Speakers

Dr. Bailey joined The Census Bureau as the Deputy CIO and Assistant Director for Information Technology on June 11 2018. He brings a strong background in public and private IT management and leadership. During the last 4 years he has been instrumental in supporting the ongoing work of Census as well as supporting the development of a Enterprise Data Lake, and creating the Secure Cloud Team. He enjoys time with family when not busy at work. He has 9 children and 13.5 grandchildren.

Previously Dr. Bailey was the founder and CEO of Elegant IT Solutions. Prior to that he was engaged with Deloitte Consulting LLC as a Federal Competency Director with the Technology Strategy and Architecture Platform for 6 years. Dr. Bailey brought to Deloitte excellent private and public sector career credentials that add to Deloitte’s Technology competency. His knowledge of change management, data center consolidation and operations, network design and deployment and IT services management, coupled with his outstanding reputation and record of performance within the Department of Justice positioned him well to be a transformation agent. Dr. Bailey has successfully shaped agile and effective IT organizations that support the agencies mission. His leadership and skill in transforming organizations have made him an effective change agent within IT. In addition to working with Department of Justice and other federal clients, Dr. Bailey has been the Federal Lead for Cloud Computing within Deloitte.

In his previous position as CIO, Dr. Bailey addressed strategy, organization, process and technology issues that impacted both the IT domain and key ATF mission domains. This included changing the culture of ATF IT into a agile customer service organization, successfully handling $350 million of managed services contracts, relocating a data center and refreshing more than 7,000 desktops without interruption of service, dramatically improving the information security profile of the organization and establishing a strategic planning process that is now being used by the entire Bureau.

Prior to his role at ATF, Dr. Bailey was responsible for all IT assets of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the CIO. His role included management of approximately 700 employees and 300 contractors and an annual operating budget of approximately $250 million. Specific relevant projects included upgrade of the FBI communications infrastructure with more than 1,000 nodes, a refresh of more than 35,000 desktops world-wide, and a dramatic improvement to the IT Planning and Architecture function for the FBI.

Prior to his role at FBI, Dr. Bailey held various senior leadership roles including: Chief Technology Officer and Director Engineering and Architecture, Director Global Operations, Director of Human Resources and Special Projects for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His work included the installation of a world-wide network to more than 90 countries, establishing the Church on the Internet that resulted in one of the most popular websites of all time (FamilySearch.com), developing a 10-year IT strategic plan for the Church, designing a successfully executed plan to move the main data center into a consolidation with Brigham Young University, creating and successfully managing Centers of Excellence for developers as well as Human Factors Analysts.

Dr. Bailey is a recipient of the 2007 Presidential Rank Award – Meritorious Senior Professionals and Executives. This award is the top award in the Federal government for senior executives. He is credited with contributing toward a variety of publications and technical reports; as well as teaching at a number of Universities. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from New Mexico State University and a B.S. from Brigham Young University.

As the Associate Director of Partnerships and Projects for Cyber Florida, Ernie Ferraresso oversees the Center’s partnership program, working with industry, academia and the private sector to collaborate on projects of mutual interest.  Additionally, he works closely with Government and Law Enforcement to coordinate Cyber Florida’s efforts to support cyber programs.  He also engages across multiple sectors to expand Florida’s cybersecurity education in Florida’s public-school system. He is also the host of Cyber Florida’s Podcast No Password Required

Prior to Cyber Florida, Ernie worked for a small technology design and integration firm as the Director of Operations, overseeing the design and implementation of cybersecurity and emergency operations center technology solutions in the U.S. and throughout Latin America.

He is a retired U.S. Marine Intelligence Officer who served in the U.S. and abroad. His work included assignments with U.S. Special Operations Forces, the intelligence community, the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and U.S. Cyber Command.

Lester Godsey is the Chief Information Security Officer for Maricopa County, leading all cybersecurity and data privacy efforts for the organization. Prior to Maricopa County, Lester was the CISO/CPO for the City of Mesa, AZ. With over 25 years of higher education and local government IT experience, Lester has spoken at local, state and national conferences on topics ranging from telecommunications to project management to cybersecurity and data. Lester has taught at the collegiate level for over 12 years in the areas of technology, business and project management. The author of numerous trade journal and online magazine articles, he is CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) and PMP (Project Management Professional) certified. He holds a BA in Music and a MS in Technology, both from Arizona State University.

Amy S. Hamilton, Ph.D. is the Department of Energy Senior Advisor for National Cybersecurity Policy and Programs. She served two years as a senior cyber security policy analyst at the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President. She served in the Michigan Army National Guard as a communications specialist and was commissioned into the US Army Officer Signal Corp, serving on Active Duty and later the US Army Reserves. She has worked at both the US European Command and the US Northern Command & North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) on multiple communications and IT projects.

She became a certified Project Management Professional through the Project Management Institute in 2007 and earned her Certified Information Security Manager certification in 2011.  She presented on the “The Secret to Life from a PMP” at TEDxStuttgart in September 2016. She taught Project Management Tools at Colorado Technical University and was a facilitator for the Master’s Degree Program in Project Management for Boston University. She is an award-winning public speaker and has presented in over twenty countries on overcoming adversity, reaching your dreams, cyber security, and project management.

Amy holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Geography, from Eastern Michigan University, a Master of Science (MS) in Urban Studies from Georgia State University, Master in Computer Science (MSc) from the University of Liverpool, Master Certificate in Project Management (PM) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) from the National Defense University, and completed the US Air University, Air War College. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Regent University in their Organizational Leadership Program with a dissertation on “Unexpected Virtual Leadership: The Lived Experience of US Government IT and Cybersecurity Leaders transitioning from physical to virtual space for COVID-19.”
Amy’s motto is “A woman who is passionate about project management, public speaking, and shoes.”

Doug Levin is co-founder and national director of the K12 Security Information eXchange (K12 SIX), a national non-profit dedicated solely to helping schools protect themselves from emerging cybersecurity threats. He also is the creator of the K-12 Cyber Incident Map, the most comprehensive database of publicly-disclosed cybersecurity incidents in K-12 education, which serves as the foundation for the ‘State of K-12 Cybersecurity Year in Review’ annual report series. He has been engaged in education and technology policy issues for over two decades – in a variety of roles – most prominently in helping to develop and implement the nation’s first education technology plan and strategy in 1996 under President Clinton, as well as its subsequent updates in 2000 and again in 2004 (under President Bush). He also consulted on the development of the 2016 plan (under President Obama). From 2009-15, he served as executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA). Previously, Mr. Levin held positions with the American Institutes for Research, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and the National Association of State Boards of Education.

Wei Luo currently serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) and the Enterprise Architect for Federal Election Commission (FEC).  In his role as the DCIO and Enterprise Architect, he leads the agency's strategic technology initiatives and drives technology-based transformation, including cloud migration, agile, and DevOps adoption. Wei led the agency's cloud migration initiative which began in leading a website team, partnered with 18F, a digital services team within GSA, to redesign and migrate the FEC's website and its backend campaign finance database into the cloud in 2014.  Migration of FEC's website and its backend campaign finance database to a cloud environment had numerous collateral benefits from cloud computing to addressing security requirements, combined with a significant reduction in annualized legacy expenses while allowing for exponential growth in data requirements.   Redesign and migration of FEC's website to a cloud environment was the first step of the much larger initiative of FEC's IT modernization and cloud migration efforts.  In 2019, Wei led the IT modernization team to launch the enterprise cloud migration effort to continue migrating additional systems and data to the cloud.  To prepare for the enterprise cloud migration, Wei led the cloud foundation team through organizational, culture and operational changes, including developing and implementing talent management and training plans to ensure the essential and specific core competencies needed to support cloud migration, implementing security controls, and establishing operational processes based on the industry best practice. Wei began his federal career in 2004 after several years in IT consulting. He has numerous professional certificates including MIT Sloan Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership and CIO Executive Certificate from Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Science from Chongqing University. 

Jaime Lynn Noble serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) where she provides leadership and direction for improving the effectiveness and consistency of security for OJP information systems. In her current role, she is responsible for OJP’s Information security risk management program and ensuring information systems are compliant with federal information security requirements as well as the implementation of OJP’s Identity & Access Management Program including compliance with the Federal Government’s Zero Trust Architecture and is focused on understanding the security challenges in the current and future state of the OJP mission to prepare the organization with the right resources and capabilities against growing information security risks.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017, Jaime served as the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer & Risk Management Program Manager at US Census Bureau for 5 years. She began her federal career at Census in 2001 as a programmer supporting Demographic surveys and censuses. In 2008, she moved to the Office of Information Security (OIS) and led the Bureau's transition from the Certification & Accreditation Process to the Risk Management Framework. In 2014, Jaime and her team received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal Honor Award for developing an innovative security program that allows executives to better understand risk and determine the most cost- effective actions to manage them while minimizing the impact on the mission.

Jaime is a Certified Authorization Professional (CAP), a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), has a Bachelor's Degree in Management Science & Information Systems from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master's Certificate in IT Project Management from the George Washington University.

Adviser to the CIO in planning and coordination of IT vision, strategy and architecture. 25+ years of experience in Information Technology. Leader in Technology Innovations and large-scale Digital Transformations, Specialist in Emerging Technologies, Data Driven Innovations, Enterprise Modernizations, Cloud Computing, and Business/IT Alignment. Seasoned Information Technology expert in Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, Process Architecture, IT Governance, and IT Operations.

Bhargav is an Assistant Superintendent for Compliance and Information Systems at
Monroe-Woodbury Central School District.

Bhargav provides leadership for the continued development of an innovative, robust,
and secure information technology environment throughout the school district. He has
been a pioneer educational technology leader for over 22 years, working closely with
classroom teachers, principals and district administrators. Bhargav strives to achieve
best technology infusion into teaching and learning using state of the art infrastructure.
His expertise in the field of network infrastructure, cyber security, district leadership and
supporting students and staff has been showcased through his progressive career. Prior
to joining Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, Bhargav was a director of
technology for Orange-Ulster BOCES supporting network infrastructure for 25 school
districts. Bhargav completed his doctorate in educational leadership at Fordham
University in 2020. He has earned Master of Arts in Educational Leadership, Master of
Science in Computer Engineering, Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS:
● Panelist – Ransomware in Education, April 2022
● Thwarted Ransomware Attacks: Case Study - Education Next Article, January 2022
● TEDx (TED MasterClass) Speaker – Ransomware and Leadership – NYSCATE, November 2021
● Best Practices for Stopping Ransomware Attacks – Ed Week Article, June 2021
● Panelist – Cybersecurity Trends in Education, April 2021

For more than 20 years, Dr. Gregory M. Williams has worked as a public servant for federal and state government as a cybersecurity practitioner and educator. Dr. Williams is a Certified Chief Information Security Officer(C-CISO), Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), Scrum Master, Ph.D. in Information Technology, and a postgraduate in Cloud Computing. Dr. Williams has demonstrated ability to establish large information security programs and as recent as October 2021, he was recognized as Statescoop’s Cybersecurity Leader of the Year for creating and implementing an enterprise risk management (ERM) framework for the state of Colorado.

Dr. Williams is a leading authority on the intersection of Health IT and Cybersecurity and published his dissertation on the adoption of Electronic Health Records and he is currently the CEO of WillFortify LLC and Cybersecurity Professor at Metropolitan State University.

As a former Director of Security Risk and Compliance and Identity Access Management, Dr. Williams has worked with industry and government to map out opportunities for government and private industries Cyber Security strategies. Dr. Williams is also a part of the cybersecurity “whole of state” effort an InfraGard focusing on securing the nation.

Alex Whitaker has served in the public policy and government relations world since graduating from American University in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as the Director of Government Affairs for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), where he advocates on behalf of states to Congress and federal agencies on cyber security and technology issues. Before joining NASCIO, Alex was Legislative Director at the National Governors Association, where he was responsible for directing the development and implementation of governors’ strategic priorities in the areas of agriculture, energy, the environment, and natural resources. He also served as a Senior Advisor to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper for energy and environment issues. Alex worked as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives and as an analyst at the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Bureau of Industry and Security. He holds a master’s degree from the George Washington University in Security Policy Studies, with a focus on trans-Atlantic defense alliances and U.S.-Turkish relations.

Kevin is a strong advocate for advancing and improving software security practices. He has over 25 years of experience in cybersecurity, ranging from leading and commercializing federally funded R&D, supporting MITRE ATT&CK research, formalizing AppSec programs, and helping develop DevSecOps strategies to transform business value.

George Jackson is director of events at GovExec – the largest and most-influential media company in the public sector marketplace. He joined the company in 2020 to enhance the scale of their events and audience experiences. In 2021, George launched GovExec TV (streaming video content) and received the company’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, part of their firstannual Icon Awards.

George graduated from The Ohio State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in English. In 2006, he earned his master’s in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

George spent the first five years of his journalism career at WJHL-TV in Johnson City Tenn. – beginning as an overnight producer for the station’s 6 a.m. broadcast. He advanced to lead on-air reporter for WJHL’s 11 p.m. newscast.

As a reporter, George examined the earnings of two non-profit hospital systems, felony charges filed against a local sheriff, predatory paving companies, a health benefits backlog for local veterans, and a series of cold-case murder investigations. He received an honorable mention for Best TV Reporter in the 2011 Tennessee AP Broadcast awards and won a Best Investigative Reporting award from Media General in 2010.

George joined DC’s ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in 2012 to produce Capital Insider, which won him an Emmy award. One year later, he developed and recorded the pilot episode of Government Matters – a program about the business of government. It debuted as a weekly show on Sunday, August 4th of 2013. George led Government Matters through September of 2020, expanded its reach to a daily worldwide audience, and produced its first feature-length documentary The Dawn of Generation AI.

George is from Toledo, Ohio. He lives with his wife, twin daughters, and a pair of rescue dogs in Northern Virginia.