Speakers

Mayor Alix Desulme believes that one of the most critical aspects of Public Service is giving back to the community. As a leader, he consistently advocates for residents in North Miami and South Florida. Mayor Desulme is a lifelong educator, small business owner and public servant. His experience in education includes working with at-risk youth, as well as Special Education and gifted students. 

Mayor Desulme was first elected into office in 2009, in a city-wide election, making history as the first Black City Clerk of the City of North Miami. He held the distinction as the youngest and the first Haitian American elected City Clerk in the United States of America. 

In 2015, he was elected to the North Miami City Council, representing District 4. The following year, he became the youngest Councilman to serve as Vice-Mayor and won his bid for re-election in May of 2019 with more than 65% of the votes. 

While serving as Vice Mayor, Mayor Desulme sponsored the recent, countless community-enrichment resolutions, with the goal of enhancing the quality of life for North Miami residents, including the Golden Silver Senior Program. The NOMI Golden Silver Senior program provides our young at heart residents a safe place to socialize, exercise, enjoy outings, and eat nutritional hot meals in a friendly environment, and thus improving their quality of life. 

Mayor Alix Desulme is known as the “Peoples’ Councilman.” He created and implemented the first healthy eating initiative, “Let’s Eat Healthy,” in the City of North Miami. This initiative ensures qualified residents receive fresh produce, dairy products, and other grocery items bi-monthly. On June 11, 2019, the North Miami City Council unanimously approved and allocated funding for The NoMi Food Market, which became the first governmental-run food pantry in the State of Florida and is managed by the City’s Housing and Social Services Department. This partnership was made possible by the generous contributions of Feeding South Florida and the Florida Blue Foundation. 

Additionally, Mayor Desulme fought and advocated for years for the creation of the City’s first Housing and Social Services Department. Since its inception on October 1, 2019, the Housing and Social Services Department’s mission has been to assist the City of North Miami in creating a viable urban community by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, as well as overseeing programs and services that improve the well-being of individuals, families, and communities, principally for very low, low, moderate-income persons/families. 

As an educator, Mayor Desulme has supported youth causes for more than two decades and is known for his dedication to the children of North Miami. He designed and developed NoMi Leaders in Training Program (L.I.T.). The L.I.T. program prepares the City’s next generation of public servants via higher education studies, career readiness, and an enhanced understanding of local civic processes. The L.I.T program also serves as a pre-requisite for students who reside in North Miami grades 9-12, to transition into the City’s signature Youth Opportunity Board (YOB) Summer Internship Program. 

Currently, Mayor Desulme is an Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas University in Miami-Gardens, Florida, and an Educational Consultant for ELB Global, a California based organization. Mayor Desulme also holds a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of New England. His dissertation focused on Policies And Procedures Perceived By School Leaders To Reduce Truancy In A Public Charter School. 

On December 13, 2022, Mayor Desulme was selected to serve as our great City’s Mayor. As a lifelong public servant, Mayor Desulme will continue to champion initiatives that will continue to move our City forward. He has always been, and will continue to be, an advocate for the people. 

As a kid growing up in Bogotá, Colombia, Santiago “Santi” Garces witnessed the near collapse of the national government and the general disillusionment of national politics, along with creative and unconventional approaches to solve issues at the local level. Those experiences developed a lifelong passion for making government more efficient and effective for citizens. Santi joined the City of Boston as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) to help push forward Mayor Wu’s vision of building a government that earns the trust of its people.

As CIO, Santi oversees the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) and a team of nearly 150 employees. DoIT provides and maintains mission-critical technologies for the City’s more than 18,000 employees and hundreds of thousands of constituents. 

In the last few decades, DoIT has been an enabler of progress in Boston. Santi’s goal is to create a new chapter in that history so that DoIT can continue to be an engine of transformation in the service of residents and employees. Through data science, statistics, and human-centered design, Santi will empower his staff to deliver more dignified experiences for residents and optimize the role of government. He also plans to leverage the City’s relationships with academia, local industries, and civic organizations to make sure big decisions reflect the many voices of Boston.

Before becoming CIO of Boston, Santi was the Executive Director of the Department of Community Investment in South Bend, Indiana, and formerly served as CIO of South Bend and of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In South Bend, Santi oversaw planning, zoning, housing, and sustainability, leading a generational transformation in housing investments in the city. He also spearheaded the largest neighborhood planning effort in South Bend’s history, as well as $1 billion in economic development projects. As CIO of South Bend, Santi won national recognition, including the Bloomberg’s Mayor’s Challenge for the Commuter’s Trust, for creating an innovative platform that allowed companies, the government, and individuals to provide transportation and secure workers with reliable options to get to work. He also helped create CLICK centers, which were a partnership between libraries, the City, and other nonprofits to provide access to computers and training within a 15-minute walk of low-income residents.

As CIO of Pittsburgh, Santi transformed its Department of Innovation and Performance into a service-oriented organization. This work led to improvements to core infrastructure in the City and included everything from establishing a citywide network to migrating Pittsburgh’s data center to the cloud. He also spearheaded negotiations with cable franchises that helped ​​convert existing recreation centers into technology-enhanced Rec2Tech Centers for residents.

Before working in civic tech, Santi helped found enFocus, a nonprofit dedicated to providing innovative solutions for government and industry. He is a graduate of Notre Dame with degrees in Electrical Engineering, Political Science, and a master’s degree in Technology Entrepreneurship.

As a lover of languages, Santi speaks fluently in Spanish, English, some French, and dabbles in Portuguese, Italian, German, Quechua, and Irish while trying to learn Chinese. Santi enjoys learning programming languages as well, including C/C++, Python, Ruby, Julia, and R. As a new Chinatown resident, he’s open to any and all recommendations for neighborhood cuisine. He also really likes Corgis

Jennifer Garrett is the assistant deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. She serves as the chief of staff for the secretary, managing external affairs for the agency including media, legislative, and stakeholder relations. Additionally, s​he serves as the liaison with the governor's staff and other agencies. She has been involved with the development of the agency’s new occupational licensing platform since its inception, and she has led efforts to build compliance via a comprehensive stakeholder outreach program.

Before serving as assistant deputy secretary, Jennifer served as director of public affairs. She joined the agency in July 2019 as communications director. She previously worked in public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing. She currently serves on the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board and the Purdue College of Liberal Arts Alumni Advisory Board.

Jennifer is an Indiana native. She has a bachelor degree in communications and English from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She also earned her J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law in Bloomington, Indiana.​

Solomon joined Heartland Forward in 2023 as director of public policy. In this role he works to advance Heartland Forward’s advocacy and public policy activities for its four program areas across the 20-state heartland region including leading the Connecting the Heartland initiative. He is also developing strategies for operationalizing Heartland Forward's research and programmatic work by increasing brand awareness, fostering public-sector partnerships and positioning the organization as a leader on policy solutions.

Prior to joining Heartland Forward, Solomon served as secretary of corrections for former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. In this role he served as chief executive of the Department and was widely acknowledged for providing values-driven, transparent leadership, while maintaining a focus on public-safety. 

Solomon currently serves, by gubernatorial appointment, as a commissioner on Arkansas State Claims Commission. He has been recognized by Arkansas Business as both a 40 Under 40 Honoree and one of the 250 Most Influential Arkansans. 

He earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a master’s in public administration from Webster University. 

Christine started her career with Digital Equipment Corporation where she was one of the 5 member design team for Digital’s most popular computers. She then went on to manufacturing where she led the organization in the transformation to what is now called Lean Manufacturing. 

Christine started consulting in Business Process Redesign and worked with companies including Honda to optimize the entire process of new product development. Christine led a team to design the Model Miller Brewery using the most advanced computer technology and processes in the beverage industry.

In January, 2000, Christine became Operations and Engineering manager for Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) where she immediately implemented a GPS-based asset system. In 2003,  VEC built fiber networks and then swapped fiber with other systems to build out the networks to support the smart meter system.

The VEC Board of Directors  was also interested in providing broadband services and Christine worked with many different technologies, including radio, Spread Spectrum (power line communications), satellite and cellular. 

Christine become CEO of VEC in 2005. At that time, VEC had poor financial ratings (just above junk bond status). Christine worked with the Board to develop corporate policies on responsibilities, capital investment plans and financial reporting.  As a result, VEC ultimately became an A+ rated utility and was recognized nationally for its technical leadership.  In her role as CEO she was a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Board of Directors for 10 years.  The NRECA is responsible for providing electricity to rural America, which represents 56% of the land mass. Christine left in 2018 to become Vermont’s Democratic candidate for governor. 

In early 2019 Christine formed a Canadian joint-venture company to develop a porous silicon battery that would provide 3 times the energy density of Lithium Ion. 

Christine is now the Executive Director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board and is charged with getting every Vermont address  connected to fiber optic internet, making it affordable, and maximizing positive social impact.

John Perrino is a policy analyst at the Stanford Internet Observatory where he translates research and builds policy engagement for online trust, safety and security issues. He most recently was a director at the Glen Echo Group where he led and produced award-winning public affairs work for cybersecurity and privacy clients.

Previously, he was communications director at the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs. Perrino began his career working on internet policy as a communications fellow at the Internet Education Foundation, helping organize and promote Capitol Hill briefings and the annual State of the Net conference. He serves as co-chair of the National Press Club Communicators Team and earned an MPA and a bachelor’s degree in political communication from the George Washington University.

Rita serves as NACo's chief information officer. In this capacity, she oversees the internal technology operations of NACo, and leads NACo’s technology programs and initiatives for counties. She is responsible for the NACo technology blueprint, which includes managing the development and delivering of technology programming on initiatives such as cyber security, technology infrastructure and cloud computing. Rita brings with her responsibility for serving on multiple boards and workgroups over the years including the PA Digital Advisory Board, the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center, and the NASCIO Cyber Security Workgroup. Rita also serves as the staff liaison to the NACo Technology Standing Committee and the GIS Subcommittee.

Before joining NACo, Rita served as the CIO for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, where she spent 20 years mainly focused on similar initiatives for CCAP and with counties in Pennsylvania. Prior to that Rita was an independent fiscal and computer consultant where she worked with numerous children and youth agencies in Pennsylvania and designed fiscal and data reporting applications, including a statewide AFCARS solution. Rita holds a B.A. in business administration with a minor in political science from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Rita has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania’s 2019 Moxie Award, Government Technology’s 2017 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers, and State Tech’s “30 State and Local Government IT Influencers” for 2020

Mary Catherine Snyder is a Parking Strategist for the City of Seattle Department of Transportation and lead for the Policy group in SDOT’s Curbside Management Team. Over the last twenty plus years at the city, Mary Catherine has worked on a variety of policy, program, and technology projects related to managing curbspace in the public right-of-way. With her team, she manages several curbspace policy and technology programs, including mobile parking payment, urban goods delivery strategy, neighborhood parking and access planning, and the Performance-Based Parking Pricing Program, which is SDOT’s data-driven rate-setting process for Seattle’s paid parking system. She has an undergrad degree in Government from Cornell University, and Masters’ degrees in Urban Planning and Transportation Planning from the University of Washington

Andrew Green, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Information Security and Assurance in the Information Systems Department, located in the Michael J. Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia.  Andy currently serves as the program coordinator for the Information Security and Assurance undergraduate degree program, as well as the faculty advisor for the award-winning student-led KSU Offensive Security Research Club.

Green has almost two decades of experience in information security.  Before entering academia full-time, Andy worked as an information security consultant, focusing primarily on the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.  Before that, Green worked in the healthcare IT field, where he developed and supported transcription interfaces for medical facilities throughout the United States. 

Andy’s research interest focuses on problems found at the intersection of security, privacy, and public policy, and his research has been published in top-tier academic journals.  Green is also a co-author of several academic textbooks on various information security-related topics that have been used in classrooms globally.  Andy is also a frequent contributor to local, regional, and national media outlets on issues related to information security

Tim Rahschulte, PhD is the chief executive officer at The Professional Development Academy and chief architect of the NACo High Performance Leadership Program. Dr. Rahschulte has over twenty years of professional management experience and started his career in corporate finance for a multibillion-dollar company. Most recently before his CEO role at the Academy, he served as a principal executive for 14 years in state government; serving as chief learning officer in Oregon government until 2014. Tim is the co-author of Projects Without Boundaries: Successfully Leading Teams and Managing Projects in a Virtual World (Wiley, 2017); Program Management for Improved Business Results (Wiley, 2007); Leading Global Project Teams (Wiley, 2010); Distributed Team Collaboration in Organizations (Wiley, 2011), and My Best Advice: Proven Rules For Effective Leadership (IntelliPress Media)

As a CTO Cyber & Analytics at ThunderCat Technology, Justin Robinson has spent the last decade working to protect the US Public Sector from cyber threats and helping agencies develop effective security strategies.

With a deep expertise in the field, Justin has become a sought-after speaker and trusted advisor, leveraging 20+ years of IT experience. Justin has been featured at major industry conferences, and Public Sector focused events and publications including Govloop, Meritalk, and others. Justin's expertise is rooted in their extensive experience designing cyber security architecture for large organizations across a range of industries. These organizations have successfully managed complex security projects, implemented security controls and frameworks, and developed incident response plans to help organizations quickly and effectively respond to security incidents.

Through his work, Justin has earned a reputation as a thought leader who is able to translate complex cyber security concepts into practical, actionable advice for organizations of all sizes. He has a talent for breaking down technical jargon and communicating in a way that resonates with both technical and non-technical audiences. Prior to joining ThunderCat, Justin was Chief Technology Officer Federal Civilian Agencies at NetApp, Inc. where his responsibilities included forging technical partnerships within the Federal Civilian customer base, as well as taking Federal Civilian customer feedback to product operations. Before starting at NetApp, Justin was President and Owner of Node5 LLC, where his focus was delivering best of breed data center solutions for Civilian Federal customers. This included solutions around virtualization, messaging, security, and storage infrastructure. Justin has leveraged years of operational experience at Monster.com, EngineX Networks, and Booz Allen & Hamilton, to help his customers succeed.

Mr. Young serves as Senior Research Analyst at MissionSquare Research Institute. In this role, he conducts quantitative and case study research on workforce issues, public retirement plans, staff sharing, DEI, financial wellness, and other related topics.

Prior to joining the Research Institute in 2017, he worked with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) for over two decades on performance management, police recruitment, organizing best practices symposia, and researching smart communities and local government innovation. He has also served local government directly for eight years with the cities of Chula Vista and Loma Linda, California, with a focus on budgeting and program evaluation.

His research has been covered by a variety of publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Federal News Network, Pensions & Investments, PlanSponsor, Politico, Axios, Route Fifty, and American City and County, among others, as well as the IBM Center for the Business of Government. He has presented at various state, national, and international conferences.

Mr. Young earned a master’s in public administration from the University of Kansas and bachelor’s degrees in mathematics/computer science and political science from Loyola University Chicago

Kery Murakami is a senior reporter covering Congress and federal agencies for Route Fifty. A longtime reporter, he has covered state, city and county governments, as well as transportation, at newspapers like the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Newsday. In Washington, D.C, he has covered federal policy areas including broadband, healthcare and higher education.

Chris Teale is a technology reporter covering cybersecurity and IT modernization in state and local government.

Dan Vock is a senior reporter at Route Fifty, where he focuses on transportation and infrastructure. He has covered state and local government for two decades, first as an Illinois statehouse reporter and later as a national reporter based in Washington, D.C. Dan has written stories about every state in the country, and has reported on the ground from half of them (so far). He won a Jesse H. Neal award for best profile and earned a fellowship from the Columbia Journalism School’s Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights.

Greg Chavarria was appointed as City Manager by the City Commission in July 2022. He manages a full-service City with a support staff of more than 2800 FTEs and an annual budget of $985m.  He is the first Latino confirmed to serve as City Manager for Fort Lauderdale. 
He previously served as Assistant City Manager for Fort Lauderdale from 2020 until his appointment as City Manager. His 23-year career experience as a public servant includes serving in key roles for municipal government to support Capital Improvement Projects, Infrastructure Programs, Public Safety initiatives, process management upgrades and process improvement through innovation technology.  

Chavarria started his career in the City of Miami in 1999 as a Civil Engineer. He worked on various storm sewer, roadway improvement, and sustainability projects. He then extended his role as a Systems Analyst within the Information Technology department and successfully led the first ever electronic patient care report system for Miami Fire Rescue. Thereafter, between 2008 and 2011, he served as Section Commander for the Miami Police Department where he was instrumental in the technology design for the new Police Academy and led the implementation of new computer aided dispatch (CAD) system that supported the 1100 sworn police workforce.  Additionally, Chavarria developed innovative community policing initiatives through online and digital media platforms.   

In 2011, Chavarria fulfilled the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida where he supported digital transformation for the second largest court system in the US and largest court system in the State. In 2013, Chavarria transitioned to serve as the CIO for the City of Doral. During his tenure at Doral, he introduced various digital citizen engagement strategies that supported economic businesses development and optimized the citizen online experience. His leadership supported ground-breaking processes that allowed the residents to access public records and interact with the building department through online solutions.  

In 2015, Greg Chavarria pursued the opportunity to serve as CIO for the City of Hallandale Beach.  In this role, he supported the implementation of the first-ever cloud based ERP system for the City that aimed to improve accountability, transparency and stream-line processes.  He was promoted to serve as Assistant City Manager in 2017 and then City Manager in 2019. Notable projects included smart city strategies, license plate readers systems, the development of mobile apps to increase public engagement, city-wide smart metering for water utilities, three municipal bond parks and a new fire station. During his tenure in Hallandale Beach, Chavarria accomplished various fiscal improvements, including the resolution of union contracts with improved benefits, increasing operational reserves from 7% to 23%, and the earning various federal fund grants for municipal projects. Mr. Chavarria earned two bachelor’s degrees at the University of Miami in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received his master’s degree from Florida International University in Management Information Systems (MIS). 

Additionally, he is a founding member of the Florida Local Government Hispanic Network, serves as Tri County Representative for the National Forum for Black Public Administrators and is an active member of the Broward County City Managers’ Association and the International City/County Management Association. Chavarria has published and presented best practices at national and local conferences. He is a constant advocate for innovation and transformational leadership and looks forward to further support strategies for enhancing the quality of life of communities and business growth.

Dr. Yvette G. Taylor joined the Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration on October 30, 2005 as the Regional Administrator in Region 4.  She has served in prior senior positions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

As Regional Administrator, she is currently responsible for administering federal funding to support a variety of locally planned, constructed, and operated public transportation systems throughout the Southeastern Region. Region IV encompasses Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In FY 2022, Region IV awarded over $2.4 billion dollars in transit projects.

Dr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, M.B.A., and a Ph.D. in Management.   She and her husband, Marcus, are the proud parents of 2 children – Kennedy and Kerrington Taylor

At the University of Miami, Dr. Yelena Yesha is the Knight Foundation Endowed Chair of Data Science and AI at the Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC). At IDSC, Dr. Yesha is also the Innovation Officer and Head of International Relations. In this role, Dr. Yesha assists faculty in engaging government and industrial partners to collaborate with the University and consults with faculty on developing research ideas into innovations.

Dr. Yesha was the Founding Director of the National Science Foundation Center for Accelerated Real Time Analytics (CARTA), an NSF-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) that aims to develop long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government. CARTA partners with Rutgers University New Brunswick, North Carolina State University, the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Tel Aviv University, and the University of Miami.

Dr. Yesha received her B.Sc. degrees in Computer Science and in Applied Mathematics from York University, Toronto, Canada, and her M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from The Ohio State University She has published 11 books as author or editor, and more than 220 papers in prestigious refereed journals and refereed conference proceedings, and she has been awarded external funding in a total amount exceeding 56 million dollars. She is currently working with leading industrial companies and government agencies on new innovative technology in the areas of blockchains, cybersecurity, and big data analytics with applications to electronic commerce, climate change, and digital healthcare. Dr. Yesha is a fellow of the IBM Centre for Advanced Studies.

Forbes magazine highlighted Dr. Yesha's accomplishments in technology in a two-part profile: Part I: Dr. Yelena Yesha: Meet The Tenacious Pioneer Pushing Innovation To Address Real World Problems and Part II: Dr. Yelena Yesha: Pushing Technology Boundaries To Solve The World's Biggest Problems.

Brett Andersen has supported Elavon public sector customers, including mass transit operators, for fifteen years.  His goal has always been to demystify elements of electronic payments to educate and inform customers so they can understand their options.  Away from the office Brett enjoys hikes through the Great Smoky Mountains with his high school sweetheart and their three children.  Brett has just returned from a family vacation to Iceland.

Kery Murakami is a senior reporter covering Congress and federal agencies for Route Fifty. A longtime reporter, he has covered state, city and county governments, as well as transportation, at newspapers like the Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Newsday. In Washington, D.C, he has covered federal policy areas including broadband, healthcare and higher education.

Chris Teale is a technology reporter covering cybersecurity and IT modernization in state and local government.