GAIN 2026

Rachel Del Vecchio is the Marketing Programs Lead at Rise8, where she runs brand events, ABM, and lead generation. As Rise8's second marketing hire, she's spent three years wearing nearly every hat in marketing and helping build the function from scratch. She came to government tech from advertising and B2B SaaS, and she has no plans to leave. Her work centers on turning Rise8's outcomes-first positioning into programs that build pipeline and community.

Martha is a customer experience (CX) evangelist who believes that using the principles and practices in CX can transform the way that the government delivers services to its customers, including employees, external customers, other agencies and suppliers. To continue driving improvements to government customer experience, Martha founded Dorris Consulting International (DCI) to support federal agencies and private sector companies in supporting agencies' service delivery. Martha currently hosts “The CX Tipping Point Podcast” and releases a monthly Citizen Services Newsletter to share the successes in the US and around the world.

Martha founded the Service to the Citizen Awards Program to recognize Champions of Change in government and industry that change the lives of Americans. In six years, the STTC Awards Program has recognized over 700 govt and industry champions of change that have significantly improved citizen services.

As a CX professional, Martha supports companies applying CX principles and practices to the way they serve their government customers. Using her 34-year government career and customer and digital experience, she developed an understanding of the way the federal government is implementing CX and DX, its unique challenges that the government faces, and opportunities for improvements within the federal government. Using this knowledge, Martha helps companies navigate the complexities of the federal government in this space. CX is the delivery of the mission and touches all aspects of the agency's operations.

To build a customer-focused culture and train government executives on CX principles and practices, she designed a one-day CX program for government executives through OPM's FEI. In addition, she co-designed a CX leadership program through the University of Virginia|Northern Virginia's Customer Experience Leadership Institute. Martha speaks and presents on CX in the government on a regular basis.

Martha supports the US Cyber Challenge, a program supported by the Center for Internet Security to create cybersecurity leaders and reduce the shortage in the cyber workforce.

Prior to retiring, Martha spent almost 34 years at the General Services Administration where she gained experience in acquisition, technical and program management, digital government and customer or citizen experience.  Martha led the Office of Citizen Services for over 12 years where she oversaw the delivery of information and services to the public and the creation of shared products and services provided to other agencies to support their efforts to improve the service and experience provided to their customers.    

Martha has been active in the information technology community for over 40 years. She has served as the Chair of the American Council for Technology (ACT) and numerous positions with the International Council for IT in Government Administration (ICA). Martha’s efforts have been
recognized through:

• Federal 100 awards in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2023
• Government Computer News Civilian Executive of the Year 2009
• Presidential Rank Award 2009
• ICA Distinguished Service Award
• Presidential Award for Management Excellence for USA Services
• Sammie Finalist for Citizen Services 2012
• Administrator’s Meritorious Service Award 2015
• Franke Award from ACT-IAC 2015

Lauren Franco is a recognized leader in the public sector ecosystem with over 15 years of experience driving growth across cybersecurity, SaaS, and IaaS markets. Currently serving as the Director of US Public Sector Field Marketing at Nutanix, Lauren leads a high-performing team dedicated to bridging the gap between innovative technology and the public sector mission.

A builder at heart, Lauren is known for her ability to architect federal marketing programs from the ground up and scale them for maximum impact. Her strategic insights are captured in the 2021 book, The ScaleUp Guide to Federal Government Marketing (published by Insight Partners), which she co-authored to help tech companies navigate the complexities of the federal landscape. Lauren holds a Graduate Certificate from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a B.S. in Management from Florida Atlantic University.

Samantha Hermes is a Marketing Director at Carahsoft Technology Corp. with more than 14 years of experience developing strategic marketing programs for leading technology providers serving the public sector. She oversees marketing initiatives across multiple business units and solution portfolios, including customer experience & engagement.

In her role, Samantha partners with technology vendors to create integrated marketing strategies that drive brand awareness, demand generation, and customer engagement across federal, state, local government, and education markets. She has led numerous high-profile initiatives, including large-scale industry summits, multi-vendor campaigns, and innovative marketing partnerships with public sector media organizations.

Beyond her external marketing leadership, Samantha has helped drive organizational growth at Carahsoft by establishing the company's Continuing Professional Education (CPE) program and leading professional development initiatives for its 350+ member marketing team.

Samantha was recognized on the CRN Women of the Channel List in both 2025 and 2026. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from James Madison University, with a concentration in Organizational Communication and a minor in Environmental Studies.

Geoff Livingston helps organizations cut through AI hype and build systems that actually work. As founder of Generative Buzz, he has guided Fortune 500 marketing departments, major trade associations, and government agencies through AI transformation, from strategy and workforce development to measurable adoption. His clients typically see 10 or more hours of weekly productivity gains within 30 days.

Geoff brings 30 years of technology, marketing, and crisis communications experience to this work, with clients including AT&T, Google, PayPal, Ford, and Verizon. He holds a master's degree from Georgetown University and is the author of Now Is Gone: Think Liquid to Navigate Neverending Change and three social media books.

He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his family of humans and fur babies, where he writes The Buzz on Substack, takes pics, runs trails, and practices Buddhism (not in that order).

Josh Martin is the Chief Marketing Officer of Gauntlet AI, and he's done the CMO-CSO-CMO tour — which shapes how he works. He markets to three audiences at once: engineers (B2C), hiring partners and enterprise programs (B2B), and government (B2G), holding one narrative across very different buyers. He has been part of three successful exits with increasing responsibility, with a background spanning strategy, research, product marketing, analyst relations, demand generation, positioning, and a lot of AI experimentation. His approach: see through the fog, find the signal, and turn messy ideas into things people can rally around — sometimes a category, sometimes a system, sometimes a campaign, sometimes an event. At Gauntlet he runs marketing like an engineering discipline: building systems, testing relentlessly, and shipping his own internal tools despite not being an engineer. Not a thought leader. Just a leader with thoughts.