Speakers

Dr. Giorleny (“Gio”) Altamirano Rayo has 15 years of public service experience in various contexts, including the federal government and academia. In June 2023, she joined the Department of State Office of Management Strategy and Solutions Center for Analytics where she serves as the Department’s Chief Data Scientist and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Official.

Prior to joining the State Department, she spent 5 years at the Department of Labor as well as time as an applied researcher in U.S. academia and a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nicaragua. Most recently, Dr. Altamirano Rayo spent two and a half years as the Senior Mathematical Statistician at the Chief Evaluation Office within the Department of Labor, where she worked to democratize reliable and safe statistical and AI/Machine Learning methods and led the behavioral economics and human-centered design/CX portfolio to benefit DOL’s 16 sub-agencies and regional offices.

Dr. Altamirano Rayo earned a JD from the American University (Nicaragua), an LLM from Vanderbilt with a Fulbright Scholarship, a PhD in Political Science from the University of Texas-Austin, and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from Carnegie Mellon University. She is a Level 2 certified acquisition professional in program management and is certified in privacy by the Federal Privacy Council (FPC). She is also a former National Science Foundation Scholar. Gio is bilingual in English and Spanish and is fluent in Brazilian Portuguese.

Taka Ariga is GAO’s first Chief Data Scientist and Director of the Innovation Lab. As an integral part of the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics team, he will help GAO develop and implement advanced analytical capabilities for its auditing practices. Prior to joining GAO, he held executive positions at Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked with audit, compliance, legal, and regulated entities.

Taka earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is natively fluent in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. In his spare time, Taka is a serious amateur classical chamber musician (performing on cello throughout the Washington DC region), as well as a competitive tennis player.

Jennifer R. Franks directs the Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity within GAO’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity team. She oversees reviews that primarily focus on emerging cybersecurity issues and assessing an agency’s ability to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its sensitive data and computing infrastructure. Her multi-disciplinary teams actively review agencies’ computer security vulnerabilities across their enterprise-wide computing environment by assessing program management compliance and technical controls recommended for the agencies to follow in accordance with federal guidance and leading practices. In addition, Ms. Franks leads reviews in the areas of IT management and operations, financial management, data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, she is a certified facilitator of agency new hire and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) courses. Ms. Franks earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in information security policy and management, and a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University in computer information systems

Tom Goldstein is a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, where he leads the university’s Center for Machine Learning. His research focuses on large-scale optimization and distributed algorithms for big data. Some of his recent work has been featured in major media outlets, including a story in The New York Times on digital watermarks to detect the use of ChatGPT.

Aaron Konopasky is a Senior Attorney Advisor in the Title VII Policy Division at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where he has assisted the Commission in interpreting and applying federal employment discrimination laws for over 14 years.  Konopasky has participated in the development of regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  He has also authored numerous policy documents and other Commission publications.  Prior to joining the Commission Dr. Konopasky earned a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a Ph.D from Princeton University.   

Chris Meserole is the Director of the Brookings Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative and a Fellow in the Brookings Foreign Policy program.

Meserole is an expert on artificial intelligence, emerging technology, and global governance. His current research is focused on how democratic societies can harness the benefits of AI while responsibly managing its risks to security and privacy—and how to counter its misuse by authoritarian regimes. To that end, Meserole has published widely on global technology policy and regularly advises government, industry, and civil society on how to ensure the responsible development and deployment of AI and other advanced technologies.

Meserole’s work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, New Yorker, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Wired, and other publications

Prior to becoming the DDD of CISE/CNS, Dr. Shirazi was a Program Director in the Division of Computer and Network Systems.  He also served on the faculty at Washington State University, and this included service as the Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  In that role, he developed a comprehensive strategic plan to increase the organization’s research productivity, enhance its educational service, and grow the faculty and students -- resulting in robust, quantifiable improvements across-the-board. Prior to joining Washington State, he was on the faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington, and this included service as the Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.  During his time at NSF, he has been the lead within CISE for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) program, and in that role, he supported the reformulation of the program to enhance the cohesion of each Center.  Dr. Shirazi has also served as the Acting Deputy Division Director for CNS.  He is an accomplished researcher, and his areas of expertise include sustainable computing, pervasive computing, distributed systems, parallel processing, and computer architecture.  His work has been supported by NSF, NASA, DARPA, the Department of Justice, and other organizations.  He has published extensively in well-regarded journals and conference proceedings.

Dr. Behrooz Shirazi received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.

Elham Tabassi is the Chief of Staff in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).  ITL, one of six research Laboratories within NIST, supports NIST’s mission, to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. ITL conducts fundamental and applied research in computer science and engineering, mathematics, and statistics that cultivates trust in information technology and metrology by developing and disseminating standards, measurements, and testing for interoperability, security, usability, and reliability of information systems.  

As a scientist she has been working on various computer vision research projects with applications in biometrics evaluation and standards since 1999.  She is the principal architect of NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) which is now an international standard for measuring fingerprint image quality and has been deployed in many large scale biometric applications worldwide.  She received the Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2003, the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal in 2007, and 2010, ANSI’s 2012 Next Generation Award, and the Women in Biometrics Award in 2016 for her contributions to biometrics. She is a member of OSAC Friction Ridge subcommittee and co-chairs FIDO Biometrics Certification working group.

Dr. David Caswell is a managing director in Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory working within the Cyber portfolio across Defense, Security, and Justice (DS&J) accounts. Dr. Caswell has over 20 years of experience as a technologist specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. He focuses on leveraging AI and analytics to enable cybersecurity for the Defense, Security, and Justice sector. His PhD research from Stanford University’s management science and engineering program developed AI technique applications for national policy decisions

Cameron Chehreh is Vice President, Sales and Marketing Group & General Manager of the Public Sector team.  In the GM role, Cameron will lead our go-to-market efforts across our US Public Sector business.  This includes US Federal civilian agencies, the Department of Defense & Intelligence community, defense contractors, and additional customers and partners.  Cameron will also lead our SLG and newly formed Defense and Intelligence Base sales team within our US Public Sector organization. 

Cameron is an industry veteran who humbly started his 25-year career implementing technology in a variety of companies ranging from start-ups to fortune 10 organizations.  He has held a variety of senior leadership roles within these organizations with an ethos of “mission first” which drives the success of the teams he has led.  He views leadership as a privilege and sees himself as a servant leader focused on people and the success of the team.  Cameron’s experience spans every facet of the industry from helping build the world’s first cloud computing company, USinternetworking in Annapolis, Maryland.  He has also previously held roles with General Dynamics IT. 

Cameron is a public speaker on information technology topics, including digital transformation, cloud computing, cyber security, service-oriented architecture, data center consolidation and optimization, and business topics covering strategic outsourcing, IT to business alignment, government markets, business strategy and operations, and organizational change. 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Audio Engineering and Mass Communications from Middle Tennessee State University.  A former professional musician and trained audio engineer, Cameron loves music and spending time with his family.  He lives outside of Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Christine and daughters Camryn and Chelsea.  

As Director of the Solution Engineering team, James helps lead a dedicated group of Oracle engineers as they help guide government and education organizations toward successful implementations.

Team members are experts in key domains including enterprise data management, business analytics, hybrid cloud strategy and cyber security. James has been with Oracle since 1997 working in a variety of individual and leadership roles, primarily in Government and Education. He hold a Masters degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Information and Telecommunications Systems and JD from Concord Law School. Key areas of interest include: Data Governance, Data Privacy, Ethical uses of AI and Machine Learning, and practical approaches to multicloud data sharing.

Kathleen is a leader focused on large scale responsible technology transformation for our client’s most critical and sensitive mission areas. She is leading the development and expansion of Maximus’ AI and Advanced Analytics portfolio within Federal Technology Consulting Services. An expert in AI, data science, strategy, and change management, Kathleen has more
than 20 years of experience working with clients across the Federal Government.

She focuses on the convergence of mission and AI with a special emphasis on the human elements of adoption. This includes working with organizations on responsibly thinking about data as an asset, the evolution of the technical architecture to eliminate continual redesign, the evolution of human roles to allow more time for critical thinking and building ethical AI controls and measures into the fabric of an organization.

Prior to joining Maximus, she served as a Director at Booz Allen Hamilton leading highly technical cross-functional teams through transformation. She established and scaled Booz Allen’s AI strategy and training capabilities, that center on empowering organizations to grow their ability to harness analytics for data-driven decision making. She was a founding member of the team that developed Booz Allen’s award-winning Data Science 5K Challenge program, which focused on upskilling the firm’s data science workforce to help clients use data in new ways. Booz Allen’s artificial intelligence (AI) practice. Kathleen led the development of the firm’s AI governance and risk management procedures and operating practices as a part of the development of Booz Allen’s Responsible AI efforts.

Kathleen has an M.S. in intelligence analysis from Mercyhurst College and a B.S. in business administration from Georgetown University. She holds a Change Management Advanced Practitioner certification from Georgetown and a Psychology of Leadership graduate certificate from Cornell University.

Dr. Viveca Pavon-Harr is a Data Scientist with 10 years of experience applying data science to enable advanced capabilities, predictive capabilities, data visualization, and rapid prototyping of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Also, she has professional experience in project and program management pertaining to research and analytics related to Economics and supporting Sustainability initiatives.

Her academic formation started at the University of Texas with a B.S. in Economics and possesses master’s degrees in Business Administration, Economics, and Geospatial Information Sciences. Dr. Pavon-Harr holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas in Public Policy and Political Economy. Her researched focused on geospatial analysis of organized criminal groups in Latin America. She has publications on various aspects of Artificial Intelligence including research on geospatial analysis of deforestation in the Amazon and its impact on trade.

Kevin Tupper has over 20 years of experience in technology, spanning various sectors including startups, corporate businesses, and federal agencies. His focus is on making technology usable and effective for organizations, a principle he applies in his current role as Microsoft's Federal GenAI Evangelist. In this capacity, Kevin educates federal agencies on the practical applications of Generative AI and supports them in implementing this technology.

 Prior to this, Kevin led a team of Cloud Solution Architects at Microsoft, focusing on providing federal customers with secure and efficient cloud solutions. He also worked directly with several strategic U.S. Federal agencies helping them leverage data and AI for optimal results.

Kevin holds a record of bringing value in his previous roles as well, including serving as Chief Technology Officer for multiple companies. Whether it's enabling millions of golfers to reserve tee times online or creating data warehouses capable of handling billions of responses, Kevin's expertise has proven beneficial across diverse applications.

Kevin's talks are known for their straightforward approach, providing audiences with actionable insights on complex topics, all without the fluff.