kashyap Kompella, CEO and Chief Analyst, rpa2ai Research

Kashyap Kompella, CFA is CEO and chief analyst of rpa2ai Research, a global industry analyst firm focusing on automation and Artificial Intelligence. Kashyap has 20 years of experience as an industry analyst, technologist and management consultant. rpa2ai helps customers with enterprise AI/Automation strategy and roadmap, technology selection and M&A due diligence on AI technologies.

Kashyap is widely recognized as a thought leader on AI and emerging technologies and has been quoted by the BBC, Quartz, Economist, Mint, Guardian, Forbes, Nikkei Asian Review, eMarketer, CMSWire, KMWorld, EContent, SearchCIO etc., and has presented at several global conferences. Kashyap has been a judge for EContent 100, an annual listing of the Top 100 digital companies. 
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Michael Krigsman, Industry Analyst, CXOTalk

Michael Krigsman is recognized internationally as an industry analyst and host of CXOTALK. As a columnist for ZDNet, Michael has written over 1,000 articles on topics related to innovation, digital disruption and leadership. His work has been mentioned more than 1,000 times in major newspapers, television, radio, trade publications, presentations, academic dissertations, blogs, and other media. Michael has been quoted in about 50 books, published in the Wall Street Journal, and is syndicated on important technology websites. Michael is often a judge in prestigious industry contests such as the CIO100 contest (CIO Magazine) and CRM Idol. He has presented to groups such as CIO Symposium (Cleveland), Oracle OpenWorld, Digital Enterprise Show (Madrdid), CIO Summit (Boston), D-Summit (Stockholm), Harvard University, Babson College, Seton Hill University, University College London, CIO Summit (Scottsdale), CT Executive Symposium, Federal Home Loan Banks, Boston University, Suffolk University, SAP Sapphire, NetSuite SuiteWorld, MIT CIO Symposium, Educause, and others.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Devin Krotman, Director, Prize Operations, IBM Watson AI XPRIZE 

Devin Krotman serves as the Director of both the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE and Global Learning XPRIZE. In this capacity for the last three years, Mr. Krotman oversees all complex operational aspects of these large programs - including, but not limited to project management, fiscal management, knowledge management, and risk management. Mr. Krotman is passionate about tackling the world’s grandest challenges from education to disaster prediction and firmly believes technology will help humanity get there. With nearly a decade of experience in management consulting prior to XPRIZE, Devin focuses on leveraging his problem-solving experience when it comes to helping run XPRIZE’s large scale competitions focused on innovative technology.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

David Kuehn, Program Director, Exploratory Advanced Research Program, Federal Highway Administration 

David Serves as the first Program Manager for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Exploratory Advanced Research Program. The program focuses on longer term and higher risk research with the potential for transformational improvements to the transportation system.  The Program Manager serves as the senior advisor to agency leadership; develops and implements the Exploratory Advanced Research Program's research agenda; fosters partnerships with other Federal agencies, national scientific societies and organizations, and the academic community in support of the Program; and scans and convenes activities associated with the program.
Track 6: Compliance, Security & Trust

Corey Lofdahl, PhD, Principal Research Scientist, Advanced Decision Systems, Systems & Technology Research (STR)

Dr. Corey Lofdahl is a recognized expert in the computer-based policy modeling and social science simulation. At MIT, he learned to specify, quantify, and integrate social science theory to create integrated policy analyses using system dynamics (SD) simulation. Under the DARPA COMPOEX program, Dr. Lofdahl built suites of SD models to create plans and analyses for Baghdad that integrated Diplomatic, Intelligence, Military, and Economic (DIME) lines of effort for senior military and civilian decision makers. Throughout his career, he has applied computer-based techniques to analyze complex policy and technical problems for a range of defense, government, and civilian customers. He holds degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, and international relations from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Brown University, and MIT.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Jeff Marootian, Director, District Department of Transportation  

Jeff Marootian was confirmed unanimously by the Council of the District of Columbia to serve as the Director of the District Department of Transportation on Tuesday, January 9, 2018. He was nominated by Mayor Muriel Bowser in October 2017.
Marootian joined DDOT from the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) where he served as Assistant Secretary for Administration from 2015-2017 and White House Liaison from 2013-2015. During his time there, he advised Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and collaborated with heads of federal transportation regulatory agencies to promote President Barack Obama’s transportation agenda. He served on the leadership team whose achievements include launching the nationwide Smart Cities Challenge; advocating for, and securing passage of the FAST Act; and creating economic opportunity through transit and mobility initiatives in communities across the country. Marootian oversaw the 55,000-employee agency’s business and management operations, including workforce development and human resources, diversity, facilities, procurement and security. He was also the Department’s Chief Sustainability Officer and directed the implementation of President Obama’s Executive Order on Climate Change and Sustainability and contributed to the Department’s strategy on electric and autonomous vehicles.
Jeff Marootian began his career as a Capital City Fellow with the Government of the District of Columbia, holding legislative and community affairs roles with both the Metropolitan Police Department and DDOT. He served as DDOT’s head of customer service from 2007-2011. He has been a District resident for more than 20 years, serving as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner from 2000-2002. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Administration from George Washington University, where he now is an adjunct professor.
Track 3: Smart Cities
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Brad Mascho, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, NCI Information Systems, Inc.

Brad Mascho is NCI’s chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) and the first CAIO in the GovCon space. His primary focus is on bringing NCI’s AI framework Shai, which stands for Scaling Humans with Artificial Intelligence, to the company’s customers and the federal sector. Brad is a recognized thought leader on AI — emphasizing how this technology is scaling human potential to reach new heights and empowering today’s workforce.
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Jason Matheny, PhD, Founding Director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University

Jason Matheny is founding director of Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Previously he was Assistant Director of National Intelligence, and Director of IARPA, responsible for the development of breakthrough technologies for the U.S. intelligence community. Before IARPA, he worked at Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity, and Princeton University, and was the co-founder of two biotechnology companies. He is a member of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and the National Academies’ Intelligence Community Studies Board; is a recipient of the Intelligence Community’s Award for Individual Achievement in Science and Technology, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; and was named one of Foreign Policy’s “Top 50 Global Thinkers.” He has served on various White House committees related to artificial intelligence, biosecurity, high-performance computing, and quantum information science. He co-led the National AI R&D Strategic Plan released by the White House in 2016 and was a member of the White House Select Committee on AI, created in 2018. He holds a Ph.D. in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.B.A. from Duke University and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Bill Meisel, PhD, Principal Analyst, TMA Associates

William Meisel, Ph.D., president, TMA Associates, is publisher and editor of LUI News (formerly Speech Strategy News), a paid-subscription monthly newsletter launched in 1993, which covers the commercial applications of the Language User Interface. Dr. Meisel has authored the most comprehensive digital assistant product guide in the market today which covers 270+ intelligent assistant/Bot products and 125+ implementations – Digital Assistants and Bots: A Vendor Guide. He chairs the Conversational Interaction Conference for AVIOS, and he produces a ½ day workshop at our AI World event entitled “Building an Application-Specific Intelligent Assistant”. He is author of the 2013 book The Software Society, and a consultant on market and product opportunities created by the maturing of speech and natural language technology. His experience in speech technology includes founding and running a speech recognition company and authoring a technical book on machine learning. Dr. Meisel previously founded a venture-capital-backed speech recognition company, Speech Systems Inc., and ran it for ten years.
Seminar: Intelligent Assistants

John Moore, Senior Site Editor, TechTarget

John Moore edits and contributes features and news articles for TechTarget's SearchITChannel site. His areas of coverage include robotic process automation, IT service providers and cloud computing. Prior to joining TechTarget, he was a freelance writer, channel editor at Smart Partner magazine, department editor at Federal Computer Week and senior editor at Computer Systems News. He has been covering IT since 1986. 
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

Todd G Myers, Automation Lead, CIO-T, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Todd Myers is currently leading the deployment of multi datacenter and cloud processing clusters for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. His most recent distributed analytical capabilities are focused on advanced Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) analytics to support the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) mission partners through what NGA calls the NSG Data Analytical Architecture Service (NDAAS).

The NDAAS framework brings a Data Center operating System (DCOS) to NGA using the appropriate balance of open source and vendor capabilities. The DCOS abstraction is a required component to begin unifying disparate infrastructure and normalizing its present and future consumption by both large and small NGA Programs.
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Kim Nelson, Executive Director, State and Local Government Solutions, Microsoft  

Kimberly Nelson joined Microsoft Corporation in 2006 and now serves as Executive Director of the U.S. Public Sector’s State and Local Government Solutions team. In this capacity, she leads a team of subject matter experts covering Justice and Public Safety, Health and Human Services and Modern Government. Her role also includes serving as the U.S. CityNext Lead and working in collaboration with Microsoft’s vast partner ecosystem to develop repeatable solutions that will ensure the predictable delivery of improved online services while helping to reduce the cost, risk and deployment time associated with sophisticated systems.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Michael R. Nelson, PhD, Former Professor of Internet Studies, Communications, Culture and Technology Program, Georgetown University

For more than thirty years, Michael R. Nelson has worked on Internet-related global public policy issues. Four years ago, he launched the Washington DC policy office for Cloudflare, a startup that has improved the performance and security of more than 13 million Web sites. Prior to that, he was a Principal Technology Policy Strategist in Microsoft’s Technology Policy Group and a Senior Technology and Telecommunications Analyst with Bloomberg Government. In addition, since January, 2009, Michael Nelson has been teaching courses and doing research on the future of the Internet, cyber-policy, technology policy, innovation policy, and e-government in the CCT Program at Georgetown University. For ten years, Nelson was Director of Internet Technology and Strategy at IBM, where he managed a team helping define and implement IBM's Next Generation Internet strategy. In the 1990s, Nelson was Director for Technology Policy at the Federal Communications Commission and Special Assistant for Information Technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. There he worked with Vice President Gore and the President's Science Advisor on issues relating telecommunications policy, information technology, encryption, electronic commerce, and information policy. From 1988 to 1993, he served as a professional staff member for the Senate's Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, chaired by then-Senator Gore and was the lead Senate staffer for the High-Performance Computing Act. He has a B.S. from Caltech and a Ph.D. from MIT.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

David Noever, PhD, Senior Technical Fellow, PeopleTec, Inc.

David Noever has 29 years of research experience with NASA and Department of Defense in machine learning and data mining. He received his Ph.D. from Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, in theoretical physics and B.Sc. from Princeton University, summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. While at NASA, he was named 1998 Discover Magazine's "Inventor of the Year," for the novel development of computational biology software and internet search robots, culminating in co-founding the startup company cited by Nature Biotechnology as first in its technology class. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific research articles and book chapters. He also received the Silver Medal of the Royal Society, London, and is a former Chevron Scholar, San Francisco. His primary research centers on machine learning, algorithms, and data mining for analytics, intelligence and novel metric generation. 
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Ola Olude-Afolabi, PhD, Adjunct Prof., Morgan State University

Dr. Olatoyosi Olude-Afolabi completed her Advanced Level education at Lagos Anglican Girls Grammer School, Surulere in 1989. That same year, she started her Pre-Degree at Lagos State University (LASU) in Math/Education and eventually completed her BS in Computer Science at the University of Nebraska in 1998. That year, she worked for Corning Inc as Systems Engineer,IT Project Leader and Supervisor until 2001 when she returned to Graduate School at Binghamton University to obtain MS and Ph.D. in Systems Science with specializations in Systems Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Eduardo Olvera, Director of User Experience, Nuance Communications

Eduardo is the Director of User Experience within Nuance’s Technological Advancement Group (TAG). His work on many international English, Spanish and French voice user interfaces for such industry leading corporations as US Airways, Wells Fargo, USAA, FedEx, Ford, Walgreens, Telefonica Movistar, Bank of America, JPMC, Fidelity, Citi, US Bank, Domino’s, Geico, Vanguard, Samsung, AT&T, Verizon, Virgin, MetroPCS, Sprint, and Sempra, give him a deep understanding of the user and business challenges of conversational, multilingual and multimodal omni-channel application design, development and implementation.
Seminar: Intelligent Assistants 

Jeff Orr, AI World Content Director and AI Trends Editor, Cambridge Innovation Institute

Jeff Orr is the Content Director for AI World Government and Editor for AI Trends. Passionate about the way people interact with systems and machines through emerging technologies and new user experiences, Jeff was actively involved in the development and launch of industry-first products, including Wi-Fi and 4G solutions, and leading the wireless technology strategy for The Walt Disney Company. His research on emerging technologies includes AI, cybersecurity, Industrial IoT (IIoT), mobile computing, wearables, the future of work, and user interfaces.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Nikunj Oza, PhD, Leader of the Data Sciences Group, NASA Ames Research Center  

Nikunj Oza is the leader of the Data Sciences Group at NASA Ames Research Center. He also leads a NASA project team, which applies data mining to aviation safety and operations problems. Dr. Oza’s 50+ research papers represent his research interests, which include data mining, machine learning, ensemble learning, anomaly detection, and their applications to Aeronautics and Earth Science. He received the Arch T. Colwell Award for co-authoring one of the five most innovative technical papers selected from 3300+ SAE technical papers in 2005. His data mining team received the 2018 NASA Honor Award and the 2010 NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Associate Administrator¹s Award. He is an Associate Editor for the peer-reviewed journal Information Fusion (Elsevier) and has served as organizer, senior program committee member, and program committee member of several data mining and machine learning conferences. He received his B.S. in Mathematics with Computer Science from MIT in 1994, and M.S. (in 1998) and Ph.D. (in 2001) in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Thomas Patterson, PhD, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School

Thomas E. Patterson is Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press. He is author of the book Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism, published in October 2013. His earlier book, The Vanishing Voter, looks at the causes and consequences of electoral participation, and his book on the media’s political role, Out of Order, received the American Political Science Association’s Graber Award as the best book of the decade in political communication. His first book, The Unseeing Eye, was named by the American Association for Public Opinion Research as one of the 50 most influential books on public opinion in the past half century. He is also the author of Mass Media Election: How Americans Choose Their President (1980), and two general American government texts: The American Democracy and We the People. His articles have appeared in Political Communication, Journal of Communication, and other academic journals, as well as in the popular press. His research has been funded by the Ford, Markle, Smith-Richardson, Pew, Knight, Carnegie, and National Science foundations. Patterson received his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 1971.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Antigone Peyton, JD, Chair, Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group, Protorae Law PLLC

Antigone leads the Intellectual Property and Technology Law practice at Protorae Law. Antigone focuses on intellectual property litigation along with IP portfolio management and growth strategies involving patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights. Her litigation and counseling practices also include unfair competition, DMCA violations, computer fraud, and technology law issues involving social media, IoT, cybersecurity, blockchain, and cloud computing. Antigone has acted as lead trial counsel and appellate counsel in federal civil lawsuits across the United States and she has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies involved in high stakes intellectual property disputes and a variety of other business and legal issues.
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Edward Preble, PhD, Research Data Scientist, Center for Data Science, RTI International

Edward Preble is a data scientist in RTI International’s Center for Data Science, where he applies machine learning, text analytics, and data visualization to solving problems in the social sciences, public health, and engineering sciences. Dr. Preble partners with RTI’s wide variety of subject matter experts to extract hidden insights from complex data sets.A physicist by training, Dr. Preble previously held engineering and executive management roles in the semiconductor research industry. As real-world problems are evolving to be more and more data-centric, Dr. Preble has transferred his prior research experience to the field of data science to focus on societal issues that can benefit from innovative technical solutions.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Karina Ricks, Director of Mobility and Infrastructure, City of Pittsburgh 

Karina Ricks is the inaugural director of the new Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for the City of Pittsburgh. Karina moved to the city in March 2017 after two decades in Washington, DC. As Director of DOMI, Karina oversees transportation investments and policies that support the physical mobility needed for the people of Pittsburgh to pursue the economic mobility they aspire to. Key initiatives of the department at present include design and implementation of a “complete network” that serves all modes and encourages more sustainable travel choices; resiliency projects to address issues related to landslides and incidents of flooding; policies and programs to manage emerging transportation including shared services and autonomous vehicles; and strategies to address long term maintenance and funding concerns. Prior to her move to Pittsburgh, Karina worked across the country and internationally a Principal and Multimodal Sector Leader for Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates after ten years in the public sector most recently as Director of Transportation Planning for the District of Columbia. Karina is a graduate of Cornell University, Michigan State University and a Fulbright Scholar.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Will Roberts, JAIC, Acquisitions Chief, Department of Defense, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center 

Mr. William R. (Will) Roberts is the Acquisition Chief, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer in Arlington, Virginia. Mr. Roberts is responsible for ensuring that acquisition pathways and methodologies are centered on the JAIC mission of providing AI capabilities to the warfighter and DoD workforce.
Previously, Mr. Roberts was a Contracting Officer (CO) for the United States Air Force (Unlimited Warrant) and was appointed Branch Chief for Air Force District of Washington (AFDW) – PKS. In this role, he serviced the requirements of the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (SAF), and served as the Contracting Officer (CO) for SAF/AQ, SAF/FM, SAF/CIO A6, AFCAA, AFPEO/CM, and SAF/AA.
Prior to supporting the Air Force, he worked for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) where he provided expertise on service acquisition policy for DoDEA. Additionally, he drafted the Service Acquisition Strategy (SAS) and Procurement Policy Memorandum (PPM) for the agency that incorporated current Federal procurement laws and policies and provided clear guidance and templates to ensure accurate reporting on elements such as Inherently Governmental Functions (IGFs), critical functions, and personal services.
Mr. Roberts earned a law degree from Stetson University College of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from Western Kentucky University. 
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Jennifer Robinson, Director of Local Government Solutions, SAS 

Jennifer Robinson is a member of SAS’s U.S. Government Practice, working to help local governments maximize the use of their data through data integration, data management and analytics.  Jennifer has a background in software development and local government.  She has served as a Councilwoman for Cary, NC since 1999 and is a member of several regional boards.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Marc Rotenberg, President, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

Marc Rotenberg is President and Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC. He teaches information privacy and open government at Georgetown Law and frequently testifies before Congress on emerging privacy and civil liberties issues. He testified before the 9-11 Commission on "Security and Liberty: Protecting Privacy, Preventing Terrorism." He has served on several national and international advisory panels, and currently serves on expert panels for the National Academies of Science and the OECD. He is a founding board member and former Chair of the Public Interest Registry, which manages the .ORG domain. He is co-editor of "Privacy in the Modern Age: The Search for Solutions" (The New Press 2015) and (with Anita Allen) "Privacy Law and Society" (West 2016). He is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School, and received an LLM in International and Comparative Law. He served as Counsel to Senator Patrick J. Leahy on the Senate Judiciary Committee after graduation from law school. He is the recipient of several awards, including the World Technology Award in Law, the American Lawyer Award for Top Lawyers Under 45, the Norbert Weiner Award for Social and Professional Responsibility, and the Vicennial medal from Georgetown University for distinguished service. He was named one of the top lawyers in America in 2014 by Lawdragon.
Summit: AI Governance, Big Data & Ethics

Lori Ruderman, Senior Advisor, U. S Department of Health and Human Services, HHS ReImagine BuySmarter 

Lori Ruderman is Initiative Lead for the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ ReImagine BuySmarter Initiative.  Ms. Ruderman has over 30 years’ experience in diverse range of leadership and management roles.  With a Master’s Degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, Ms. Ruderman spent more than 20 years of her career serving in the healthcare space.  During the course of her career to-date, Ms. Ruderman has served as the director of a not-for-profit health program and has served as a hospital administrator for two different healthcare systems before joining the federal government in 2008.   Since entering public service, Ms. Ruderman has spent the past ten years in the federal Shared Services environment with the majority of that time focused on federal acquisitions.  Ms. Ruderman brings a passion and innovative energy to this unique opportunity to revolutionize acquisitions for the Department’s $24B in annual spend on goods and services.   
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Ronald Schmelzer, Managing Partner, Principal Analyst, Cognilytica 

Ron is principal analyst, managing partner, and founder of the Artificial Intelligence-focused analyst and advisory firm Cognilytica, and is also the host of the AI Today podcast, SXSW Innovation Awards Judge, founder of TechBreakfast demo format events, and an expert in AI, Machine Learning, Enterprise Architecture, venture capital, startup and entrepreneurial ecosystems, and more.  Prior to founding Cognilytica, Ron founded and ran ZapThink, an industry analyst firm focused on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Cloud Computing, Web Services, XML, & Enterprise Architecture, which was acquired by Dovel Technologies in August 2011.
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

Lewis Shepherd, Senior Director, National Technology Strategy, R&D, VMware Research

Lewis Shepherd is an R&D executive with VMware, the pioneering Silicon Valley virtualization technology company and the world’s leading multi-cloud-computing provider. As Senior Director of National Technology Strategy, he leads disruptive prototyping efforts of specific relevance to federal government agencies. He also currently serves as a Special Government Employee (SGE) for strategic capabilities in the Pentagon's Office of the Secretary of Defense. 
He previously spent seven years as the Director and CTO of the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments, a global practice providing R&D innovations for enterprise-scale mission problems. His private consulting clients have included SpaceX, Goldman Sachs, and several hedge funds, and from 1984-2002 Shepherd was active in Silicon Valley in government, technology, and research, including helping create and grow two startups.
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Lindsey Sheppard, Associate Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)

Lindsey Sheppard is an associate fellow with the International Security Program at CSIS, where she supports various projects in emerging technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in security applications, ranging from strategic to tactical. Ms. Sheppard contributes expertise in modeling and simulation, system architecture, electronic warfare, and radar from five years of experience in defense research and development. Before joining CSIS, she was a member of the technical staff at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and the Georgia Tech Research Institute, during which time she served as the systems engineering lead on multiyear efforts building simulation capabilities to evaluate technology and deployment solutions to support military operations. She holds an M.S. and a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Teresa Smetzer, CEO, Smetzer Associates LLC and former Director of Digital Futures, CIA

Ms. Teresa Smetzer is currently CEO of Smetzer Associates LLC where she is responsible for leading digital innovation and change management initiatives in the national security community. She recently retired as CIA's Director of Digital Futures in the Directorate of Digital Innovation. She returned to CIA after spending 14 years in the private sector as a CEO, business strategist, and investor. In this capacity, she leveraged her expertise from both the public and private sectors to accelerate the identification and adoption of industry leading digital technologies with the goal of modernizing, advancing, and transforming mission.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Smetzer served 17 years at CIA as a technical analyst and senior manager, participating in and leading multiple transformation-related task forces and programs aimed at modernizing the business of intelligence, including the development of the first Directorate of Intelligence strategic plan. She conceptualized and led an innovative initiative aimed at aligning fragmented intelligence production processes into a secure, web-based, collaborative, real-time production environment. She was awarded CIA's Distinguished Intelligence Medal in 2001 in recognition for her contributions to the CIA mission.  
In 2004, Ms. Smetzer served on the White House Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ms. Smetzer then established her own strategic management consulting company, Jasmah Consulting. After her company was purchased in 2008, Ms. Smetzer held senior executive positions in business development and operations in large and small businesses, served on multiple Boards of Directors, and invested in and mentored several emergent technology companies.
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Noah Spitzer-Williams, Redaction AI and Transcription AI, Axon Technologies

Noah Spitzer-Williams is an AI Product Lead at Axon, a public safety technology provider. His team recently launched Axon’s Redaction Assistant which uses AI to automatically redacts screens, faces, and license plates in body-worn video.

Prior to Axon, Noah led product teams at Microsoft, Groupon Getaways, and his own video editing startup. Outside the office, you’ll likely find him kiteboarding, traveling, or playing hide and seek with his son.
Track 3: Smart Cities

   

Jen Sovada, Chief of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Talent Management, US Air Force

Colonel Jen Sovada is the Chief of Talent Management for Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance where she is leading a revolutionary cultural and process change for approximately 35K Airmen; Officers, Enlisted and Civilians.  She is driving how the Air Force ISR community develops and retains a more ready and lethal force by leveraging innovation and technology to move the workforce from the industrial age into the digital age.
She has held various positions over her Air Force career including commanding the Air Force Technical Applications Center, the Department of Defense’s sole organization responsible for nuclear treaty monitoring, and also working across Joint and Interagency organizations to further integration and interoperability to better prepare our nation to maintain decision advantage. 
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Stephen Strong, Sr. Lead Technologist, Booz Allen Hamilton

Stephen Strong has worked with Vern Walker to create software that supports legal reasoning since 2001.  More recently the emphasis has shifted focus on argument mining from a large body of existing cases involving the veterans board of appeals using ML/AI technology really available in the cloud.  Stephen works as the technology implementor to create practical tools that deliver the research produces from the LLT Lab
Vern R. Walker – Professor Emeritus of Law, Director of the Research Laboratory for Law, Logic & Technology (LLT Lab); Hofstra University 
Vern Walker is dedicated to applied theory – using the best available theories to solve the most difficult problems. His expertise integrates legal practice, statistical analysis, scientific reasoning and philosophical conceptualization. His goal is to develop scalable AI tools that assist human decision makers by automating necessary sub-tasks, such as automatically searching past legal decisions and mining them for possible arguments in future cases. 
Vern is Director of Hofstra University’s Research Laboratory for Law, Logic & Technology (LLT Lab), which he founded in 2009. The LLT Lab conducts empirical research on argument and reasoning patterns in legal documents, and creates the semantic data, training protocols and software analytics that can assist human reasoning. His Lab has studied such legal areas as veterans’ disability claims, compensation claims for injuries due to vaccines, and medical malpractice claims. 
Vern holds a J.D. in law from Yale University, as well as a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He was a partner in a D.C. law firm, and he has been at Hofstra University since 1988. Both his legal and philosophical background have focused on artificial intelligence, linguistic analysis, knowledge theory, logic, and the use of scientific evidence in legal proof.
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Maj Daniel Tadross,Predictive Maintenance, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center's (JAIC)

Major Daniel Tadross supports the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center’s (JAIC) Predictive Maintenance (PMx) National Mission Initiative (NMI) and as a member of the Test, Evaluation and Assessment Team.  The PMx NMI goal is to improve availability of key combat platforms through the AI prediction of, and early mitigation of, component failures.
Prior to his role at the JAIC, Major Tadross, an Air Traffic Control Officer, was hand selected as a member of the Secretary of the Navy’s Innovation Advisory Council, where he conducted independent research at the MITRE Corporation on integration of AI into aviation command.  Previous tours include, Marine Air Tactical Command Squadron 18 in Okinawa Japan where he filled the role of Senior Air Coordinator supporting exercises in South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia.  
Major Tadross is a graduate of Old Dominion University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Sara-Jayne Terp, Data Scientist, Bodacea Light Industries LLC

Sara-Jayne “SJ” Terp is a data nerd with a long history of working on the hardest data problems she can find. Her background includes designing unmanned vehicle systems, transport, intelligence and disaster data systems with an emphasis on how humans and autonomous systems work together; developing crowdsourced advocacy tools, managing innovations, teaching data science to Columbia’s international development students, designing probabilistic network algorithms, working as a pyrotechnician, and CTO of the UN’s big data team. Her current interests are focused on misinformation mechanisms and counters; she founded Bodacea Light Industries to focus on this, is working with the Global Disinformation Index to create an independent disinformation rating system, and running a Credibility Coalition working group on the application of information security principles to misinformation.  SJ holds degrees in artificial intelligence and pattern analysis and neural networks.
Seminar: AI & Cybersecurity

Barbara Thompson, PhD, Solar Physicist, Lead of the Center for HelioAnalytics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Dr. Thompson has devoted the majority of her solar research to the study of coronal mass ejections and the dynamics of coronal structures. The majority of her refereed publications involve either CMEs or eruption-associated phenomena, such as dimmings and EUV waves. Her research efforts focus on understanding the dynamics of the solar corona and image processing/analysis efforts to examine eruptive structures, and the application of machine learning and advance mathematical methods to problem-solving. 
Track 2: Strategic Government Functions

Anil Tilbe, Director of Enterprise Measurements & Design, Veterans Experience Office, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Over the course of his last 8 years with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Anil has served in leadership and delivery oversight roles to lead operational and enforcement programs in Offices of Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Information Security Officer (OIS), Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO), and Office of Resolution Management (ORM). 
Operationally, Anil led in 2015 CRISP (Continuous Readiness in Information Security Program) contract as the contracting officer representative to oversee delivery and performance of $300M in information security services. Also, he created and implemented in 2013 OIT-wide VA enterprise data collection solution named Polaris Calendar in EPMO. In 2016, Anil created VA’s first data science program capability with a mission to detect and predict discrimination VA-wide using machine intelligence and natural language processing.
In Enforcement, Anil lead-managed from 2014 to 2015 the creation of VA's first Central Whistleblower Office (CWO), renamed to Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (AWP), in response to POTUS executive order to improve accountability and whistleblower protection at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Also, he was the Liaison from 2011 to 2013 to VA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to manage its investigations in waste, fraud, and abuse.   
Currently, Anil Tilbe has been leading as the Director of VEO’s Enterprise Measurement and Design Program (EMD) with the mission to deploy AI, data science, and design thinking implementations for a wide range of VA objectives to help inform for opportunities in program improvements and service recovery. 
Anil is a veteran of the US Army and alumnus of West Point and Harvard University.
Track 1: Big Data to AI

Kevin Tupper, Data & AI Technology Specialist, Microsoft

Kevin Tupper is an experienced and passionate entrepreneur who thrives on learning about your organizational challenges, and helping you understand and implement technological solutions to overcome them and achieve your mission.

Serving the public sector as Data and AI Specialist with Microsoft, Kevin works across the federal government helping various commands and agencies successfully move to the cloud.  As an AI Ambassador, he helps organizations understand and adopt AI where it will deliver the most value.
Seminar: Intelligent Assistants

Thanh Van Nguyen, Minister of Public Security Ministry, Former Governor of Hai Phong, Vietnam

Assoc. Prof. Thanh is a Vietnamese politician, Senior Lieutenant General of the Vietnam Public Security (three star general). He is currently a Member of Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Deputy Minister of Public Security of Vietnam.   He is Former Deputy Chief of the Vietnam Party Central Office, Former Secretary of Hai Phong City Party Committee, Former Chairman of Hai Phong City People's Council, Former Chairman (Mayor) of the Hai Phong City People's Committee.  He is Member of International Federation of Systems Research (IFSR), Malik Senior Fellow and Honour Member of Malik Management Institute, Founder Member of The World Council on Cities Data (WCCD), Senior Advisor of WCCD Global City Leaders Advisory Board.  He is specialist in Systems Thinking, Systems Science, Sustainable Development, Smart City, Economics management, Biological Diversity. He is visiting Lecturer of International Universities: Jerusalem University – Israel, Fukuoka University – Japan, George Washington University -USA and many Universities in Vietnam.   He is the author of several books including Building and Developing Smart Cities.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Sumeet Vij, Principal/Director, Strategic, Booz Allen Hamilton

Sumeet is a senior technology leader in the SIG Digital & Analytics FSO focused on delivering the firm’s Cognitive Solutions capability that combine the best of Digital and Analytics capabilities. He is
responsible for overseeing the development of new strategies, technology, client solutions, and
delivery models to position Booz Allen as an industry leader in the fast-growing domain of Cognitive
Search, Personalization, Conversational AI, Chatbots and Cognitive Automation. He is recognized across CCG and DIG markets for delivering enterprise-scale software solutions to our clients and throughout this eighteen-year experience in the commercial and federal market, has been at the forefront of technology evolutions such as Service-Oriented Architecture, Big Data Analytics, and AI. 
As our Cognitive Solutions lead, Sumeet drives business growth across all markets by scaling the firm’s
capability in this new innovative domain, while developing a team of subject matter experts ready to
launch into client engagements. In his new role, Sumeet will be focused on bringing together our
Digital and Analytics capabilities, including DEXi and RPA, into an integrated service offering that
positions Booz Allen to enable our clients to transform into data-driven organizations.
Track 6: Compliance, Security & Trust

Kathleen Walch, Managing Partner, Principal Analyst, Cognilytica 

Kathleen is a principal analyst, managing partner, and founder of Cognilytica, an AI research and advisory firm, and co-host of the popular AI Today podcast. She is a serial entrepreneur, savvy marketer, AI and Machine Learning expert, and tech industry connector. Kathleen spent many years as the Content and Innovation Director for TechBreakfast, the largest monthly morning tech meetup in the nation with over 50,000 members and 3000+ attendees at the monthly events across the US.  In addition, she is a SXSW Innovation Awards Judge and AI / Hardware Meetup organizer. As a master facilitator and connector, who is well connected in the technology industry, Kathleen regularly meets with innovators in key markets and gets the opportunity to see the latest and newest technologies from game changing companies.
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning
Track 4: Powering AI Data Services

Eliot Weinman, AI World Conference Chair, Cambridge Innovation Institute

Mr. Weinman is Founder and Conference Chair of AI World. For the past two decades Eliot has been a successful entrepreneur and veteran high tech market expert. AI World was his fifth publishing start-up which he sold recently to Cambridge Innovation Institute. AI World and companion online magazine AI Trends have become the nation’s largest independent AI business event and integrated media platform covering the enterprise AI market. He previously founded and sold four leading publishing firms whose media products had become the largest in their respective industry. He has been a publisher, editor and author of numerous magazines, newsletters, books and research studies in diverse areas of advanced technology. His writings have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Forbes, San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post. 
Eliot received is M.S. in Computer Engineering from Boston University and completed a research fellowship in A.I. with GE and MIT where he worked on developing expert systems for the quality inspection of jet engine turbine blades. Before starting his first media business, he headed up the AI group at a top 10 property insurance company (Hanover Insurance) where he implemented one of the nation’s earliest commercial expert systems in underwriting and claims. He also headed advanced engineering groups at the MIT Draper Labs.
Eliot has created more than 200 events in emerging technology markets, including Mobile Commerce World, 4G World, Mobile Internet World, RoboNexus, RoboBusiness, Client/Server Computing and Application Development Conference & Expo. Mr. Weinman has partnered with, consulted to and sold his businesses to many of the industry’s leading computer hardware, software, publishing and research firms. He has taught courses at Northeastern University in AI and knowledge engineering. Previously he earned his B.S. in Accounting at SUNY Albany, and was a CPA for several large CPA firms.
Plenary Sessions


Mitchell Winans, Special Assistant, Office of Procurement, U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)  

Mitch Winans is a Special Assistant in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Office of the Chief Procurement Officer.  In this role, he is responsible for managing stakeholder relations and advising leadership on industry engagement, media outreach, strategic planning, and organizational development.  Prior to joining the IRS, Mitch was an Industry Liaison at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) under the Department of Commerce and helped the newly-formed agency establish its procurement organization and small business program.  Before coming to FirstNet, he served in various roles at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  As the Strategic Communications Liaison in the DHS Office of the Chief Procurement Officer, Mitch counseled leadership on effective communications strategies and managed the spread of procurement information to industry, Congress, the media, the DHS acquisition workforce, and other DHS components.  He was also a Contract Specialist for multiple agencies at DHS and supported a wide range of emergency management, law enforcement, and research and development programs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Customs and Border Protection, and the DHS Science and Technology Directorate.  Before joining DHS, Mitch worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Office of Congressional and Public Affairs.  He received an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a BA from the University of California, Irvine.
Seminar: Machine Learning & Deep Learning

Lindsay Wines, Chief of Staff, City of Baltimore

Lindsay Wines has over ten years of experience in local and state government with a background in budgeting and finance. She currently serves as the Chief of Staff for the Baltimore City Office of Information and Technology where she helped lead the creation of the City’s first ever Inclusive Digital Transformation Strategic Plan. Before taking on her current role, Lindsay served as the Deputy Director of the Baltimore City Department of Transportation where she was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of a $150M operating budget. During her time at Transportation she developed and implemented a more than 100% rate increase for the City’s conduit system to modernize the 100-year-old system. Lindsay has also held positions at the Baltimore City Department of Finance and the Maryland Department of Budget and Management.
Lindsay is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park and George Mason University where she earned her Master of Public Policy.
Track 3: Smart Cities

Lars Wood, CEO/Co-Founder, Analog Computation Corp

Lars Wood is a pioneer in high performance computing, machine learning (8 patents), logic synthesis, EHF analog mixed signal integrated circuits and algorithms, solver intractable challenges for DoD and industry through novel invention, development and application of hardware, software and molecular systems since the early 1980’s.
Track 5: Emerging AI Technologies

Daniel Wu, JD, PhD, Privacy Counsel and Legal Engineer, Immuta

Dan Wu is Privacy Counsel and Legal Engineer at Immuta, the leading data management platform for data science. He advises on data and AI regulations and combines law and technology to help companies navigate complex regulatory environments. 

Dan Wu received his JD/PhD from Harvard, with a research focus on urban innovation. He’s privacy counsel and legal engineer at a data management platform for artificial intelligence. Through this work, he’s engaged with governance and IT personnel of large multinational companies on data governance and published pieces in Dataversity, Tech Pro IT, and Healthcare Business Today. Dan holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a PhD candidacy in Social Policy and Sociology from Harvard Kennedy School.
Track 6: Compliance, Security & Trust

Mark Zannoni, Research Director, Smart Cities & Transportation, IDC

Mark Zannoni is Research Director for Smart Cities and Transportation at IDC, focusing on urban transportation issues and key and emerging transportation technologies in the smart city ecosystem. Mark leads IDC's worldwide transportation and mobility program and brings 25 years of global transportation experience to his research, with perspectives and insight gained from both the public and advisory sectors from work in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and across the United States. Within transport, he covers a broad range of modes and topics from the perspective of emerging technologies and innovation to include: smart airports, airlines, drones, mobility-as-a-service, autonomous and connected vehicles, V2X connectivity, intelligent street infrastructure, smart intersections, smart parking, public transit, personal rapid transit, railways, and intermodal issues. These areas are covered through the lens of leveraging new and emerging technologies such as Big Data and analytics, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, AI, virtual reality, blockchain, and mobile technologies. This research and advisory work is built on insight and experience in transport operations, strategy, planning, economics, regulatory frameworks, and security and emergency management. Mr. Zannoni holds a BA in American History from Boston University and a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University.
Track 3: Smart Cities

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