HP/AMD | AI at the Edge: Delivering Smarter, Faster, and More Secure Government Services

Ms. Susan K. Davenport, a member of the Senior Executive Service, currently serves as the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer within the Office of the Chief Information Officer, comprised of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. Ms. Davenport develops and implements strategies for enterprise data management, analytics, digital transformation, and responsible/ethical artificial intelligence to optimize performance and drive innovation in and across the Department of the Air Force.

Ms. Davenport has more than 35 years of experience in intelligence, acquisitions, cyberoperations, and advanced space technologies, primarily supporting the Air Force, and National Reconnaissance Office. Prior to her current position, Ms. Davenport served as the Senior Advisor for Defense Innovation in the Concepts, Development and Management Office, where she was responsible for creating and implementing innovative capabilities, identifying optimized strategies, and determining operational efficacy to meet cyberspace, and information and applied technology requirements for intelligence activities and operations.

Ms. Davenport spent 16 years at the National Reconnaissance Office in various positions. Highlights include Deputy, Office of the Chief Engineer, Systems Engineering Directorate, where she led end to end closure, risk, readiness, schedule, and requirement activities for the NRO enterprise. Director, Advanced Systems and Technology Directorate, Research Ground Group, where she led an organization focused on leveraging Small Sat ground systems, Artificial Intelligence capabilities, and residual space assets to deliver new disruptive technologies that advanced ground and space layer capabilities for the NRO, DoD, and IC.  Director, Customer Group, Communications Directorate where she managed the onboarding activities, budget, recap, and operations and maintenance of a billion-dollar FYDP portfolio including the National Reconnaissance Commercial Cloud Services (C2S), the Agency Unique on premise infrastructure, and management of the NRO’s data centers. Ms. Davenport was Director for two mission centers in Ground Enterprise Directorate and was a key contributor in the stand-up of the NRO’s Future Ground Architecture.

Ms. Davenport led a successful military career, joining the active-duty Air Force in 1989 as a Signals Intelligence Collector, commissioning as a Communication and Information Officer, and retiring in 2013.

James Olguin is an AI & Data Solutions Business Development Manager for HP, where he leads go-to-market strategy for sovereign AI and advanced compute solutions across federal defense, intelligence, civilian, and law enforcement agencies. He works with customers to modernize AI infrastructure through secure, on-premises environments that enable organizations to retain control of sensitive data, accelerate mission outcomes, and meet evolving security and compliance requirements.

With more than a decade of experience supporting federal technology initiatives, James helps government organizations evaluate and deploy AI-ready infrastructure for mission-critical workloads. His expertise spans AI, high-performance computing, data-intensive workloads, and secure on-premises and edge computing environments designed to support operational resilience, data sovereignty, and mission success.

Dr. Wendy D. Walsh is the Chief Learning Officer, Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.  In this role, Dr. Walsh is responsible for providing leadership support and technical direction to optimize force development outcomes; and enables a culture of learning. She is building a Total Force learning ecosystem to develop, share and refresh accessible, meaningful learning opportunities for mission impact. Dr. Walsh is currently leading AETC in implementing learning engineering principles to advance human-centered, interdisciplinary, and competency-based learning across the force. Dr. Walsh’s, who has been the CLO since 2021, key messages are:  Learning is our competitive advantage, Together we are stronger, and Cultivating a shared vision we enable shared mission success.  

Dr. Walsh graduated from Sonoma State University in 1999, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and master of public administration in 2003. She successfully completed the information science doctoral course work and competed a certification in systems engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School. She earned her doctorate in Education Leadership from Frostburg State University in 2021. Her dissertation developed a unique sense-making model to understand and facilitate successful implementation in complex adaptive systems. As a result, she was invited to share her work at the Santa Fe Institute Collective Intelligence Symposium in 2023. 

A career public servant, she has worked in state and federal agencies for the past 30 years. Dr. Walsh has an impressive track record collaborating with governments, academia, industry, and communities to develop research, grow education, apply innovation, and expand possibilities to create culturally relevant and effective learning experiences responsive to organizational needs.   

EDUCATION

1996 Coaches Training Institute, San Rafael, Calif.  

1999 Bachelor of Art, Political Science, Sonoma State University, Calif.

2003 Master of Science, Public Administration, Sonoma State University, Calif. 

2005 Congressional Training for Homeland Security, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.

2011 Master Exercise Practitioner program graduate, Department of Homeland Security, Emmitsburg, Md. 

2014 Graduate Certificate, Systems Engineering & Information Science PhD coursework - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif.

2015 Design, Partnership, Management & Innovation Certificate, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, Calif.

2021 Doctorate, Education Leadership, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Md.

 

CAREER CHRONOLOGY

1. August 1992 - August 2004, Assistant to the Executive Director, Unit Supervisor, Placement Coordinator, Trainer, Phoenix Program Coach for the State of California, Department of Developmental Services, Sonoma Developmental Center, Sonoma, Calif.

2. August 2004 - September 2006, Region 09 Citizen Corps Program Manager, DHS/FEMA, Oakland, Calif.

3. September 2006 - August 2015, Homeland Defense & Security Coordinator (Research & Education), Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif.

4. August 2015 - September 2021, Acting Chief Learning Officer, Talent Transformation Director, Higher Education Program Manager- DHS/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA,) Washington DC

5. August 2020 - August 2022, Adjunct Professor, Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Md.

MAJOR AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Recognized as one of the Top 50 Data Training & Talent Management Champions in Human Resources in the US by Chief Data Officer Magazine, 2025

Recognized as 5th in the Top 25 Female Chief Learning Officers List from Women we Admire, 2024

FEMA Mission Support Administrator’s Award for Business Excellence, 2021 

FEMA Administrator’s Award, 2019 

Leadership in Cybersecurity Education Award, California Department of Technology – Information Security Office, 2014