Speakers

In May 2021, Jaclyn Padilla accepted the leadership role as Deputy Director, Human Resources with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state’s largest agency. Jaclyn’s passion for modernization and changing “this is how we have always done it” mindset is in motion with technology projects already underway.  From February 2016 to April 2021, Jaclyn held the Deputy Director of Human Resources position with Covered California, the nation’s first state to enact legislation creating a health benefit exchange under federal health care reform.  As part of the executive team Jaclyn successfully led the human resources branch, with a focus on creativity and technology innovation by successfully being the first California state agency to implement Workday’s Human Capital Management solution.  Additionally, executing her vision to bring full cycle recruitment to the organization by establishing the Talent Acquisition and Executive Recruitment units. By leveraging industry leading technology solutions this executed vision included the successful development of recruitment strategies, diversity partnerships, developing and executing recruiting, talent acquisition and employee relations strategies that represent the organization’s culture and values. As a member of the executive team, Jaclyn contributed directly to long and short-term strategic objectives of the organization while maximizing organizational effectiveness.  She oversees the Human Resources programs and initiatives that enhance the employee experience and partners with leaders across the organization.  With over 22 years of state government experience, 13 years in human resources management roles.  From 2012-2016, Jaclyn served as the Chief of Human Resources at the Prison Industry Authority and as the Personnel Officer at the California Healthcare Facility and at the California State Prison at Sacramento with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.  Jaclyn holds an Executive leadership and Human Resources Management Certification from the University of California at Davis.

Jason Parman serves as the Deputy Associate Director for the  Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) HR Strategy and Evaluation Solutions organization.

In this role, Jason serves 115 HR consultants, personnel research psychologists, and program analysts nationwide, leading programs that help make the best human capital management ideas work in real life. His offerings include Transformation IQ, the Federal Supervisory Assessment, Leadership 4 Inclusion, the OPM Leadership 360™, the Federal Workforce Competency Initiative, and USA Performance® ­the only fully federalized, automated performance management solution on the market.

Jason has spoken in over 44 states on diverse topics like organizational design, leadership development, succession planning, employee engagement, and federal hiring flexibilities. He also starred in OPM’s blockbuster release of “What Vets Need to Know about Vet’s Preference,” which resulted in over 100,000 views (but not even one autograph request).

Jason received his Bachelors in Psychology from Missouri State University and his Masters of Business Administration in Information Technology Management from Touro University.

When not at work, Jason enjoys spending time with his most important human resources—wife Lynn and 18-year-old daughter Riley. He previously held 1/1683rd of a Guinness World Record, has released a country music album (he hopes for a gold record one day, but probably will never even make it to aluminum), and is the daily caretaker to a 10 ½ lb. poodle named Tiberius (who may be a ninja.)

Tarek Tomes serves as the Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and the State of Minnesota’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), leading state efforts to provide the best possible IT solutions and customer service to the people of Minnesota and our business partners.

As a recognized industry leader, Tomes brings over 25 years of experience in managing technology innovation across diverse industries, both in national, international, and public and private sector operations. Throughout his career, he has facilitated data-driven decision making, implemented many critical enterprise projects, and improved workforce diversity and inclusion.

Before becoming Commissioner, Tomes served as the Chief Innovation Officer and former Chief Information Officer at the City of St. Paul, where he was responsible for managing ongoing process improvements, supporting human-centered design, and increasing the overall effectiveness of city services and resources. While in St. Paul, Tomes facilitated a digital transformation at the city level, pioneering the use of mobile applications to improve resident opportunities. This work allowed the city to leverage deep data insights while promoting and supporting equitable service delivery. During his time as St. Paul’s Chief Information Officer, Tomes oversaw the launch of St. Paul’s Open Information Portal, which serves to promote and encourage innovative uses of data and transparency in government services.

Tomes’ prior work experience also includes six years as an Assistant Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services, where he created several nation-leading Information Technology sourcing agreements for 33,000+ user utility services statewide – including the first cloud-based public sector statewide service offering in the nation. While Tomes was serving in this role, Minnesota became the first state in the country to manage all Information Technology through service level agreements, a model that was recognized with a national award. Before joining state service, Tomes spent 13 years working for British Telecom.

Tomes received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and attended Graduate School for Business Management at Boston University.

Matt Hale, Solutions Consultant at Zendesk with nearly twenty years of experience in helping organizations across both the public and private sectors to create more meaningful and impactful business solutions leveraging the ever-evolving landscape of technology. His current focus is working to drive innovation in constituent experience for the US public sector through a focus on teaching, implementing, and understanding the tools that empower agencies to engage across all touch points in the digital world of modern support.

George Jackson is the director of events at GovExec Media – the largest and most-influential media company in the public sector marketplace. George joined GovExec in October of 2020 to enhance the scale of their events and audience experiences.

He graduated from The Ohio State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in English. In 2006, he earned his master’s in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

George spent the first five years of his journalism career at WJHL-TV in Johnson City Tenn. – beginning as an overnight producer for the station’s 6 a.m. broadcast. He advanced to lead on-air reporter for WJHL’s 11 p.m. newscast.

As a reporter, George examined the earnings of two non-profit hospital systems, felony charges filed against a local sheriff, predatory paving companies, a health benefits backlog for local veterans, and a series of cold-case murder investigations. He received an honorable mention for Best TV Reporter in the 2011 Tennessee AP Broadcast awards and won a Best Investigative Reporting award from Media General in 2010.

George joined DC’s ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in 2012 to produce Capital Insider, which won him an Emmy award. One year later, he developed and recorded the pilot episode of Government Matters – a program about the business of government. It debuted as a weekly show on Sunday, August 4th of 2013. George led Government Matters through September of 2020, expanded its reach to a daily worldwide audience, and produced its first feature-length documentary “The Dawn of Generation AI.”

George is from Toledo, Ohio. He lives with his wife, twin daughters, and a pair of rescue dogs in Northern Virginia.