Speaker Biographies by Name

Chief Innovation Officer
Chike Aguh (Chee-kay Ah-Goo) focuses on the future of work as well as its impacts on and opportunities for nations, organizations, workers and underserved communities. He is the Chief Innovation Officer of the U.S. Department of Labor. He is also a 2020-21 Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights where he will focus on the future of work and its impacts on racial equity. Previously, he has served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Taskforce on the Future of Work, inaugural Future of Work Fellow at the International Society for Technology in Education and expert advisor to the American AI Forum. Previously, he worked as an education policy official under the Mayor of New York, 2nd grade teacher and Teach For America corps member, Fulbright Scholar in Thailand researching education and skills, director of corporate strategy at the Advisory Board Company’s higher education arm, and CEO of a national social enterprise which helped connect 500,000 low-income Americans in 48 states to affordable internet and digital skills. He is a Partner at Maryland-based Inncuvate which grows innovation businesses and ecosystems, particularly in communities that need them most. Chike is a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar; Council on Foreign Relations term member; 40 under 40 honoree from the Wharton School and Washington Business Journal; past member of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Alumni Board of Directors; and Advisory Board Chair of the Prince George’s County Social Innovation Fund. Chike and his work have been featured at or in the White House, Harvard, CNNMoney, Forbes, Wired Magazine, and Fast Company. Chike lives in Glenn Dale, MD with his wife and their son.

Partner
No bio available

CTO
Sam Ansari CTO-Shipcom and Professor at Data Analysis Engineering department at George Mason University. He has more than 20 years in enterprise software development involving algorithm design, machine learning and AI. He is experienced in computer vision, cognitive science, NLP, and big data.  Sam has four AI related patents, authored computer vision and AI book, and several publications. He is the architect and developer of Momentum, a data engineering and AI/ML platform.

Chief Data Scientist, Director, Innovation Lab
Taka is the first Chief Data Scientist appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States for the Government Accountability Office. He also leads GAO’s newly established Innovation Lab in driving problem-centric experiments across audit and operational teams through novel use of advanced analytics and emerging technologies. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, Taka is also responsible for working with GAO stakeholders to adopt prospective views on oversight impacts of emerging capabilities such as AI, cloud services, blockchains, RPA, 5G, and IoT. Taka is natively fluent in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. In his spare time, he is also a serious classical chamber musician and a competitive tennis player.

Director of Research, Institute for Experiential AI
Ricardo Baeza-Yates is Director of Research at the Institute for Experiential AI of Northeastern University. Before, he was VP of Research at Yahoo Labs, based in Barcelona, Spain, and later in Sunnyvale, California, from 2006 to 2016. He is co-author of the best-seller Modern Information Retrieval textbook published by Addison-Wesley in 1999 and 2011 (2nd ed), that won the ASIST 2012 Book of the Year award. From 2002 to 2004 he was elected to the Board of Governors of the IEEE Computer Society and between 2012 and 2016 was elected to the ACM Council. In 2009 he was named ACM Fellow and in 2011 IEEE Fellow, among other awards and distinctions. He obtained a Ph.D. in CS from the University of Waterloo, Canada. and his areas of expertise are web search and data mining, information retrieval, bias and ethics on AI, data science and algorithms in general. Regarding the topic of the panel, he is actively involved as expert in many initiatives, committees or advisory boards related to Responsible AI all around the world: Global AI Ethics Consortium, Global Partnership on AI, ACM's US Technology Policy Committee, IEEE's Ethics Committee and IADB's fAIr LAC Initiative (Latin America and the Caribbean). He is also a member of the editorial committee of the new Springer's AI and Ethics journal, where he co-authored an article highlighting the importance of research freedom on AI ethics.

Associate Chief Scientist
Louis Barbier, PhD is the NASA Associate Chief Scientist. He received his PhD in astrophysics in 1987 and was a staff scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center for 20 years. There, his research focused on x-ray, gamma-ray and particle astrophysics, measurements of solar energetic particles, and radioactive nuclei. He has served in a variety of positions at NASA, including the Deputy Program Scientist for Ballooning, and the Deputy Chief Scientist for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). Since coming to NASA HQ in 2007, he has served as a senior analyst for the Program, Analysis, and Evaluation Office and the Chief Financial Officer, before taking his current position in the Chief Scientist’s Office.

Program Area Manager, Loomis Council Member
Natalie Barrett is a leader at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), primarily focused on human-machine-teams, artificial intelligence and advanced communications. She also serves on the Laboratory’s climate change strategy team. Prior to joining JHU/APL, she served across government and commercial industries focused on defense, innovation, robotics and biotechnology. Key projects include wearables, exoskeletons, isothermal assays (realized in the rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests), microarray reader systems for the Human Genome Project, and cancer research.

Technical Advisor, Project Manager for the Augmented Reality (AR) project
No bio available

Lead, Integrated Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies, Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS)
Dr. Laura Biven is the data science technical lead for ODSS. In this role she is responsible for strategic planning, coordination, and oversight in cloud computing, platform interoperability, and bringing together the computer science and biomedical communities. Before joining the NIH, Laura spent 12 years at the Department of Energy, where she led strategic efforts in data management and data science including the development of the department-wide data management plan requirements, a new stewardship model for high-valued public data repositories, and new research avenues to better leverage DOE data and advance AI. Prior to joining DOE, Laura was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, serving first in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then at the Department of State. Laura completed her higher education in the United Kingdom; she holds a MSci in math and physics from the University of Bristol and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Warwick.

Emerging Technology Evangelist for Government and Strategic Business Executive
Alexis Bonnell is the Emerging Technology Evangelist for Government and Strategic Business Executive at Google. She also serves as a Senior Visiting Fellow for the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. Alexis was one of the founding members of the Internet’s original Trade Association. She led companies transitioning to a digital existence, and brought digital transformations to warzones and global emergencies at the UN. At USAID, she led transformation and knowledge management, co-founded the U.S Global Development Lab of USAID, and served as the Chief Innovation Officer. Alexis has led more than a dozen large scale digital and organizational transformation initiatives and is an expert in organizational behavior and culture, and human centered design. At Google, she dedicates her time to helping public servants catalyze their missions with technology, solving the world's toughest challenges. Alexis specializes in the Public Sectors use of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, AI Governance, API-First, and other scaling approaches.

Senior Program Manager for AI Strategy, Governance, & Partnership Development, Artificial Intelligence & Technology Office
Jonnie Bradley is Senior Program Manager for the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office (AITO). Her realm of focus is AI Strategy, Governance, and Partnership Development. Since Mrs. Bradley joined the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office (AITO), she wrote the charter for DOEs first Artificial Intelligence and Advancement Council, contributed to the DOE AI Strategy, and is responsible for implementing DOEs AI strategic implementation plan. Mrs. Bradley has a keen interest in exploring methods to conduct research below the earth's surface using AI and analysis for clean energy applications. Mrs. Bradley joins AITO from the Office of the Chief Information Officer's Enterprise IT Policy & Governance, where she managed Enterprise IT Governance. Mrs. Bradley ensured the consistent development and implementation of an integrated Enterprise IT governance framework and governance model to enable informative decision-making, mission enhancements, operational excellence, IT acquisition, FITARA compliance, and ongoing governance support. She currently holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems with a concentration in Database Management from DeVry University. “What is some of your goals as Senior Program Manager of AITO?” My goals are to develop a robust AI governance structure that will ensure equitable, responsible, and trustworthy AI, seek AI solutions that will counteract environmental impacts due to subsurface drilling, and create opportunities that will encourage K-12 students to find environmental solutions using AI to combat climate change in their communities.

Distinguished Fellow
Dr. David A. Bray is a Distinguished Fellow with the Stimson Center. He is Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures and has served in a variety of leadership roles in turbulent environments, including bioterrorism preparedness and response from 2000-2005, Executive Director for a bipartisan National Commission on R&D, providing non-partisan leadership as a federal agency Senior Executive, work with the U.S. Navy and Marines on improving organizational adaptability, and with U.S. Special Operation Command’s J5 Directorate on the challenges of countering disinformation online. He has received both the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal. David accepted a leadership role in December 2019 to direct the successful bipartisan Commission on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data that included Senator Mark Warner, Senator Rob Portman, Rep. Suzan DelBene, and Rep. Michael McCaul. From 2017 to the start of 2020, David also served as Executive Director for the People-Centered Internet coalition Chaired by Internet co-originator Vint Cerf and was named a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Human-Machine Cognition starting in 2018. Business Insider named him one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. For twelve different startups, he has served as President, Chief Strategy Officer, and Strategic Advisor roles. David enjoys creative problem solving. He began working for the U.S. government at age 15 on computer simulations at a high-energy physics facility investigating quarks and neutrinos. In later roles, he designed new telemedicine interfaces and space-based forest fire forecasting prototypes for the Department of Defense. From 1998-2000 he volunteered as a part-time crew lead with Habitat for Humanity International in the Philippines, Honduras, Romania, and Nepal while also working as a project manager with Yahoo! and a Microsoft partner firm. Dr. Bray then joined as IT Chief for the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading the program’s technology response to during 9/11, anthrax in 2001, Severe Acute Respiratory System in 2003, and other international public health emergencies. He later completed a PhD from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and two post-doctoral associateships at MIT and Harvard in 2008. David likes to be a digital diplomat and a “human flak jacket” for teams of change agents working in turbulent environments. He volunteered in 2009 to deploy to Afghanistan to help “think differently” on military and humanitarian issues and in 2010 became a Senior National Intelligence Service Executive advocating for increased information interoperability, cybersecurity, and protection of civil liberties. In 2012, he became the Executive Director for the bipartisan National Commission for Review of Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community, leading an interagency team that received the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation. He received both the Arthur S. Flemming Award and Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership in 2013. He also was chosen to be an Eisenhower Fellow to meet with leaders in Taiwan and Australia on multisector cyber strategies for the “Internet of Everything” in 2015. He is the author of 40+ academic papers and published publications. David’s passions include complicated, near impossible missions involving humans and technology in challenging circumstances. Through the efforts of a team of “positive change agents”, he led the transformation of the Federal Communication Commission’s legacy IT with more than 207 different systems to award-winning tech. This included rolling-out new cloud-based IT that achieved results in 1/2 the time at 1/6 the cost. He was the recipient of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Civilian Government. He also received the global CIO 100 Award twice, which usually is awarded to private sector Fortune 500 companies, both in 2015 and 2017, for his transformational leadership in change-adverse settings. From 2017-2021, he both worked with multiple services associated with the U.S. Department of Defense on improving organizational adaptability and counter disinformation online – including personally surviving a disinformation attack that occurred in 2018. In 2019, he was invited to give the AI World Society Distinguished Lecture to the United Nations on UN Charter Day. In 2021 he was named a Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council. As Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures, Dr. Bray’s passions include shaping the Future of Data, Bio, and Space and providing strategic direction, advice, and leadership to organizations confronting turbulent environments. He accepted a role of Co-Chair for 2016-2017 with an IEEE Committee focused on Artificial Intelligence, automated systems, and innovative policies globally and has been serving as a Visiting Executive In-Residence at Harvard University since 2015 and as a Faculty Member giving talks on Impact and Disruption at Singularity University since 2017. He has been an invited keynote speaker to CEOs, world leaders, and crowds of more than 3,000 participants at events in India, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, Dubai, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Head of Customer Success
Jean-Luis is Head of Customer Success at Credo AI, the world's first Responsible AI Governance Platform on a mission to empower organizations to develop AI with the highest ethical standards. He is responsible for leading implementations of the Credo AI platform and helping its enterprise customers scale Responsible AI within their organizations. Caamaño has spent the last 10 years helping organizations implement, scale and operationalize AI & ML enterprise applications. Prior to joining Credo AI, Jean-Luis led service engineering teams at Alation, Appen, Figure Eight, and Tradeshift.

Ethics Lead & Research Associate Professor, Institute for Experiential AI
Cansu Canca is a philosopher specializing in applied ethics. She is the Founder and Director of AI Ethics Lab, one of the first initiatives focusing exclusively on advising practitioners and conducting multidisciplinary research on AI ethics. She leads teams of computer scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, and other experts in research, the development of toolkits, and consulting. She is also the Ethics Lead and Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University, co-leading their Responsible AI practice. She serves as an AI Ethics and Governance Expert consultant to the United Nations, working with UNICRI Centre for AI & Robotics and the INTERPOL in building a “Toolkit for Responsible AI Innovation in Law Enforcement”. Cansu has a Ph.D. in philosophy. She primarily works on ethics of technology, having previously worked on ethics and health. She serves as an ethics expert in various ethics, advisory, and editorial boards. Frequently invited to speak to leaders in industry and academia, Cansu has given over 100 talks on AI ethics, including keynotes at Harvard Business School, the U.S. Department of Justice, her TEDx Cambridge talk How to Solve AI’s Ethical Puzzles, and several others. She is among the 30 Influential Women Advancing AI in Boston and 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.

Director, Federal AI Implementations
Anil Chaudhry has over 20 years of progressive leadership experience in technology delivery, operations, and program management in the defense, intelligence, and national security sectors. At the Artificial Intelligence CoE, Chaudhry advises federal agencies on establishing mature data governance and management practices, developing innovative approaches for leveraging data as a strategic asset, and laying the foundation for advancing data discovery, access, and use through artificial intelligence and machine learning. Prior to joining the CoE, Chaudhry served in critical leadership positions within US Customs and Border Protection and as a Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) at the Defense Business Transformation Agency. Chaudhry served as an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps and as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. Chaudhry was one of three DHS employees selected to attend the National War College in 2016 as part of the DHS Senior Succession Management Program. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anil-neil-chaudhry/

Executive Director
Dan Chenok is Executive Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government. He 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 previously led consulting services for Public Sector Technology Strategy, working with IBM government, healthcare, and education clients. Mr. Chenok serves in numerous industry leadership positions. He is a CIO SAGE and member of the Research Advisory Council with the Partnership for Public Service, Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Member of the Board of Directors for the Senior Executives Association, Member of the Government Accountability Office Polaris Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Member of the American University IT Executive Council, and Mentor with the Global Policy, Diplomacy, and Sustainability Fellowship. Previously, he served as Chair of the Industry Advisory Council (IAC) for the government-led American Council for Technology (ACT), Chair of the Cyber Subcommittee of the DHS Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee, Chair of the NIST-sponsored Federal Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board, and two-time Cybersecurity commission member with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Chenok also generally advises public sector leaders on a wide range of management issues. Finally, Mr. Chenok serves as 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. Before joining IBM, Mr. Chenok was a Senior Vice President for Civilian Operations with Pragmatics, and prior to that was a Vice President for Business Solutions and Offerings with SRA International. 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. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Branch Chief and Desk Officer for Education, Labor, HHS, and related agencies in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Chenok began his government service as an analyst with the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and left government service at the end of 2003. In 2008, Mr. Chenok served on President Barack Obama’s transition team as the Government lead for the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform group, and as a member of the OMB Agency Review Team. Mr. Chenok has won numerous honors and awards, including a 2010 Federal 100 winner for his work on the presidential transition, the 2016 Eagle Award for Industry Executive of the Year, and the 2002 Federal CIO Council Azimuth Award for Government Executive of the Year. Mr. Chenok earned a BA from Columbia University and a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Professor, Director, International Legal Studies
James Cooper is Professor of Law and Director of International Legal Studies at California Western School of Law in San Diego, California, where he has also served as Associate Dean, Experiential Learning and an Assistant Dean. Professor Cooper is also serving as a Fellow of Singapore University of Social Sciences to 2023. He has been a change agent for countries around the Americas for two and a half decades, consulting for the U.S. Departments of Justice and State, the Organization of American States, USAID, USPTO, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Bolivian President’s Office for the Constituent Assembly negotiations, Mexico’s Executive Branch (Los Pinos), Paraguay’s Congress, and a number of other international and regional aid organizations and technical cooperation agencies. An Intellectual Property and trade scholar, he has served on the U.S. government delegation to the World Intellectual Property Organization. A Cambridge University-trained Barrister and Solicitor, Professor Cooper’s public policy work has been commissioned by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany as well as the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States. He contributes to newspapers, website platforms, television, and radio news programs around the world. Professor Cooper has served as a Visiting Professor at the Heidelberg Center for Latin America, at University of California, San Diego, at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, and at the University of Macau. He consults for technology companies around North America and Asia. He is a member of the Protocol Braintrust.

Technical Project Manager, Project Manager for the Lockbox Digitalization project
No bio available

Chief Technology Officer
Brian Drake is the Federal Chief Technology Officer of Accrete.AI Government. He recently departed the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) where he served for over 10 years. His last assignment was leading the intelligence briefing team for the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary, the Undersecretary for Policy, and other “E Ring” principals. He was DIA’s first Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) where he drafted the agency’s AI strategy and oversaw a $20+ million AI investment portfolio. In 2021, he was named by Federal Computer Week as one of the Federal 100 for his work. As an analyst he led multiple teams countering threats from state and non-state actors across technology, counterintelligence, and counternarcotics topics. He previously was a Manager with Deloitte Consulting and a management consultant with Toffler Associates specializing in strategic planning, business development, collaboration consulting, technology, and innovation for commercial and government clients. He also worked as a military platforms and policy analyst for Systems Planning and Analysis and as a nuclear weapons programs analyst for DynCorp. He is also the President and CEO of the Defense Intelligence Memorial Foundation; which supplies scholarships to the children of fallen intelligence officers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mercer University and a Masters from Georgetown University.

Director, HHS emPOWER Program and Senior Program Analyst
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.

Project Lead, AI Division
Carrie Gardner is a Project Lead at the AI Division within the Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute. Carrie brings a cross-disciplinary approach to developing trustworthy artificially intelligent systems. Prior to joining the AI Division, Carrie spent six years at the CERT Division advancing the science and practice of cybersecurity risk management. Carrie holds a Master of Science in Information Science and she is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-gardner/

Management and Program Analyst, Acquisition Program Manager
No bio available

VP & Chief Compliance Officer
Carl Hahn is responsible for leading the enterprise-wide compliance function for Northrop Grumman, ensuring the Company has the right policies, procedures and practices in place and that they are effectively implemented globally. Hahn previously spent 16 years with IBM in various compliance and general counsel roles, most recently as Associate General Counsel Trust & Compliance Officer for the Americas and Europe.

Research Director, Real World Evidence
Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup, DHSc, joins Duke-Margolis as the Research Director leading the Center’s Real-World Evidence (RWE) portfolio, including managing its RWE Collaborative. A scientist/researcher, health policy and industry professional, journalist, and academician within the fields of health policy, business, and health innovation, Rachele brings to the Center her experience serving as the health policy counsel for the Future of Privacy Forum. There, she conducted strategic planning to address the organization’s health data goals and challenges including RWE, use of genetic data, wearables, and machine learning with health data, among other issues. She is an Adjunct Instructor at Ohio University, College of Health Sciences and Professions, an Adjunct Fellow at Baystate Health’s Institute for Healthcare Delivery and Population Science, and an Instructor for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine. A well-published author and researcher, Rachele has conducted significant work addressing access and equity, among many other topics related to evidence and data. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Chicago State University, her Master’s in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Michigan State University, her Master’s in Legal Studies from the University of Illinois, and her Doctor of Health Science from Nova Southeastern University. Rachele completed her postdoctoral research training within the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Chief Information Officer
Henry (Jamie) Holcombe serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In this role, he is the principal advisor to the agency on the design, development, and operations of its information systems and technology. Mr. Holcombe has also served in a variety of executive level positions at various firms. At the Harris Corporation, Mr. Holcombe served as the Vice-President and General Manager of Caprock Government Solutions (CGS), a satellite and terrestrial communications provider to the US Government. Mr. Holcombe also served as Harris’ Vice President of Information Technology and Director of Civil Programs and Commercial Accounts, as well as the Client Executive to the U.S. Department of State. He also served as Vice President of Information Systems for the Universal Service Administrative Company under the oversight of the Federal Communications Commission; as Chief Technology Officer, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Corporate Secretary for the Globix Corporation; and as Chief Information Officer of Cambrian Communications. LLC. He has also been an Architect and Senior Principal Consultant to companies in commercial telecommunications, retail entertainment, and mutual insurance companies. Mr. Holcombe began his career as an officer in the U.S. Army where he served as company commander of the 1116th Signal Battalion and was awarded both the Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award and Most Outstanding Officer of the Year in Hawaii. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree, finishing first in his class in computer science. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree in information systems from Chaminade University in Honolulu, and a Master of Science degree in computer science from George Washington University.

Lead Data Scientist
No bio available

Founder & CEO
Matthew James Bailey is an internationally recognized pioneer and authority in the global phenomena of Innovation, Global AI Ethics, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Cities, The Internet of Things and Large Scale Transformation. His life and career have been dedicated to liberating flourishing futures for humankind through partnership with the digital world. His extraordinary leadership is widely acknowledged throughout governments and the private sector. Matthew is the author of Inventing World 3.0 - Evolutionary Ethics for Artificial Intelligence™, Founder of AIEthics.World; Board of Directors for the Open Civic Foundation; Co-Chairman of the GCTC AI/Smart Cities Supercluster and globally consults with the private and public sectors. Bailey is regular keynote speaker, blogger and columnist. He has been recognized by the US Government as a Person of Extraordinary Ability and recognized in a recent Who’s Who in Artificial Intelligence. https://aiethics.world http://matthewjamesbailey.com https://www.instagram.com/the_ai_guru/ https://twitter.com/the_ai_guru

CISA, CTO
Garfield “Gary” Jones is the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Deputy Program Manager. Gary is responsible for managing systems and implementation engineering, requirements and testing for the CDM Program. Gary has worked as an Information Systems Chief Warrant Officer in the military and as a Cyber Test Engineer in the civilian sector. After 25 years, Gary retired from the military as an Army Reservist in November 2018. Gary recently finished his Doctorate in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Gary holds certifications as a Certified Ethical Hacker and Certified Test and Evaluation Professional. Gary’s outside interests include being an adjunct professor teaching Systems Engineering at Morgan State University, teaching computer programming at University of Maryland University College, and spending time with his family.

Head, AWS AI/ML Enablement and Partnerships
Wilfred Justin is a technology executive with a unique background and accomplishments in the areas of software development, solution architecture, sales, and management. Currently, he is the head of IoT/AI/ML/Containers enablement for Amazon Web Services Worldwide Public Sector Partners. Before that, he was responsible for developing and supporting AWS partnerships with key strategic independent software vendors who provide solutions to commercial, Government, Education, and Nonprofit organizations. Mr. Justin joined Amazon Web Services in 2012 as a Principal Solutions Architect with a focus on security and compliance and later assumed additional responsibility to manage strategic ISV partners. Before joining AWS, he had been in customer-facing leadership roles for reputed software companies. For the last ten years, Mr. Justin is super focused on building the market share and leading the mind shift transformation of cloud adoption. He works with the CIOs and CTOs of the biggest software startups and influences them to adopt cloud computing for their internal IT as well as for their SaaS/PaaS offerings. He has worked both in Public Sector as well as in commercial segments, specifically in tier-1 banks and life sciences verticals. He closely works with software companies that provide cognitive computing, semantic intelligence, exploratory data analysis, and related technologies that augment human intelligence using deep learning on cloud computing platforms. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics and a master’s in Computer Science and Applications. He enjoys authoring and presenting white papers, getting involved in speaking engagements, and round table discussions.

CFA, Chief Analyst
Kashyap is an award-winning industry analyst, best-selling author, educator, and AI advisor to leading companies and start-ups in US, Europe and Asia-Pac. Currently, Kashyap is the CEO of the global technology industry analyst firm RPA2AI Research. RPA2AI advises global corporations, venture capital / private equity firms and government agencies on AI Investments, Enterprise AI, AI Governance, AI Audits and AI Ethics. Kashyap is also the founder of AI Profs, whose mission is to democratize AI education and equip public and private sector workforces with the right skills for the future. 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. He is a columnist for The Hill, Information Today, Speech Technologies, and Business Line. Kashyap has been a judge for EContent 100, an annual listing of the Top 100 digital companies. Kashyap is a visiting professor for AI at the BITS School of Management and at the Institute of Directors.

Program Director
David serves as the founding Program Director 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.

Chief, Business Intelligence Services
Bryan Lane is a technologist and government leader within the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation with nearly 20 years of experience leading advanced analytics and technology initiatives. Prior to leading data management and AI delivery at FDIC, Bryan helped create the AI Center of Excellence at GSA and partnered with the DoD Joint AI Center to create the Joint Common Foundation and numerous large scale AI acquisition initiatives. Bryan has partnered with federal agencies on establishing mature data governance and management practices, developing innovative approaches for leveraging data as a strategic asset, and laying the foundation for advancing data value through artificial intelligence, automation, and machine learning. Prior to joining federal service, Bryan was a product manager for a commercial geospatial software company, an analytic consultant in the defense and national security industry, and assisted in managing a $750M rapid acquisition portfolio.

CEO
Humera Malik is Founder and CEO of Canvass AI, a leading, Google-funded, software scale-up that empowers industrial engineers with AI to make data-driven operational decisions. Internationally, Ms. Malik is one of the leading voices in Artificial Intelligence and how it can help industrials and manufacturers accelerate growth, augment human expertise, and achieve net-zero sustainability goals. She is a recipient of the RBC Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Women of IoT/M2M award. She frequently speaks at industry conferences and has been featured in publications such as Bloomberg and Forbes.

Program Development Lead, AI Division
Mike Mattarock is the Program Development Lead within the AI Division at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. He collaborates with organizations to evolve and expand mission critical capabilities related to national security. Prior to joining CMU, Mike held various leadership roles supportD29:D30ing the research, deployment, and sustainment of evolving technologies across the federal space. His work has focused on digital transformation, autonomy, open architecture, cybersecurity, and data science. He holds an MS in Information Systems Technology and a BA in International Affairs/History summa cum laude from the George Washington University.

Senior AI/ML Evangelist
Ashley Miller is currently a Sr. AI/ML Evangelist for Amazon Web Services where he works closely with AWS Partners developing AI/ML solutions on AWS. He has a wide range of computing systems experience including embedded systems, enterprise storage, networking, virtualization, and cloud architectures. He has designed, developed, and brought to market systems such as web applications, electronic instruments, and kiosks through web, desktop and cloud-based applications. Ashley holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Master’s degree in Computer Science with a Machine Learning specialization, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Senior Member of ACM and resides in Tampa, Florida.

Chief Data & Analytics Officer
Renata Maziarz Miskell is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) where she works to empower HHS OIG to use data proactively to protect the integrity of HHS programs as well as the health and welfare of the people they serve. In her role, Renata focuses on developing and implementing advanced analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to support OIG in efficiently and effectively executing its oversight mission.

Lead for Cloud AIML Foundations, Information, Data & Analytics Services – Data Science Services
David Na is the lead for Cloud AIML Foundations in the NASA OCIO Information, Data & Analytics Services division. David is the lead engineer for NASA OCIO’s cloud AIML learning and development strategy. David directly supports NASA’s enterprise-wide digital transformation efforts, specifically related to AIML and Cloud. Prior to NASA, David served in the Peace Corps in Cambodia and as a data scientist at the GSA. He has a BS in economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is pursuing a MS in Computer Science from John’s Hopkins University. David lives in Washington, DC. His passions outside of work are science fiction, chess and basketball.

Research Vice President
Adelaide O'Brien is Research Director for IDC Government Insights responsible for Government Digital Transformation Strategies. Ms. O'Brien assists clients in understanding the full scope of efforts needed for digital transformation, and focuses on technology innovations such as Big Data, AI, cognitive, and cloud in the context of government use cases such as customer experience, data driven benefits and services, and public health protection. 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, and she has benchmarked the maturity of deploying cloud and Big Data and analytics in the federal government. 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.

AI - PM & Administrator, DOC AI Center of Excellence - OCTO
Dr. Ola Olude-Afolabi is a Data Scientist presently on detail at National Technical Information Service (NTIS), she leads the Department of Commerce (DOC) AI Center of Excellence, a transformational leader and an expert in artificial intelligence systems and emerging technologies which includes AI policy, governance, oversight, guidance, and reporting of DOC AI projects. Her career centers on leading, implementing and encouraging the adoption of novel technologies into operational success. At NTIS, Ola evaluates pioneering approaches and platforms in data innovations and artificial intelligence that addresses Federal data priorities by advancing the use of data as a strategic asset to achieve mission outcomes and support evidence-based policies; transforming and optimizing supply chains using data science capabilities; promoting data governance and standardization; and creating new capabilities for data discovery, data set search, and interoperability to connect and derive new insights for predictive analytics and prescriptive actions. Prior to joining the Dept of Commerce—Office of the Secretary, Ola worked as an AI Patent Examiner at the USPTO for almost 10 years, and previously before that, she worked as an Adjunct Professor, Researcher, Computer Systems Engineer, IT Systems Analyst, Database Consultant, IT Project Leader in both technical and supervisory roles at both private and public companies. Dr. Olude-Afolabi received her Ph.D. (2010) and M.S. (2003) in Systems Science from T.J. Watson School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, SUNY, Binghamton specializing in Artificial Intelligence Systems and Systems Engineering respectively and her B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. She has taught courses in software engineering, software design and artificial intelligence at various institutions. Dr. Olude-Afolabi is a Woodrow Wilson Executive Branch Artificial Intelligence Lab Technology Fellow, a Clifford D. Clark Diversity Fellow, a Ronald E. McNair post-baccalaureate scholar and has been awarded the Woman of Distinction award from the National Association of Distinguished Professionals and the U.S. Department of Commerce—OCIO Bronze Medal Award.

Supervisory Health Scientist/Research Director
Dr. Katerine Osatuke is the Research Director at the Veterans Health Administration National Center for Organization Development (VHA NCOD), and she is a licensed clinical psychologist. Dr. Osatuke co-authored over 60 publications and over 150 presentations at national and international conferences on various aspects of change within individuals and organizations. She has research background in models of psychological change, including how change is defined, empirically measured, and tracked across time. Dr. Osatuke provided clinical assessment and therapy to diverse PTSD populations in many medical and community settings, completed a clinical internship within VA, and earned her doctorate in psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In her current role, she leads a team of VHA NCOD data professionals to pioneer new data capabilities and approaches and create mission-focused data solutions through advanced analytics and applied research.

Chief Data Officer
Richard Patterson is Chief Data Officer at Defense Security Cooperation Agency and is responsible for the oversight of Data Analytics and AI projects, was well as Data Management activities. He has 20 years experience advising and supporting “C” suite and executive offices in strategic planning, implementation management, and operational administration, of which15 years has been focused on Data Management and Governance programs. Richard earned a M.B.A. from George Mason University, a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Georgia, and BBA from University of Georgia.

Technical Project Manager, Project Manager for the Scanning-As-A-Service (SCaaS) project
No bio available

Methodology Branch Chief
Tom Ruoff has over 22 years in cybersecurity and has held positions within the cybersecurity and intelligence community to include Chief, Methodology Branch within the Vulnerability Management Division and Chief of Innovation Initiatives and Pilots in the DHS/NPPD/CS&C Chief Technology Office. Prior to working at DHS, Tom was the Director of Systems Division at Northrop Grumman, specializing in the development of cross domain solution systems. An experienced technical consultant, Tom spent 4 years with Booz|Allan|Hamilton supporting the NSA client. Tom retired from the United States Air Force after serving 20 year with assignments including National Security Agency, National Geospatial Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency. He is a Level III Federally Certified Program Manager, holds PMP and CISSP certifications, is a private pilot, has a BS and MS in physics and is a graduate of the United States Air Force Test Pilot School.

Founder & CEO
A tech evangelist, Parna Sarkar-Basu serves as a strategic advisor to transformational leaders and tech pioneers and helps them launch and reinvent companies. A brand architect, Parna also designs powerful programs to spotlight entrepreneurs and innovators and elevate startup founders to industry thought leaders. Her expertise includes changing industry perception, building market relevance, re-positioning businesses and entering new markets as well as preparing companies for fundraising -- IPO, M&A, VC and crowdfunding. Recipient of multiple awards, she has propelled several tech companies into innovation leaders in highly competitive markets -- from robots and artificial intelligence (AI) to enterprise software and consulting services. Parna is frequently invited to speak at and moderate executive sessions at various tech industry events, including TechCrunch Justice, AI World, Robotics Summit, Front End of Innovation (FEI), Forbes Council, WITI Summit and Women Tech Network Global Conference. Parna regularly contributes to various publications, including Forbes, Boston Business Journal, Authority Magazine and Chief Marketer. Some of the topics she covers include innovation for good and emerging tech to future of work and how diversity drives innovation. A voice for gender inclusivity, Parna enjoys building initiatives to inspire women in technology and future innovators. She was profiled in SEEMA and Welum’s Women Who Inspire for her work in promoting diversity and recognized for her contribution to STEM programs. In addition to supporting various women in tech organizations, Parna is the co-chair of Mass TLC’s professional women’s community and serves on the board of WITI (Women in Technology International) and American Marketing Association, Boston. Parna has had the honor of ringing the NASDAQ Closing Bell in 2019 to celebrate WITI’s 30th anniversary, along with WITI’s President. In her spare time, Parna enjoys networking and mentoring young professionals as well as learning new skills. She is currently into golf and is working on her swings. A mother of two, Parna and her husband live in Boston.

Senior Vice President, Chief Data Scientist
Dr. Anthony Scriffignano is SVP, Chief Data Scientist at Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. He is an internationally recognized data scientist with experience spanning over 40 years in multiple industries and enterprise domains. Scriffignano has extensive background in advanced anomaly detection, computational linguistics and advanced inferential algorithms, leveraging that background as primary inventor on multiple patents worldwide. Scriffignano was recognized as the U.S. Chief Data Officer of the Year 2018 by the CDO Club, the world's largest community of C-suite digital and data leaders. He is also a member of the OECD Network of Experts on AI working group on implementing Trustworthy AI. He has serves as a Commissioner for the Atlantic Council, most recently contributing to a Report on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data. He has briefed the US National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and contributed to three separate reports to the President, on Big Data Analytics, Emerging Technologies Strategic Vision, and Internet and Communications Resilience. 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.

Head of Product
Susannah Shattuck is Head of Product at Credo AI, where she builds AI governance tools that help organizations design, develop, and deploy ethical AI at scale. She has been working in MLOps and AI governance for the last five years; her passion for AI governance can be traced back to her days on the IBM Watson implementations team, where she saw firsthand all of the things that can go wrong during the ML development lifecycle. Prior to joining Credo AI, Susannah built AI/ML products at Arthur AI, X: the Moonshot Factory [formerly Google X], and IBM Watson. She received her BA from Yale University and her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Co-Founder & CEO
Dr. Christy K. Sheehy, PhD is the co-founder and CEO of C. Light Technologies – a neurotech and AI company that has created a 10-second retinal eye-tracking test to assess brain health and therapeutic efficacy. Dr. Sheehy brings 15 years of technical and leadership experience in the optical engineering realm, numerous publications/presentations, and direct clinical experience working with neurodegenerative patient populations to her team. She worked as an optical system test engineer at Corning Tropel Corporation while completing her master’s degree in Optics from the University of Rochester before going back to get her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley in Vision Science. Dr. Sheehy invented the core retinal eye-tracking technology that C. Light is commercializing during her dissertation work at Cal and is passionate about applying its high-resolution tracking capabilities to the unmet needs of the neurology space. As a postdoctoral scholar at UCSF neurology for 4 years, she studied the neurodegenerative changes to eye motion and more specifically, multiple sclerosis. Dr. Sheehy has been awarded two NIH small business grants for C. Light’s clinical validation, has a pending NIH Phase II grant, and an investment from the Alzheimer’ drug discovery foundation to expand their eye-tracking product into the Alzheimer’s space. Additionally, she has now raised over $5M in funding from venture capital and angel investment groups to commercialize her product.

Director, Cloud Adoption, Centers of Excellence
Calvert Smith has over 20 years of experience in the areas of tech innovation, cloud computing, application development, website management, business intelligence, project management, and vendor/contract management. At the CoE, Smith assists in IB modernization Cloud Adoption efforts with agencies across the federal government. His projects include analyzing current systems and applications to provide recommendations for planning cloud migration; and implementing cloud governance models incorporating best practices from both government and commercial areas that allow strategic oversight of cloud programs. Smith has recently been awarded the Discovery and Innovation in Government IT Award for Open Data Initiatives within the public sector.

Sr. Research Scientist, Human-Machine Interaction, AI Division
Carol Smith is a senior research scientist in human-machine interaction at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Software Engineering Institute's AI Division, serves on the CMU Responsible AI Initiative’s Advisory Council and Interim Leadership Team, and is an adjunct instructor for CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Carol leads research and development focused on improving user experiences (UX) and interactions with the nation’s AI systems, robotics, and other complex and emerging technologies. She has been conducting research to improve the human experience with complex systems across industries for over 20 years, and researching and advocating for ethics and responsible approaches for human-machine teaming since 2015. Carol holds an MS in Human-Computer Interaction from DePaul University.

Commissioner
Keith E. Sonderling was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, with a bipartisan vote, to be a Commissioner on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2020. Until January of 2021, he served as the Commission’s Vice-Chair. His term expires July of 2024. The EEOC is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. The laws apply to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, training, wages, benefits, and prevent harassment and retaliation. Prior to his confirmation to the EEOC, Commissioner Sonderling served as the Acting and Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before joining the Department of Labor in 2017, Commissioner Sonderling practiced Labor and Employment law in Florida. Commissioner Sonderling also serves as a Professional Lecturer in the Law at George Washington University Law School, teaching employment discrimination. Since joining the EEOC, one of Commissioner Sonderling’s highest priorities is ensuring that artificial intelligence and workplace technologies are designed and deployed consistent with long-standing civil rights laws. Commissioner Sonderling has published numerous articles on the benefits and potential harms of using artificial intelligence-based technology in the workplace and speaks globally on these emerging issues. Immediately before his confirmation to the EEOC, Commissioner Sonderling served as the Acting and Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The Wage and Hour Division administers and enforces federal labor laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the labor provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. During his tenure, the Division accomplished back-to-back record-breaking enforcement collections and educational outreach events. Commissioner Sonderling also oversaw the development and publication of large-scale deregulatory rules and authored numerous Opinion Letters, Field Assistance Bulletins, and All Agency Memorandums. Additionally, he was instrumental in developing the Division’s first comprehensive self-audit program, which collected more than $7 million for nearly eleven thousand workers. Before his government service, Commissioner Sonderling was a partner at one of Florida’s oldest and largest law firms, Gunster. At Gunster, he counseled employers and litigated labor and employment disputes. In 2012, then-Governor Rick Scott appointed Commissioner Sonderling to serve as the Chair of the Judicial Nominating Committee for appellate courts in South Florida. Commissioner Sonderling was also active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors for Morse Life Health System, the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Florida. Commissioner Sonderling received his B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Florida and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Nova Southeastern University.

Senior Cybersecurity Project Manager
Seth Swinton is a Senior Cybersecurity Project Manager in the Methodology Branch within the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). As a member of the Methodology Branch, Seth leads and assists in the development of solutions in the form of methodologies, models, tools, policies, practices, technical guidance and training. His contribution allows Federal Departments and Agencies (D/As), State, Local and Tribal Territories (SLTTs), National Guard Bureau (NGB), Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB), and Critical Infrastructure (CI) customers to identify, analyze, and manage organizational, operational and technical risks to mission-critical assets and infrastructures. Prior to joining CISA, Seth served as a Cyber Security Engineer on the Resilience Risk Management team in The CERT Program at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Software Engineering Institute (SEI), serving as a trusted advisor to CISA on cybersecurity governance, Cyber Resilience Reviews, High Value Asset assessments and Ongoing Authorization initiatives. Additionally, Seth served 24 years active duty in the Unites States Army concluding his military career as a Senior Enlisted Advisor responsible for the health, welfare and training of over 100 personnel. Seth holds a BA degree in Information Systems Technology and a Master’s Degree in Information Systems Management with a concentration in Network Security. His professional certifications include, Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Ethical Hacker (CE/H) and CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP).

Scientist
Anil earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and he is a U.S. Army veteran. Anil is a recipient of the U.S. President’s Management Agenda Gears of Government Award as a direct result of successes achieved from mission critical products he initiated, designed, and deployed to understand the user experience. Anil was recognized as the Top 50 U.S. Federal Government Artificial Intelligence (AI) Influencer for his leadership in accelerating and leading across AI and product use cases. Also, Anil is a two-time recipient of the Federal HealthIT award for driving innovation and results on how best to serve the users of the U.S. federal government. Anil is a Mentor at the Special Operators Transition Foundation (SOTF) to support soldiers from the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Technical Manager, Cyber Risk Management, Software Engineering Institute
Brett Tucker is the Technical Manager of Cyber Risk Management in the CERT Program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. Brett is responsible for a research and development portfolio focused on improving the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure and assets. Prior to the SEI, Brett was the Global Risk Manager for Westinghouse Electric Company where he managed the enterprise risk portfolio and global insurance programs. Brett also served at the CIA and is a veteran of the United States Navy. Brett holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Engineering Management from Old Dominion University, and an MBA from Penn State University. Brett is a certified PMP, CISSP, and Six Sigma Black Belt.

CEO
Abeezar Tyebji CEO- Shipcom, has built Shipcom into a leading Next Gen Mission Solutions. He is an expert in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) Smart Phones, Mobile Computing, and Radio Frequency ID Tags. Shipcom’s cloud-based inventory management, mobile scanning, and Internet of Things AI enabled software has been installed over 600 sites nationally. For example, Shipcom’s solution runs the $14Billion dollar Supply Chain of the US Navy DDG51 Class Aegis Program.

Senior Advisor, Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management Office
Mitch Winans is Senior Advisor in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management Office. In this role, he is responsible for building a new organization and leading modernization initiatives designed to enhance the taxpayer experience and IRS employee experience through innovative process improvements, agile technology solutions, and simplified digital environments. Prior to this role, Mitch was Head of Customer Experience and Strategic Planning in the IRS Office of the Chief Procurement Officer and was responsible for enhancing the procurement experience for internal and external stakeholders, managing strategic planning for an organization with over 350 employees and a $2.6B annual procurement portfolio, and advising leadership on organizational development, technology and process improvements, and customer and employee engagement. Before coming to the IRS, he 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. Prior to joining FirstNet, Mitch 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, he 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. Mitch 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, he worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Office of Congressional and Public Affairs. Mitch received an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a BA from the University of California, Irvine.

Engineering Lead
Frank Zahiri is the Engineering Lead of the US Air Force’s 402d Commodities Maintenance Group at Robins Air Force Base, GA.  Frank has over twenty years of experience in technology research, development, and transition in numerous scientific and engineering disciplines. His responsibilities include technology and integration across the sustainment enterprise in big data analytics, machine learning, digital engineering, and digital factory. He is the Vice chair of the AI Task force in the USAF, he also serves as a subject matter expert on the Joint Defense Manufacturing Council.