Speakers

Prior to coming to GPO, Halpern held a succession of leadership positions during his 30 years on Capitol Hill. He served as the Director of Floor Operations for the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that role, Halpern was the highest-ranking floor staffer in the House and served as Speaker Paul Ryan’s Chief Advisor on all procedural matters. He managed the daily floor operations of the House, served as the liaison to all leadership offices, and oversaw legislative interactions between The White House, House and Senate. In 2018, he received the John W. McCormack Award of Excellence, the highest award given to a staff member in the House. The award recognizes a lifetime of bipartisan service to the House.

In addition to his position in the Speaker’s Office, Halpern has more than a decade of experience serving on the senior leadership staff. He has a proven track record of successfully leading teams to achieve results.

During his career, he served half a dozen different committees in both policy development and procedural roles. During his 11 years on the House Committee on Rules, Halpern served as Staff Director leading the management and terms of debate on the House floor. In 2001, he was named General Counsel by Chairman Mike Oxley for the newly established House Committee on Financial Services. During his tenure, the committee provided legislation addressing terrorist financing and money laundering, improving investor confidence in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals and granting consumers important new tools to fight identity theft. During the 1990s, Halpern served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he handled a variety of legislative issues, including automobile safety, insurance, FTC consumer protection and tobacco regulation. Halpern began his career in Congress as an intern for Rep. E.G. “Bud” Shuster in 1987.

Halpern served a number of temporary positions during his time on Capitol Hill. He was the Parliamentarian to the First Select Committee on Homeland Security, which created the Department of Homeland Security, General Counsel to the Select Committee to investigate the voting irregularities of August 2, 2007, and Assistant Parliamentarian to the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Republican National Conventions.

A native of Hollidaysburg, PA, Halpern received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Political Science from American University in 1991 and 1992, respectively. He also received a law degree from George Mason University in 1997. Halpern has been included in Roll Call’s list of 50 most powerful Congressional staffers 14 times and featured in a National Journal profile as one of “The New Power Players” on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Lacy is a Senior Foreign Service Security Engineering Officer with the Diplomatic Security Service currently serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Assistant Director for Cyber and Technology Security. He assumed this position in April 2021. The Directorate is a crucial part of the Department of State’s law enforcement and security strategy that brings together cybersecurity, technology security, and investigative expertise to support the conduct of U.S. Foreign Policy.

Prior to this appointment, he served as Director of the Countermeasures Program Division in the Office of Security Technology, where he managed the domestic and overseas technical countermeasures program and served as the Department’s point of contact for technical countermeasures operations within the United States Intelligence Community.

Mr. Lacy served as Regional Director for Security Engineering for Near Eastern Affairs (Middle East and North Africa) from 2016 to 2019. He served as the Branch Chief of Security Engineering Services (2012-2015) where he oversaw the technical security advance operations for the traveling Secretaries of State. He was posted overseas as Officer-in-Charge of ESC Baghdad, Iraq (2015-2016), ESO Bogota, Colombia (2010-2012), and ESO Brussels, Belgium (2007-2010). He also opened both the ESOs in Brasilia, Brazil (2002-2005) and Lagos, Nigeria (2000-2002).
Mr. Lacy is the individual recipient of four of the Department’s Superior Honor Awards including one for Security Engineering Officer of the Year.

Through varied tours, Mr. Lacy always sought to support the wonderful people of the Department. In 2015 he was one of the first members of the DS Diversity Group which later became the DS Council for Diversity and Inclusion. He was also chair of the American Embassy Baghdad Employee Association, the largest in the service and a critical part of the morale and well-being of the personnel at the world’s largest embassy.

Mr. Lacy is a proud native of Washington, DC. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Linus Barloon II is an experienced Executive in cybersecurity and Information Systems who brings more than 20 years of proven results in relevant Cyber assurance, remotely deployed information security, and secure communications infrastructure initiatives across the military and civilian landscape. Linus recently served the Office of the Sergeant Arms for the US Senate as the Chief Information Security Officer to provide proactive, predictive and adaptive Cybersecurity services for the 100 Senators and the 43 Committees.  Prior to the US Senate, he was the CISO for the White House Military Office to support the Executive Office of the President.  He has built a career in cybersecurity developing cybersecurity methodologies to promote resiliency of enterprise networks to deny, degrade and disrupt the adversary’s ability to compromise military and federal government networks.

Linus joined CDW in July 2023 as our Global Head of Threat Response and he is highly regarded for his subject matter expertise in applying real-world cybersecurity solutions to protect the data and solutions we manage for CDW customers, coworkers, and partners globally

John Griffin, vice president of federal channels and system integrators for Dell Technologies, is an accomplished sales executive with experience leading teams across public sector and commercial markets. John is currently responsible for the federal go-to-market plan for the channel partner ecosystem. 

Prior to this role, John was vice president of the data center storage sales team where he created a transformational organization focused on pivoting the business to deliver storage solutions. He started his sales career as an account executive at EMC, and he achieved various sales leadership positions including district manager, area manager, and vice president. 

John serves on board of the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at WestPoint with B.S. in Engineering. He served in the U.S. Army as a Field Artillery Officer. He is a husband, father of four, and business mentor who lives in the Boston area.
 

JP Marcelino is the Federal Alliances Manager for AI/ML and Digital Twin for Dell’s Federal Strategic Programs. He is responsible for leading Dell’s Federal strategy within emerging technology around AI, Machine Learning, and Digital Twin and is an evangelist for the “art of the possible” around AI/ML. A proud alum of Cooper Union and Manhattan College, JP started his career as a Hardware Engineer for L3Harris and previously was a Regional Sales Manager for Future Electronics, driving AI/ML strategy and enablement for their embedded IoT business around processors, FPGAs and Single Board PCs.
 

Ryan Simpson is a Senior Solutions Architect at NVIDIA, where he supports various Federal agencies in leveraging AI and data analytics. Before joining NVIDIA, Ryan served as an AI architect at USPS. There, he contributed to several enterprise-scale AI initiatives, including Information Retrieval, OCR, image search, and data labeling systems. In addition to his hands-on work, he spearheaded a computer vision research lab with over 13 patent applications. With nearly two decades of experience as a government employee, Ryan is intimately familiar with the challenges of building and deploying AI in line with government constraints, policies, and regulations.
 

Chris “CT” Thomas, a dynamic Technical Director renowned for his expertise in cutting-edge technologies such as AI/ML, 5G Communications, Cyber Security (Zero-Trust), IoT, Cloud, and Digital Transformation initiatives. With an impressive 23-year tenure in the IT industry, including 11 years dedicated to shaping large enterprise architectures, “CT” consistently garners acclaim for his visionary leadership and innovative approaches in driving transformative IT programs that yield substantial business breakthroughs.

“CT” specializes in empowering organizations to leverage modular-based open systems engineering methodologies, propelling them towards tangible business and mission successes. His passion lies in bridging the gap between technology and business objectives, fueling enterprises to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Beyond his professional achievements, Chris is an esteemed Active-Duty Navy Veteran, embodying the values of service and dedication. He is an active member of IEEE, with affiliations in prestigious societies such as the Communications Society, Technology & Engineering Management Society, and Systems Council, further enriching his contributions to the tech community.

Engage with “CT” in person or via LinkedIn, where his insights and expertise promise to inspire and enlighten audiences on the forefront of technological innovation.
 

Heather Kuldell-Ware is a freelance editor and writer who has covered government technology and cybersecurity for the last 15 years. Her work has appeared in Nextgov, C4ISRNET, Federal Times, GCN and other government-focused publications. When she’s not thinking about cloud computing or AI advancements, she is playing with consumer gadgets for Popular Science and AP Buyline.