Speaker Spotlight Q&A: John Kaschak, Executive Deputy Secretary at Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

Conversely, COVID has led to a lot more emails and far fewer face-to-face interactions. And, despite leveraging technology such as Skype, Teams, etc. relationship and team building is much harder. Onboarding and training of new personnel have been more difficult. And we’ve learned that departmentwide communication has had its challenges. Employee awareness and engagement have suffered a bit.

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Jenny Hedderman, Esq., State Risk Counsel, Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Jenny Hedderman, Esq., State Risk Counsel, Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Risk Counsel with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Comptroller’s Office. An expert and creative strategist in Government legal, finance, Risk Management and internal controls including Cybersecurity. Created CTR Cyber for cyber internal controls, speaker, Host of CTR Cyber 5 Series (Youtube), Professor and Board Member. Your Government Keynote: Risk & Reward: Cybersecurity and Privacy Awareness will detail how privacy awareness is a crucial component of cyber protection for the public sector - as it helps define the overall privacy culture in an organization. Mechanisms in place will help …

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Chris Letterman, Chief Information Security Officer, State of Alaska, Department of Administration 

Born and raised in Kentucky, I am the youngest of 6 and straight from college (@University of Louisville) I joined the U.S. Navy to serve as an Electronics Technician. While in, I was chosen to attend specialty school in crypto and communication security. The Navy is what brought me to Alaska back in 1994. After the Navy, I relocated to Juneau and immediately fell into an opportunity to work for a national communications company building out a cellular network. I started my career in public service with the State of Alaska in 1998, and since then have worked for the …

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Whitney Phillips, State Privacy Officer, State of Utah

Meet Whitney Phillips, State Privacy Officer, State of Utah Dr. Whitney Phillips was confirmed by the Utah Senate in December 2021 as the first State Privacy Officer. Prior to serving in this role, she spent four years as the Utah State Board of Education’s first Chief Privacy Office, and has held a variety of prior positions in education and government. Dr. Phillips is a Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) and a Certified Information Privacy Professional for the U.S. (CIPP). She received her Ph.D. in Educational Inquiry, Measurement, and Evaluation from Brigham Young University, specializing in longitudinal data analysis.

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Ed Kelly - Chief Data Officer, State of Texas

Meet Ed Kelly, Chief Data Officer, Texas Department of Information Resources He currently serves as the Chief Data Officer for the State of Texas at the Department of Information Resources (DIR). In his role, he works with state agencies and institutions of higher education to collaboratively develop data policies, standards, and best practices to improve data governance and data management statewide. Prior to joining DIR, he held public sector positions with the Texas Department of Agriculture as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and with the Texas Department of Public Safety as Chief Information Officer (CIO). Additionally, Ed’s experience includes a variety …

Exclusive Interview with Jaime Schorr - Chief Procurement Officer at State of Maine Q&A

Jaime C. Schorr is the Chief Procurement Officer for the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services. In this capacity, she oversees Procurement Services, Information Technology Procurement, Central Services (Postal Operations and Surplus), Central Fleet Management, and the Central Warehouse. Jaime provides consolidated management and coordinates oversight over the various divisions of the Bureau. Her directional leadership and strategic management ensures purchases, procurements, and acquisitions of all contractual services, supplies, materials, and equipment facilitate the most economical use of public funds. Jaime holds a BA from The George Washington University, an MBA from New England College and a JD from …

Inspiring Communities Spotlight Interview

Inspiring Communities, a not-for-profit organization based in Nova Scotia, is an equity-centered systems change leader in Atlantic Canada. We recognize that our current systems and institutions don’t work for the people who need them most. We believe that collective action is essential, so we innovatively connect communities. We create collaborative systems partnerships and measure our impact. To ensure our effectiveness and sustainability, we maintain a strong core. We engage in reflective evaluation practices to learn from our experiments, integrate that learning into our work, and share what we’ve learned through our regional and national networks. Our initial funders from the …

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Gregory Spearman, Purchasing Director; City of Tampa

Gregory K. Spearman is a native of Glenwood, GA and received his B. S. Degree from Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, Georgia, a Master’s Degree from Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia and his M.P.H. Degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, TX. Having a supplier diversity program is extremely important because of the need to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (a/k/a DEI) in the bidding and contracting process. Small and minority owned businesses can and do perform well if there is a serious effort to de-mystify the bidding process, remove barriers that prevent them from …