Speakers

Ms. Katherine “Katie” Arrington is Performing the Duties of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer.  In this capacity, she serves as the primary advisor to the Secretary of Defense for information management/Information Technology (IT); information assurance, as well as non-intelligence space systems; critical satellite communications, navigation, and timing programs; spectrum; and telecommunications.

Prior to assuming this role, she served as the Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity. In this role she provided expert policy, technical, program, and defense-wide oversight support to the DoD CIO on all cybersecurity matters. She was responsible for leading the DoD-wide cybersecurity program, partnering with industry to improve cybersecurity and information sharing and represented the Secretary of Defense and DoD CIO in international discussions and negotiates on cybersecurity topics in both bilateral and multi-lateral (alliance and coalition) channels.

Before assuming her position as DoD DCIO(CS), Ms. Arrington was the Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Exiger, where she mobilized issues of universal consensus, including supply chain visibility, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and national security. She also ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District in 2022.

Skip Jentsch is the government lead for the GSA Schedule Cloud Special Item Number (SIN) 518210C, the subset of the Schedule that lists only cloud offerings. His position is within the IT Products Category under GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).

The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to Federal, State, Local and Tribal governments for a broad range of IT products and services.

A former federal CIO for an independent small agency within the Department of Interior, Skip Jentsch has over 30 years of experience in managing IT enterprises in the public, private and non-profit sectors. His IT career has always been focused on internal and external customer outreach, bridging any communications gaps between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

He joined the GSA in 2013 as an IT Specialist/Enterprise Architect responsible for managing the Governmentwide cloud-focused acquisition vehicles such as the Cloud SIN 518210C.

In this capacity, he is responsible for promoting the adoption of cloud services across government, assisting agencies in realizing cost savings and efficiencies while modernizing and expanding their IT capabilities through the adoption of cloud and other innovative technology.

Skip engages with government customer agencies, educates them about GSA cloud offerings and services, provides strategic guidance, technical insight and acquisition aid as requested, thereby helping agencies acquire cloud technology by leveraging GSA cloud acquisition vehicles and other vehicles across government. He also engages with cloud vendors, educating them on how to get their offerings listed on the GSA Schedule Cloud SIN 518210C.

Additionally, he is involved in market research, feasibility studies and development of next generation GSA cloud initiatives.

Theresa Kinney is the Deputy Program Manager/Director for Operations and Communications of the NASA SEWP Program Office. In this capacity, she oversees the SEWP Program’s daily operations, works NASA Headquarters on Policies and SEWP Trainings, and assists with SEWP’s outreach efforts.

Ms. Kinney joined SEWP in October 2001 and was the lead for implementation of a full-cost accounting and the establishment of the SEWP Program as NASA’s first Working Capital Fund. She took on the role of Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for half of the SEWP Contracts in September 2012. In January 2016, Ms. Kinney took on additional COR responsibilities overseeing one of Goddard Space Flight Center’s large Administration contracts (GITISS).

A native of Montana, Ms. Kinney graduated with honors from Strayer University in Maryland. Following graduation, she continued her education at George Washington University and receive her Master’s Certificate in Federal Contracts.

Drew Myklegard is the Deputy Federal CIO of the White House tech policy office. He is responsible for driving technology modernization and improving mission delivery by ensuring over $87B+ in Federal IT spending is well managed.

Prior to joining the White House, Drew served as the Executive Director of Product Engineering at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Drew led the implementation of VA’s Lighthouse Application Programming Interface (API) Platform which enabled over 6 million veterans to securely share their health and benefits data with approved third parties -- revolutionizing how veterans manage their health care.

In addition to his public service, Drew is an active member of the Army Reserves and completed one tour in Iraq

Mr. Dave Raley is the Digital Program Manager at Marine Corps Community Service (MCCS). MCCS mission within the Marine Corps is to provide services on Marine bases (childcare, lodging, food/beverage, movie theaters, sports fields, etc.) and operates the Marine Corps Exchanges.

Over the last several years, Dave has led the MCCS organization in digital transformation and cloud journey. Dave’s focus has been on is removing the cost of delay focused on process improvements which he estimates saves roughly $100K/application/month in costs. He’s focused on two key areas – authorities to operate (ATO) and acquisition speed/agility. On ATO’s, Dave has led the accreditation of the Marine Corps first DevSecOps pipeline that grants an authority to operate by virtue of being promoted to production by the processes and tooling. MCCS is now taking IT and turning it into a profit center by offering other commands use of the pipeline for a fee as Operation StormBreaker.

Jessica Van Eerde is StateRAMP’s Chief of Operations, where she passionately represents and supports StateRAMP’s mission and its members. A seasoned leader with over a decade of experience working with State and Local Governments, as well as in the realm of Higher Education, Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge to her role.

Her expertise spans various domains, including law, procurement, and professional development. Notably, Jessica plays a pivotal role in the leadership of the TX-RAMP StateRAMP partnership, driving initiatives that optimize cybersecurity tools and resources for State, Local, and Education (SLED) organizations nationwide. Her dedication to advancing cybersecurity excellence is reflected in her strategic leadership and commitment to forging impactful collaborations.