Speakers


Densmore Bartly
CISO
U.S. House of Representatives
Densmore Bartly serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for the U.S. House of Representatives. In this role, Mr. Bartly leads the House Office of Cybersecurity, directing all strategic and operational efforts to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of House information systems and data.
Mr. Bartly has decades of experience in cybersecurity leadership, serving in both the public and private sectors, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Northrop Grumman.


Don Bauer
Chief Technology Officer, Office of Technology Services
Department of State
Donald Bauer is a Senior Executive in the U.S. Federal Government, currently serving as Chief Technology Officer for Global Talent Management (HR) at the Department of State. A former Navy Chief and Surface Warfare Officer, Don brings over 25 years of technical expertise to his public service role. A Computer Scientist by training, he has a distinguished history of developing mission-critical software systems for the U.S. government, including an emergency de-orbit program for the space shuttle and satellite automation for NASA and other space agencies.
In 1999, Don co-founded QuickHire, the first commercial online job system for the Federal Government, which was acquired by Monster.com in 2003. His entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to federal service led him to roles such as leading technology efforts for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), where he oversaw HR case management and contributed to the hiring of over 5,000 border patrol agents in 2007, an accomplishment not repeated since.
Don’s commitment to public service deepened during his time at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where he served as Enterprise Technical Operations Director. There, he was responsible for Information Assurance, Section 508 compliance (accessibility), and IT Acquisition Reviews. In 2016, Don returned to federal service at the Department of State, first as Systems Oversight Division Chief and later as Systems Development Division Chief. In 2020, he was appointed to the newly created position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Global Talent Management, where he manages a $60M IT budget and leads a team of 330 professionals. His department supports two ERP platforms and over 70 applications that serve the Department’s 78,000 employees worldwide.
In 2024, Don was honored with the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award for his leadership in a successful multi-year modernization effort at the Department of State, which significantly enhanced HR system operations, usability, and cyber hygiene. He continues to lead this ongoing modernization initiative, with a focus on further improving user experience, advancing cloud transition efforts, and strengthening cyber hygiene across the Department’s IT infrastructure. Outside of his professional life, Don resides in Manassas, VA, where he enjoys cooking, camping, wine tasting, 3D printing, and spending time with his 8-year-old grandson.

Alana M. Burman
Director of Policy, Intergovernmental Affairs, & Mediation
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
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Alana M. Burman
Director of Policy, Intergovernmental Affairs, & Mediation
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
Alana M. Burman serves as the Director of Policy, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Mediation (PIM) for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Burman comes to this role with a wealth of social justice and social equity experience centered around mediation, community relations, and policymaking. She is new to PHRC.
Burman's educational accomplishments include a Bachelors of the Arts in Printmaking and Drawing, summa cum laude, obtained from Rutgers University – Mason Gross School of the Arts. She also holds a Masters in Developmental and Abnormal Psychology from Rutgers University – New Brunswick, magna cum laude. Additionally, Burman holds a Certificate in State and Local Government from the Eagleton Institute of Government and Politics. She is a member of several academic honor societies and an alumni of multiple educational equity focused fellowships.
Prior to the PHRC, Burman started her career as a public-school English and Art teacher stationed in the Mississippi Delta with Teach for America. After leaving K-12 teaching, she transitioned first to Government, then Public Advocacy and Government Affairs roles with nonprofits. Burman has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children and on the Essex County LGBQTIA+ Advisory Board, both in New Jersey. She enjoys public speaking and volunteering with Seniors and within her Jewish community.
Much of Burman's professional career has been in roles that include advocating for groups who have difficulty being heard in Government and bringing diverse groups of people together to advance common policy goals. She finds fulfillment in her passions at the PHRC with the ability to assist Pennsylvanians and actively work to build policy that advances eradicating discrimination both inside and outside of the Commonwealth.

Sonny Hashimi
Former Commissioner, Federal Acquisition Service
GSA

Sonny Hashimi
Former Commissioner, Federal Acquisition Service
GSA


Marcy Katz Jacobs
Chief Digital Experience Officer
State of Maryland
Marcy Jacobs is a proven leader with a passion for creating simple and intuitive digital
experiences for both citizens and public sector employees. Marcy is the Deputy Secretary of IT
and the first Chief Digital Experience Officer for the state of Maryland. Previously, she spent
several years at McKinsey & Company in Washington DC as a leader of the public sector
customer experience practice. Prior to McKinsey, Marcy served for 4 years with the United
States Digital Service at the White House – both as Design Director and later as the lead of the
Digital Service at Veterans Affairs. She brings 20+ years of experience in customer experience,
human centered design and digital transformation, spending her career focused on mission
related work for the government. Marcy and her VA team won the 2018 Samuel J. Heyman
Service to America Medal for Management Excellence for their work developing Veteran-facing
tools.
Marcy has a Masters in Psychology from Drexel and undergraduate degrees in Psychology and
Fine Art from The George Washington University. Marcy lives in Maryland with her husband, 2
teenage children and 2 dogs.
Marcy is the first Chief Digital Experience Officer for the state of Maryland. She has spent 20+
years focused on making it easier for people to get needed information, benefits and services
from government agencies. Previously, she led the public sector customer experience practice
at McKinsey & Company. Prior to McKinsey, Marcy served for 4 years with the United States
Digital Service at the White House – both as Design Director and later as the lead of the Digital
Service at Veterans Affairs.

Manny Medrano
Director, Office of Cyber Monitoring and Operations, Bureau of Diplomatic Security
Department of State

Manny Medrano
Director, Office of Cyber Monitoring and Operations, Bureau of Diplomatic Security
Department of State


Renesha Miles
Chief Equity Officer
Charles County, MD
Renesha Miles, Chief Equity Officer for Charles County Government, is a
transformational leader and change agent dedicated to cultivating respect for diversity,
encouraging equitable access and opportunity, and promoting inclusion for everyone. She holds a master’s degree in communication and leadership studies from Gonzaga University and a
bachelor’s degree in English – language, writing, and rhetoric from North Carolina State
University. She is a graduate of the College of Southern Maryland with an associate degree in
communication. Ms. Miles is a life long learner committed to professional development. She is a
graduate of the Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program facilitated by the University
of Maryland at Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy and Maryland Commission for
Civil Rights. She graduated from the National Association of Counties Professional
Development Academy and Charles County Government Leadership Academy. She is a Class of 2024 Leadership Southern Maryland Executive Leadership Program alumni. She is a member of the Leadership Maryland 2025 Emerging Leader Program. She is also a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., actively embodying her organization’s motto of “Greater Service, Greater Progress” through facilitating community initiatives and programs to enhance outcomes for all. Renesha Miles has worked in public service for 15 years and is committed to amplifying the voices of our community, advocating, making connections, and educating to help bridge gaps and break down barriers.

Barbara C. Morton
Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Veterans Experience Office (VEO)
Department of Veterans Affairs
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Barbara C. Morton
Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Veterans Experience Office (VEO)
Department of Veterans Affairs
Barbara C. Morton assumed her current duties in July 2016 as Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Veterans Experience Office (VEO), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In this role Barbara co-leads VEO, the Secretary’s customer experience (CX) insight engine supporting and enabling the Department in providing the highest quality experiences in the delivery of care, benefits and memorial services to Service members, Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. Barbara is responsible for building a lasting CX capability at VA and sharing best practices across sister Federal Agencies, including The Customer Experience Cookbook, which serves as a CX practitioner’s guide to stand up and mature customer experience capabilities in government. She is a recipient of the 2022 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Award for Management Excellence, 2021 Service to the Citizen Award for Government Executive of the Year, 2019 Service to the Citizen Award and the 2019 Gears of Government President’s Award for her role in transforming VA’s capabilities to provide Veterans with an excellent customer experience.
Barbara joined VA in 2006 as a Staff Attorney at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board). She served the Board in a variety of other capacities to include Special Counsel to the Appellate Group, Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman, Executive Assistant to the Chairman, and Executive Director for the Office of Management, Planning and Analysis. While at the Board, Barbara stood up and led the Board’s Appeals Modernization OIT efforts, which included securing industry technologists from United States Digital Service to develop and launch new appeals platforms.
A native of Massachusetts, Barbara attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, earning a degree in psychology and philosophy. After receiving her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, Barbara completed two clerkships in the New England area and thereafter pursued an LL.M. in constitutional law at Georgetown Law. She has published a variety of law review articles, including two pieces relating to posttraumatic stress disorder.


Webster Mulbah
CDO
City of Baltimore, MD
Webster Mulbah is a seasoned professional in data engineering, management and analysis, currently serving as the Chief Data Officer and Data Team Lead at the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. Previous experience includes a role as a Data Fellow at the Mayor’s Office of Performance & Innovation and a Business Intelligence Analyst/Data Analyst at Money Map Press, where responsibilities involved building data architecture, managing reporting projects, creating real-time dashboards, and ensuring data integrity.

Maria Roat
Former DCIO
The White House

Maria Roat
Former DCIO
The White House

Trang Tran
Deputy CDO
CBP

Trang Tran
Deputy CDO
CBP

Colt Whitall
Managing Partner & Founder, Bravo17
Former CXO, Department of Air Force

Colt Whitall
Managing Partner & Founder, Bravo17
Former CXO, Department of Air Force


Dan Allen
Global Head, Customer Success - Digital & Security Solutions
HP
With over 25 years of experience in technology and delivery of software services with a focus on virtualization, security, and application delivery, Dan Allen has a proven track record of delivering customer success. Dan joined HP as part of the Bromium acquisition in September 2019 as the global head of customer success for enterprise security solutions. Dan now leads the global Customer Success teams for both Security and Digital Solutions at HP. Dan joined Bromium in 2015 where he had responsibility for all worldwide customer services. Prior to joining Bromium, Dan spent 13+ years at Citrix Systems as a lead architect and director on their Consulting Services team. Dan is still active writing technical whitepapers, blogs, and speaking at conferences on the subjects of security, virtualization, and end user experience.


Steven Boberski
Public Sector Chief Technology Officer
Genesys
Steven Boberski is a Genesys Public Sector CTO. He brings over two decades of experience designing, delivering, and selling large enterprise VoIP, unified communications, and contact center solutions to help government agencies create superior engagement with constituents and employees. Steve has provided leadership, strategy and systems engineering expertise to help multiple organizations obtain, maintain, and enhance compliance with mandated IT policies, including FedRAMP.


Jamison Braun
Vice President, Global Public Sector
Salesforce
Jamison joined Salesforce in 2021 and currently serves as the Vice President of Global Public Sector driving growth in Autonomous Agents (AI), Slack and Field Service for our Government Customers. He previously served as head of NATO and European Defense organizations to transform their citizen experience.
Before this role, Jamison spent 4 decades as a senior uniformed officer in the US Department of Defense. His last post culminated at European Command as the Chief of Staff and Senior Military Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. In that capacity, he led the linking of Department of Defense and Department of State initiatives across a 51-country area of responsibility.
He was the first trailblazer into modernizing the Department of Defense and launched the inaugural cloud initiative with the Department of the Air Force in 2015. Along the way, he’s operationalized several high profile initiatives including linking the 2040 Strategic Plan to human capital and establishing the first Office of People Analytics leveraging big-data to drive $20B portfolio decisions.
He is an expert in Human Capital and operations previously serving as the head of Human Capital Transformation, the Human Capital Chief Digital Officer and the Human Capital Chief Information Officer.
Jamison graduated from Harvard University’s Executive Program and holds three graduate
degrees in business, systems analysis and international strategy and is a recipient of the
Defense Superior Service Medal and the Disney Innovation Award.

Dwight Chamberlain
Area Vice President, State & Local Government and Higher Education Sales
Docusign
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Dwight Chamberlain
Area Vice President, State & Local Government and Higher Education Sales
Docusign
Dwight Chamberlain leads Docusign’s US State & Local Government and
Higher Education sales organization. He has over three decades of experience in
technology sales, services delivery, and business management in both the commercial
and public sector industries. Prior to joining Docusign, he led State and Local
Government sales at Cellebrite, the global leader in Digital Intelligence solutions. A
trusted partner to public sector organizations, Dwight is known for championing a
customer-first approach that aligns solutions to mission outcomes and long-term
success. Dwight has also held leadership roles in a number of large technology
companies, including Red Hat, Oracle, Unisys, KPMG Consulting, and IBM, where he
consistently focused on delivering value through innovation and strong customer
relationships. Originally from upstate New York, Dwight and his wife, Kim, reside in
Greenville, South Carolina.


Amanda Chavez
Vice President of Customer Experience
Qualtrics
As a customer experience executive, Amanda Chavez scales human-centered design and customer experience best practices to help organizations innovate. She started up and fostered company-wide HCD/CX/EX capabilities at Booz Allen, Cognosante, and NuAxis. She is currently the Vice President, Federal Strategy for Qualtrics.
Her body of work includes projects with fortune 50 companies, as well as leading over 30 CX-related projects for Agencies like the Small Business Administration, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Interior, United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation.


Brian Chidester
Head of Global Strategy & Innovation for Public Sector
Adobe
Brian Chidester is the Head of Global Strategy & Innovation for Public Sector at Adobe and the host of the award-winning podcast “The Government Huddle” from GovExec. Mr. Chidester was a 2025 award recipient for the FORUM IT100 Award which honors individuals for driving innovation and advancement in the Federal government space. He also held global public sector leadership roles with OpenText, Arrow ECS and S&P Global. Mr. Chidester holds a B.S. in Communications Studies from Liberty University, is a Board Member for the University of South Florida – Muma College of Business, an advisor to the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance at the World Economic Forum, and a member of the Forbes Technology Council.

Karl Hermann
Manager, Solutions Engineering, SLED & Federal Government
Zoom

Karl Hermann
Manager, Solutions Engineering, SLED & Federal Government
Zoom


Eric Kirby
Senior Account Executive
Liferay
As a Sr. Account Executive at Liferay, Eric Kirby has assisted numerous enterprise organizations in determining how to best reach their customer experience goals through modern platform adoption. From strategic ideation to implementation and delivery, Eric's goal is to help businesses determine how technology can best drive customer engagement and satisfaction.

Kaitlin Klaum
Senior Team Manager
Box

Kaitlin Klaum
Senior Team Manager
Box


James Kohler
Director, Federal
Figma
James Kohler is Director of Figma's Federal business unit. Under his leadership, Figma is helping public sector teams brainstorm, design, and build digital experiences that better serve citizens and support agency employees. With over 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation in Federal and Public Sector markets, James has held leadership roles at leading technology companies including Zscaler, Datadog, GreyNoise Intelligence and Hewlett-Packard.


Brett Mikoy
Senior Account Director
LinkedIn for Government
Brett Mikoy is a founding member of LinkedIn’s Government team specializing in public sector talent strategies. At LinkedIn, he collaborates with federal agencies—including the Department of Defense to address human capital challenges. By leveraging LinkedIn's Economic Graph and talent solutions, Brett aids these organizations in workforce planning, employer branding, recruiting, learning, and retention initiatives.
His expertise encompasses building and elevating talent brands, driving awareness of organizational missions & career opportunities, streamlining recruitment processes, analyzing talent trends, constructing robust talent pipelines, & upskilling employees.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Brett is deeply committed to community service. He’s the President of the Arlington Babe Ruth baseball league which provides baseball programming to over 2,000 youth annually.


Angy Peterson
Vice President for Experience Services
Granicus
Angy Peterson is the Vice President for Experience Services at Granicus, leading experience strategy, data analytics, content creation, and platform activation to help government agencies better connect communications and CX to reach more people and deliver vital services in a digital-first world.
Angy is an executive and change agent who is passionate about transformation journeys of all types and sizes, with more than 25 years of experience in content, design, and multichannel delivery. She's led design teams in newsrooms, built digital capabilities for communications agencies, and now leads human-centered, data-driven CX solutions for Granicus’ government customers, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Social Security Administration


Judy Weader
Principal Analyst
Forrester Research
Judy's research covers a variety of areas critical to establishing, funding, and scaling the customer experience (CX) function, including CX governance, CX prioritization, the ROI of CX, and CX strategy. Her varied background also extends her coverage into healthcare CX and government CX and EX, as well as evaluations of digital user experiences.
Previous Work Experience
Prior to joining the research team, Judy served as a principal advisor for Forrester’s Customer Experience Council, supporting CX leaders through the building, management, and ongoing improvement of their programs. Before joining Forrester, Judy was with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, where she built and executed a CX strategy that involved managing voice of the customer, experience optimization, market research, and CX employee education across the enterprise. Judy has had a varied career, including administering and performing risk management for a US Treasury Department/Defense Department smart card program at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as well as more than a decade of IT and web infrastructure management at Houghton Mifflin Company, an eBusiness incubator, and various US government institutions.
Education
Judy earned her master's degree in finance from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Penn State.

Heather Kuldell-Ware
Former Editor-in-Chief
GovExec

Heather Kuldell-Ware
Former Editor-in-Chief
GovExec


Anna Pettyjohn
EVP, Product & Strategy
GovExec
Anna Pettyjohn is the Executive Vice President of Product & Strategy at GovExec, where she leads product innovation and business development across events, custom content, and digital experiences. With a focus on enhancing audience engagement and driving growth, she oversees strategic initiatives that align with GovExec’s mission to deliver impactful content, creative and marketing programs for the public sector. Anna also plays a key role in shaping the company's vision, ensuring that GovExec's offerings remain cutting-edge in a rapidly evolving market.

Constance Sayers
President
GovExec

Constance Sayers
President
GovExec