Speakers

Taka is the first Chief Data Scientist and the Director of Innovation Lab appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States for the Government Accountability Office to help GAO adapt to the consequences of web 3.0 technologies and beyond. The mission of the Innovation Lab is to better understand inner workings of machine learning techniques, cloud services, zero trust controls, blockchains, edge devices, and other integrated cyber-physical capabilities. Taka is leading the exploration and experimentation of emerging technologies as a necessary and critical foresight function.

Taka is a current member of the federal Senior Executive Services and has over 23 years of consistent track record on delivering technology innovations sustainably and at scale by combining data science with IT competencies. He is passionate about fostering a data centricity mindset as a catalyst to address complex policy, regulatory, risk, operational, and business intelligence challenges.

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.

Tyler is the technical lead for the Economic Stability Portfolio at U.S. Digital Response. He is a technology leader and architect with experience at early-stage startups and large enterprises, and was most recently a software executive in the healthcare industry.

Farakh serves as the Director of the Communications, Culture, and Training division within the M/SS Center for Analytics at the Department of State. Farakh joined the Foreign Service in 2011, followed by tours in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as an Information Management Specialist. She then served as the Public Affairs Officer for the Punjab region in Lahore, Pakistan. She oversaw the public affairs portfolio focusing on outreach, educational programs, exchange programs, press engagements, and university grant partnerships. She then served in Jeddah and Malaysia as the Information Programs Officer and Information Management Officer, leading the technical teams through innovative business and technical solutions. Before joining the Department, Farakh worked as a Business Technology Manager, IT project manager, and Systems Administrator in an IT career that spanned 13 years.    

Farakh earned a bachelor’s degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Computer Information Systems from High Point University and a Master of Business Administration from Wake Forest University. She was also selected to participate in the Department of State’s Secretary’s Leadership Seminar at Harvard University. She speaks fluent Pashto, Urdu, and Hindi. She and her husband are proud parents of two daughters and a son.

Josh Martin is the Chief Data Officer for the State of Indiana and Director of the Indiana Management Performance Hub, where he leads a dedicated team of problem solvers that provide analytics solutions tailored to address complex management and policy questions enabling improved outcomes for the citizens of Indiana. Josh is a graduate of Purdue University, receiving a B.A. in Political Science and Law and Society, and received his Master of Public Affairs from the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He also has significant experience in international affairs and public safety.

A respected thought leader in the Federal IT community, Tom Suder is Founder and President of the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC).

Tom is a two-time winner of a Federal 100 Award, a prestigious honor that recognizes government and industry leaders who played pivotal roles in Federal IT and made a made a difference in the way technology transformed the government.

He is the co-author of over 25 White Papers that were jointly published by MITRE and ATARC following collaboration sessions during the ATARC Federal IT Summit Series. Topics of these educational symposiums include Mobile Technology, Cloud & Data Center, Data & Analytics, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Health IT, Network Transformation and the Internet of Things.

Tom is also the Founder & President of Apcerto, a mobile DevSecOps company, and he serves on a variety of technology advisory boards, including the Professional Science Master’s Advisory Board, which is a part of the Telecommunications Management graduate program at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

Ms Eileen Vidrine, a member of the Senior Executive Service, currently serves as the Department of the Air Force Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer. She develops and implements strategies for enterprise data management, analytics, digital transformation, and responsible and ethical artificial intelligence to optimize performance and drive innovation in and across all missions and operations.

Parth Tikiwala is a Federal Government leader focusing on the intersection of Information Technology, Data, and Public Policy serving in the Executive Office of the President. As the Acting Director of Technology Modernization and Data and Senior Policy Analyst for the Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of Management and Budget, Parth drives strategic initiatives and innovative solutions that enhance government systems and services. Key among these is the Federal Data Strategy, where Parth serves a pivotal role in iterating and implementing the strategy that helps guide federal agencies and their leadership in optimizing data-driven decision-making, enhancing efficiencies through data where possible, promoting equity and ethical governance, and a data-driven culture across the Federal Government.

Parth’s Federal career has been marked by impactful contributions through the operationalizing and utilization of data, including senior roles at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration where he led the agency’s survey methods and enterprise risk management efforts, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics where Parth helped lead the publication of The Employment Situation (also known at the U.S. Jobs Report).

Parth earned a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, a Master in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor of Science in Economics Honors from Michigan State University, and he is currently an MBA candidate at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Some of his accolades include earning the prestigious John F. Kennedy Fellowship, merit-based scholarships from the University of Chicago, and the U.S. Labor Secretary's Exceptional Achievement Award.

Oliver Wise is Chief Data Officer at the Department of Commerce. In this position, Wise is responsible for leading the Commerce Department's data strategy, advancing capacity for evidence-based decision-making by implementing the Evidence Act and aligning and scaling the department’s data resources to better meet the needs of users.

Wise was the founding director of the City of New Orleans Office of Performance and Accountability, the city’s first data analytics and performance management team. This work was recognized with awards from the American Society of Public Administration, International City/County Managers Association, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Harvard University. In 2015, Wise was named to Government Technology’s “Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers” list.  In the private sector, Wise served in product management and strategic roles at Tyler Technologies and Socrata.

Earlier in his career, Wise was a policy analyst for the RAND Corporation and the Citizens Budget Commission of New York City. He is also a co-founder of the Santorini-based Atlantis Books.  He holds an MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, and is most proud of his incredible family.

Dr. Sherry Bennett serves as Chief Data Scientist and the Data and AI Technology Domain Leader for TD SYNNEX.  In this role she is responsible for the domain focused vendor acquisition vision and strategy for the Cloud Innovation technology stack, designed to accelerate the capabilities and technical maturity of analytical and AI enabled organizations.  In addition, she is responsible for developing and leading new strategic programs that drive significant incremental business for partners and vendors.

Prior to her tenure at TD SYNNEX, Dr. Bennett spent more than 15 years in higher education, where, in her roles as Chief Data Officer and Data Scientist, she was responsible for establishing global data science teams and decision support services for universities.  One of her most notable roles before joining TD SYNNEX, was serving as Divisional Vice President at Laureate International Universities where she led the creation and management of a global business intelligence and data science team, serving the information needs for a portfolio of universities across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  Prior to joining TD SYNNEX, Sherry was serving as the Chief Data Officer at University of Maryland Global Campus.  

Dr. Bennett began her career in academia, serving as an Assistant Professor at Rice University teaching statistics and international political economy courses to undergraduate and graduate students as well as managing a quantitative research portfolio.  Dr. Bennett has a Ph.D. and B.A. in Political Science from Michigan State University.

Ian Brooks holds a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of North Texas and he has been focused on Big Data solutions since 2015. His previous industry roles include Software Engineer, Data Architect, and Data Scientist.  At Cloudera, he is a Principal Solutions Engineer on the public sector team and an expert member of the machine learning subject matter expert team.

Cameron Chehreh is Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group & General Manager of the Public Sector team.  In the GM role, Cameron will lead our go-to-market efforts across our US Public Sector business.  This includes US Federal civilian agencies, the Department of Defense & Intelligence community, defense contractors, and additional customers and partners.  Cameron will also lead our SLG and newly formed Defense and Intelligence Base sales team within our US Public Sector organization. 

Cameron is an industry veteran who humbly started his 25-year career implementing technology in a variety of companies ranging from start-ups to fortune 10 organizations.  He has held a variety of senior leadership roles within these organizations with an ethos of “mission first” which drives the success of the teams he has led.  He views leadership as a privilege and sees himself as a servant leader focused on people and the success of the team.  Cameron’s experience spans every facet of the industry from helping build the world’s first cloud computing company, USinternetworking in Annapolis, Maryland.  He has also previously held roles with General Dynamics IT. 

Cameron is a public speaker on information technology topics, including digital transformation, cloud computing, cyber security, service-oriented architecture, data center consolidation and optimization, and business topics covering strategic outsourcing, IT to business alignment, government markets, business strategy and operations, and organizational change. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Audio Engineering and Mass Communications from Middle Tennessee State University.  A former professional musician and trained audio engineer, Cameron loves music and spending time with his family.  He lives outside of Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Christine and daughters Camryn and Chelsea.  

Dave Erickson is the Public Sector Distinguished Architect at Elastic, a leading technology company. With a wealth of experience in spearheading large-scale data projects across various critical sectors, including civilian, healthcare, defense, and national security, Dave is a seasoned expert in emerging technologies. His expertise shines in designing and implementing petabyte-scale data architectures, tackling complex challenges head-on. Dave's extensive cross-agency exposure in the world of Big Data architecture empowers him to anticipate emerging trends and apply them to the government space.

Michelle Quadt is a director of business development for Verizon. She currently leads commercialization for 5G and fixed wireless access (FWA) business internet after years of supporting Verizon's government affairs organization for public sector. 

With more than 20 years of experience as an industry consultant, Michelle brings system-level thinking to infrastructure issues. In her role at Verizon, she is focused on accelerating 5G Innovation, and in particular bringing that innovation into the design, building and operations of large infrastructure assets.

Michelle joined Verizon in November 2020 after McKinsey & Company, where as a Senior Expert she worked at the intersection of infrastructure and public sector projects while building McKinsey's go to market capabilities for federal, state and local sectors. Before that at Booz Allen Hamilton, she served as a Principal in a variety of roles including corporate strategy, business development, strategic initiatives and account leadership.

Michelle received her BA from the University of Virginia and MA in International Economics from School of Advanced International Studies/Johns Hopkins University.

Jessie Bur is Nextgov/FCW's managing editor. She has been covering technology and government for the past seven years and graduated from James Madison University.

In her current role as Senior Director of Strategic Accounts at Defense One, Laurie Diamond works closely with defense and national security thought leaders. In doing so she assists with conveying their messaging and innovative solutions to top leaders and communities in the defense space.

Prior to Defense One, she has 28+ years of experience serving in leadership and management roles in marketing, DoD business development, proposal and capture management, market research and networking. She has excelled in senior leadership positions at The Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly, Clear Channel, Alion Science and Technology and several technology solutions-based companies supporting federal and defense contracts.

David Knox is a world-renowned technologist with patents and multiple book publications with a specialty in computer security, data management and data analytics. Mr. Knox is considered a top innovator in leadership, critical thinking and organizational execution. Mr. Knox has worked in R&D Advanced Technology Labs and run world-wide organizations.

Mr. Knox has spent over 20 years at Oracle Corporation. In that tenure, Mr. Knox was VP of National Security Solutions, built and ran Oracle’s first Solution Engineering organization, was Senior Technical Director of the Oracle Protected Enterprise & Security Business, and was Chief Engineer for Oracle's pioneering Information Assurance Center.

David has published several books on Oracle Security. David has a BS in Computer Science from University of Maryland and a MS in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.

Joel Minton leads the Office of the CTO for Google Public Sector, a US team of technology executives and senior engineers. Joel engages with US government executives to deliver new technology, maximizing technical capabilities and constituent outcomes. Prior to Google, Joel worked in the White House founding and delivering login.gov, a government identity platform increasing security, usability and privacy for the United States government and the tens of millions users it supports.

Prior to the White House, Joel was an engineering leader at eBay, Intuit and other Silicon Valley companies. At eBay, he delivered software to enable large-scale optimization of internet marketing and eBay site experiences. Joel started and led the team that built eBay Fashion and eBay Partner Network, eBay's affiliate platform. At Intuit, he held leadership roles in TurboTax online, site operations and data. In one of Joel’s roles at Intuit, he and his team architected and implemented the TurboTax data warehouse and personalization engine, driving significant business growth and tailored experiences for millions of Americans.

Joel has a Bachelor of Science from CSU Chico in Computer Information Systems and an MBA from Columbia University and UC Berkeley, where he was Class President

Adam Mazmanian is executive editor of Nextgov/FCW. Before joining the editing team, Mazmanian was an FCW staff writer covering Congress, governmentwide technology policy and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Prior to joining FCW, Mazmanian was technology correspondent for National Journal and served in a variety of editorial roles at B2B news service SmartBrief. Mazmanian has contributed reviews and articles to the Washington Post, the Washington City Paper, Newsday, New York Press, Architect Magazine and other publications.

Chris Riotta is a staff reporter at Nextgov/FCW covering government procurement and technology policy. Chris joined FCW after covering U.S. politics for three years at The Independent. He earned his master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he served as 2021 class president.