Speakers

The U.S. Census Bureau’s first Customer Experience Officer, Michele Bartram currently leads CX and related digital transformation strategies. Prior to joining the Census Bureau, she served in senior customer experience, digital transformation and communications roles in three other federal agencies, including recently in the Commerce Department’s BusinessUSA, winning the President’s Award for Customer Service. Prior to that she served in the Government Publishing Office (GPO) overseeing the U.S. Government Online Bookstore and related marketing. Her first government role was with the United States Mint where she launched the first digital division and ecommerce site in federal government. She started her career in IBM’s National Federal Marketing Division in Maryland as a systems engineer and technology solution consultant for federal agencies such as HHS, SBA, NCUA plus the World Bank. After that, she led major digital and marketing initiatives—including Top 30 ecommerce businesses— in the US and Europe with such major brands as: Lane Bryant, Sears, Rand McNally, Kenneth Cole, Calvin Klein, iVillage.com, Reeds Jewelers, Seagram’s, and Baskin Robbins International.  Ms. Bartram earned a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from West Virginia University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a James M. Johnston Scholar.

Erin Collins is the “voice of the taxpayer” within the IRS and before Congress. Under her leadership, the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent organization within the IRS, helps taxpayers resolve their IRS account issues, advocates on behalf of taxpayers, and works towards systemic change to mitigate taxpayer problems. She joined the Taxpayer Advocate Service in March 2020 to advocate for taxpayers, protect their rights, and work toward improving the quality of taxpayer service and tax administration.

Erin has more than 35 years of experience in tax law, spanning 15 years in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and 20 years at the accounting firm of KPMG LLP, where she retired in 2019 as the Tax Managing Director in charge of its tax controversy practice for the Western region. As a Special Trial Attorney for the IRS, she was responsible for the development and litigation of high-profile, complex tax cases. Erin was the Industry Counsel for Savings and Loans during the time of the S&L crisis. Over a six-year period, she worked very closely with the Treasury Department, the Commissioner, the Office of Chief Counsel, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Resolution Trust Corporation. In both 1995 and 1997, she received Chief Counsel’s highest award, the National Litigation Award. In 1993, she received the Western Region’s highest Litigation Award for her outstanding achievements.

At KPMG, Erin represented thousands of individuals, partnerships, small companies, and corporate taxpayers on technical and procedural tax matters. She represented clients in federal examinations and IRS appeals on domestic and international tax issues, including transfer pricing disputes, foreign tax credits, research and experimentation credit claims, net operating loss utilization calculations, restructurings, treaty interpretations, executive compensation, and application of accounting methods. She also has represented several clients before the U.S. Tax Court.

Erin was the co-author of the Practising Law Institute’s IRS Practice and Procedure Deskbook and has spoken frequently on IRS practice, procedure, controversy, and litigation matters before many professional organizations. Before joining TAS, she represented a number of clients pro bono to help them resolve issues with the IRS. She was also a volunteer and board member of a non-profit organization, Step Up, whose mission was to help girls in under-resourced communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready to join the next generation of professional women.

Lisa Dillard serves as acting deputy director of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), which is housed in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, she facilitates the work of the SNS in the overall federal emergency response infrastructure while providing strategic leadership, a focus on priorities, and high-level coordination with federal agencies, public health authorities, the U.S. healthcare system, and commercial supply chain partners to support the SNS mission of supplementing critical medical supplies in a public health emergency.

Previously, Dillard served as chief of the SNS Information and Planning Branch, where she prioritized a focus on customer service and support to federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local partners. She is a proponent of public and private partnership integration to enhance preparedness planning prior to an emergency response. As part of this focus, Dillard was integral in establishing a collaboration between the SNS and the Health Industry Distributors Association to host a series of workshops and tabletop exercises to explore the commercial supply chain’s role in public health emergency responses. In 2020, she managed the SNS’ overall COVID-19 response and served as project manager for the SNS expansion and enhancement strategy to better prepare the SNS now and in the future.

Dillard joined SNS in 2002 following a career as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, where she completed a variety of assignments throughout the United States, South Korea, and Southwest Asia. She is a 1990 graduate of North Carolina A&T State University with a degree in accounting.

Jason Lim is the Identity Management Capability Manager for Transportation Security Administration. In this role, Jason is charged to ensure the effective and efficient integration of identity-related activities and prioritization of resources through a unified strategy that enhances the enrollment, validation, vetting, authentication, and verification of populations throughout the TSA enterprise. Jason has been with TSA since July 2007. Jason Lim has an MS from Naval Postgraduate School in Security Studies, MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and MS from NYU Wagner School of Public Service. He graduated from Duke University with a BSE in Biomedical Engineering. Jason was selected as the 2007-2008 Fellow at Harvard Korea Institute, where his research focused on leadership archetypes in Asian history.

Eric Boyette was named secretary for the N.C. Department of Transportation by Governor Roy Cooper in February 2020. As transportation secretary, Boyette oversees one of the largest state-maintained highway systems in the nation, and all modes of transportation, including aviation, ferries, rail, public transit and bicycle and pedestrian transportation, as well as the Office of Civil Rights and Division of Motor Vehicles.  

He is the chairman of the N.C. Turnpike Authority Board of Directors and serves on the State Ports Authority Board of Directors and State Emergency Response Commission.  

Boyette brings more than 25 years of state government experience in various roles, with responsibilities ranging from technical to financial practices. He previously served as the secretary and state chief information officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He has also held several key roles at NCDOT, including chief information officer, inspector general and Division of Motor Vehicles commissioner.  

As secretary and state chief information officer at NCDIT, Boyette led the state department responsible for all IT procurement, state cybersecurity, operational services, broadband infrastructure, solutions division, data analytics center, the N.C. 911 Board and strategic IT planning.  

He has been recognized numerous times for serving North Carolina with distinction. In 2019, he was awarded Golden Gov: State Executive of the Year and GovTech’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers. He was also named Public Sector CIO of the Year by NC Tech (2019) and the Triangle Business Journal (2016). He received the Old North State Award in 2017, and achieved Eagle Scout rank, the Boy Scouts of America’s highest award, in 1989. 

Boyette earned a Bachelor of Science from Barton College. He is a Kenly native, where he lives with his wife Dana, son Jay and daughter Morgan, and serves on the board for the Kenly Volunteer Fire Department.  ​​

Qudsiya Naqui leads Pew’s research at the intersection of technology and civil legal system reform. In this role, she conducts and supports studies that evaluate and test new technologies in state civil courts to ensure that these interventions further efficiency, equity, and transparency in the legal process, particularly for litigants who navigate the system without a lawyer.

Before joining Pew, Naqui served as a senior program manager at Equal Justice Works, where she designed and implemented fellowship programs for recent law graduates pursuing public service careers in the areas of immigration, housing, and disaster recovery. She also administered legal services programs for unaccompanied immigrant children in the care and custody of the federal Department of Health and Human Services at the Vera Institute of Justice. Naqui began her legal career representing immigrant women and girls in immigration court proceedings and before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Naqui holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and human rights from Barnard College and a juris doctor from Temple University.

David W. Slayton serves as the Vice President of Court Consulting Services for the National Center for State Courts. In that role, he oversees the consulting work done for the nation’s state courts in such areas as court leadership and administration; facilities, security, and emergency preparedness; technology services; workload and resource allocation; access and fairness; children and family courts; problem-solving courts; language access; public trust and confidence; and judicial ethics. Prior to this role, he was appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to be the Administrative Director of Office of Court Administration and Executive Director of the Texas Judicial Council from 2012 to 2021. He has been employed by the judicial branch in various roles since 1998, including as the Director of Court Administration for Lubbock County, Texas, as Court Services Supervisor for the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, in Dallas, Texas, as a trial court coordinator for the 99th District Court and deputy district clerk in Lubbock County.  David earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Texas Tech University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Troy University.  He is a 2007 Graduate Fellow of the Institute for Court Management. David received the 2020 Mary McQueen Award Leadership Award, the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the National Center for State Courts, and the 2010 Robert O. Dawson Indigent Defense Distinguished Service Award. He has served on the board of directors of the Conference of State Court Administrators and is a past president of the National Association for Court Management.

Email: dslayton@ncsc.org

Mr. Koskinen was nominated by President Obama to be the 48th Commissioner of the IRS and was confirmed by the Senate on December 20, 2013 for a term that expired on November 12, 2017.  He is now retired.

Previously, Mr. Koskinen served as Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Freddie Mac from September, 2008 until February, 2012, except for the six months he served as interim CEO, COO and CFO during 2009. From 2004-8 he was President of the United States Soccer Foundation, the charitable arm of soccer in the U.S..  Mr. Koskinen earlier served as Deputy Mayor and City Administrator for the District of Columbia from September 2000 to September of 2003, responsible for the operation of all city departments. 

Prior to his service as Deputy Mayor, Mr. Koskinen served from 1994 to 1997 as Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget.  From 1998 to 2000, he served as Assistant to the President and Chaired the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion, coordinating the country’s transition into the new century.

Prior to his more recent service with the U.S. Government, Mr. Koskinen joined the Palmieri Company, which specialized in turnaround management, as Vice President and later served as President and CEO from 1979 to 1993. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Koskinen worked on the staff of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the "Kerner Commission"), represented New York City and Mayor John Lindsay in Washington, served as Chief of Staff for four years for Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut and clerked for Judge David L. Bazelon, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Koskinen graduated with a BA, Magna Cum Laude, in Physics, from Duke University in 1961 and an LLB, Cum Laude, from Yale Law School in 1964.. He then studied International Law for one year at Cambridge University in England.

Mr. Koskinen was a trustee of Duke University for 12 years, serving as Chairman of the Board for three years.  He also served on the Board of the AES Corporation from 2004-2013  and the Board of American Capital, Ltd. from 2007-2013. He presently serves on the Board of the National Academy of Public Administration where he is a fellow, the Yale Law School Fund Board, the Sigma Chi Foundation Board and the Board of the Virginia/DC Soccer Hall of Fame.

Mr. Koskinen and his wife, Patricia, live in Washington, DC and have two children, Jeff and Cheryl, and four grandchildren. 

Brian Chidester is the Industry Vice President for Public Sector at Genesys and the host of "The Government Huddle with Brian Chidester" podcast from GovExec. Formerly, Brian served as the Head of Worldwide Industry Strategy at OpenText. He also has held product marketing roles with Appian, Monster Worldwide, 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. 

Madison Gooch is the Director of Watson Applications and Solutions for IBM, Americas. Prior to this, she spent time in software sales, sales management, technical management, and business strategy roles for IBM.  Notably, she served as the Global sales leader for IBM Watson, and shortly thereafter became the Chief of Staff for the General Manager of IBM Watson and Technical Go-To-Market at IBM.  Madison is a passionate advocate for the business impact of IBM Watson technologies in the customer care, risk and compliance and business analytics space. She resides in Louisville, KY with her husband and new baby boy, Crew. 

Jacob is an award-winning CX-focused Digital Strategist with a proven record of creating successful web, mobile, commerce, and social experiences for top Fortune 500 companies. He is an empathetic listener and team builder, that can align customer focused product requirements across all stakeholders to create fun and innovative experiences.

Courtney Buble is a staff correspondent who covers federal management, oversight, contracting and regulations. Before joining Government Executive in July 2019, she worked for NBC News. Courtney graduated from The George Washington University in 2018.

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Alisha Powell Gillis is the senior editor at Route Fifty where she is responsible for programming live and online events content, moderating panel discussions and soliciting, editing and writing analytical pieces. Before joining Route Fifty, Alisha was the director for community impact at the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) where she worked to connect urban public libraries to critical issues in state and local government and led event programming. Prior to ULC, Alisha served the nation's governors for nearly a decade at the National Governors Association where she specialized in homeland security, emergency management and cybersecurity issues. Alisha holds a master's degree in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Hofstra University.

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Eric Katz writes about federal agency operations and management. His deep coverage of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Postal Service has earned him frequent guest spots on national radio and television news programs. Eric joined Government Executive in the summer of 2012 and previously worked for The Financial Times. He is a graduate of The George Washington University.

Frank Konkel is Nextgov’s executive editor. He writes about the intersection of government and technology. Frank began covering tech in 2013 upon moving to the Washington, D.C. area after getting his start in journalism working at local and state issues at daily newspapers in his home state of Michigan. Frank was born and raised on a dairy farm and graduated from Michigan State University.