Speakers

Mark Canter is the Chief Information Security Officer at GAO. In his capacity, he oversees the compliance, governance, and security operations. Previously he severed as Assistant Director in the Information Technology and Cybersecurity (ITC) team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). His portfolio at GAO includes a diverse list of engagements on such topics of financial and information systems internal control auditing, cybersecurity, emerging technologies such as blockchains, AI, and safeguarding/privacy of information. In addition, he has authored several compliance tools and published several common vulnerabilities and exploits.
 

Mangala Kuppa is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She is a go-getter with a unique skill set that includes in-depth technical expertise, experience with industry best practices, and exceptional leadership and management skills. As Chief Technology Officer within the Department of Labor’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, she serves as a key advisor to the Chief Information Officer and Deputy Chief Information Officers on the development of short and long-range IT plans for all elements of the enterprise-wide technology environment. This includes providing technology leadership, advice, and guidance throughout the department in planning for implementation of all new or upgraded IT services in a managed architecture program. Mangala also serves as Chief AI Officer and the Director of Technology, Innovation and Engineering, making her responsible for overseeing the development and operations of the department’s Enterprise Data Platform and AI and Machine Language strategies and policies. Mangala previously served as the Department of Labor’s Director of Business Applications Services, where she oversaw the operation, maintenance, and modernization of the department’s mission and business-focused systems. 
 

Army Col. Richard Leach is the director of Defense Information Systems Agency’s J-2 Intelligence and Security Directorate.

He is responsible for coordination, collaboration, and integration of intelligence across the combatant commands and intelligence community to enhance DISA’s information needs. This effort will leverage intelligence community capabilities to improve decision making across DISA’s operational lines of effort and strategic campaign planning.

The Intelligence and Security Directorate will help DISA employees support the warfighter by maintaining security measures related to personnel clearances and contracts. The directorate will also ensure sensitive and classified information is not accessed by foreign entities. As an Army reservist, Leach held a variety of roles in the military, government, and industry before joining DISA. Before being activated, Leach was a division chief under the Risk Management Directorate, and chair of the DoD Security and Cybersecurity Authorization Working Group.

During his last military assignment, Leach was the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency headquarters, U.S. Army Reserve detachment officer in charge, where he supported disaster emergency response communications. From 2018 to 2020, he served at U.S. Cyber Command as the J-2 for Joint Task Force-Ares, supporting cyber operations against global violent extremist organizations.

In addition to his intelligence background, Leach also holds a secondary area of concentration as a 26B, information systems engineer. He served as the chief systems engineer for the 335th Theater Signal Command in Kuwait in 2017. Other operational assignments include the National Ground Intelligence Center, and tactical assignments within Afghanistan and Iraq.

Leach commissioned through ROTC in 1996. He earned a bachelor’s degree in justice, cum laude, from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and is working on a master’s degree from the College of Information and Cyberspace at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.

He holds certifications as CISSP, CASP, SEC+, AWS foundations, and ITIL 4. His military awards include two Bronze Stars, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, a Joint Service Commendation Medal and other service and campaign medals.

Mr. Alvin "Tony" Plater was named the Department of the Navy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in February 2021. He reports directly to the DON CIO on the sufficiency, impacts, and implications of proposed changes to cybersecurity guidance, standards, and strategies. He advises the DON CIO on the Defend Strategic / Enterprise level IT security initiatives, commercial cloud security, and cybersecurity innovation to achieve the organization’s vision. He supports coalition building to speed implementation of innovative solutions to address department requirements. He leads a team responsible for driving initiatives to secure DON data and information, regardless of where it resides. These initiatives involve measuring cyber risk, active monitoring, building a cyber-sentry culture, securing the Defense Industry Base, and supporting acquisition.

Mario is a seasoned product management and operations executive with over 25 years of experience building and refining product offerings in general analytics, applied analytics, cloud and SaaS, and cybersecurity. 

Mario spent the early years of his career in the Business Intelligence and Analytics space, leading several teams including platform and OEM strategy for Cognos before, during, and after the IBM acquisition in 2008.

In 2013, Mario joined Series A startup Interset to help lead its pivot into cybersecurity, which pioneered a best-of-breed analytic approach to optimize for insider and advanced threat detection. With important partners such as In-Q-Tel, Interset had a successful outcome, culminating with the acquisition by Micro Focus in 2019. 

Mario currently leads Enterprise Cybersecurity Engineering and Product Management at OpenText, which includes application security, identity and access management, data security, forensics, as well as threat detection capabilities.

Startup-minded, Mario continuously seeks to make balanced, unbiased decisions by seeking the most accurate information and context from the best experts.
 

Public sector veteran Kevin Davis joined OpenText in August 2023 as President of US public sector. Mr. Davis is responsible for further expanding strategic partnerships and growth of the company’s customer base within the US public sector.

Prior to OpenText, Mr. Davis was head of several public sector organizations including Cohesity, Databricks, Splunk and Oracle. In total he has more than 25 years of sales and management experience focused on the mission of public sector.

Mr. Davis received his B.S. from Boston College.

Nikhil Enmudi is a seasoned technology leader with over 11 years of diverse experience in cloud architecture and software development. Currently serving as a Sr. Solutions Architect at AWS, he has established himself as a thought leader in Modernization for Enterprises and Serverless Technology. He has published numerous technical artifacts and spoken at major AWS conferences such as AWS re:Invent and summits.

Mr. Mohammad Huq is a Data Security Architect & Cyber Risk Management practitioner. Currently employed with OpenText as a Solutions Consultant for all things Data Privacy & Protection. He is an industry leader with extensive knowledge and experienced in implementing security solutions in the enterprise and government arena. Mohammad's previous employers include IBM, HP & Red Hat.

Mike Kremer is the Director of Solutions Consulting for OpenText’s US Public Sector business unit.  His team supports customers in the Federal Government, DoD, Intelligence Community, Federal Systems Integrators, State & Local government agencies and Education entities ranging from K-12 to Higher Ed.  He has worked closely with his fellow OpenText teammates in developing our FedRAMP offering and go to market strategy.

A career IT professional, Mike has an extensive background in process automation and integration technologies working with commercial and government customers.  Since joining OpenText in 2011, he has expanded his knowledge to incorporate content and records management as well as improved user experiences into customer solutions.

Keith Nelson is Industry Senior Strategist for Global Public Sector at OpenText. Mr. Nelson has spent more than 20 years working in the fields of public sector consulting and high-tech marketing and as a government appointee. His roles in government include serving as Assistant Secretary for Administration (a position requiring Senate confirmation), Acting Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Acting Chief Financial Officer, and Deputy Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Labor and Housing and Urban Development.

Rita lives at the intersection of business and technology and is passionate about leveraging analytics and AI to transform industries. Rita has over 25+ years of experience in Product Marketing and Product Management incubating businesses, creating markets and launching new technologies and products. Rita is currently the SVP, Product Marketing at OpenText where she leads a team focused on driving growth and innovation through the power of strategic product marketing.   Prior to OpenText, Rita was the VP, Product Marketing and interim CMO at MuleSoft, a Salesforce company.  She led a team focused on extending MuleSoft’s integration platform into industries by creating solutions and GTM strategies to help companies unlock data to deliver innovative solutions.  Prior to MuleSoft, Rita was the Vice President of Global Marketing (CMO) at GE Healthcare leading marketing for their analytics and AI division that launched the first FDA approved AI enabled medical devices.  Before GE, Rita was with IBM Watson as one of the founding members of the Watson ecosystem, where she architected and executed a brand new ecosystem and partner organization to spur innovation and fuel a new generation of applications infused with IBM Watson's artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Rita has a BS in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Illinois and an MBA from DePaul University in International Business.  As an advocate of working mothers, women in tech, and creating a work/life balance, Rita is always hungry to expand her mind and empower others to do the same. 

With over 40 years of experience in the technology industry, Tony Michael has built an extensive career spanning major solution providers in information management, enterprise software, and digital transformation. He has held key roles at industry leaders such as Sybase as a System Engineer, EMC as a Sales Engineer, and currently serves as a Senior Principal Solutions Consultant at OpenText.

Throughout his career, Tony has taken on diverse responsibilities, including Trainer, Developer, Solution Architect, and Pre-Sales Solution Consultant. For 13 years, he was a Global Lead for Global System Integrators (GSI) at EMC/Dell, where he played a pivotal role in enablement, escalation resolution, and consultative selling, emphasizing business value and thought leadership in technology strategy, mobility, and cloud solutions.

His expertise extends to collaboration with major consulting firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini, CGI, PwC, CSC, Tata Consulting, Infosys, and HCL. Currently, at OpenText, he supports the U.S. Public Sector, working with Federal agencies including the Army, Navy, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), NASA, and the Intelligence Community among others.

For the past nine years, Tony has specialized in OpenText/SAP solutions, contributing to the evolution of enterprise procurement and digital information strategies. Most recently, he has been actively engaged with product management teams from both SAP and OpenText, shaping the latest Procurement for Public Sector offerings. His wealth of experience, strategic insight, and ability to drive digital transformation make him a trusted advisor in the enterprise information management space.

John Radko, Senior Vice President of Engineering for OpenText, leads a talented team of over 3000 engine engineering, quality assurance, and product management professionals globally responsible for OpenText’s products and services for enterprises, including Enterprise Content Management, Business Network, Digital Experience, Analytics, Security, LegalTech and Process Management.

Prior to his current role, John served as Vice President of the OpenText Business Network, the largest global B2B Managed Services provider, Messaging provider, and Fax network. John led Business Network during the transformation of the B2B managed services business to the multi-tenant cloud platform, the OpenText Trading Grid.  

John has been a contributor to the advent and advancement of 'software-as-a-service' in B2B integration. He has advised dozens of companies on how best to deploy and leverage hosted supply chain automation solutions and how to achieve true B2B integration on a global scale.
 

James provides leadership as well as subject matter expertise to OpenText customers in the areas of AI\ML and Enterprise Information Management. He is an award-wining Systems Engineer and ardent technologist known for creating and delivering complex innovative solutions. James frequently speaks to audiences around the world on AI\ML and many other topics. James is a developer and has been developing software and AI\ML solutions for over 30 years serving industry and government. James holds over 20 top industry certifications over many different disciplines. James currently leads a very talented team of Solution Consultants who take great satisfaction in providing solutions to today’s challenges in government turning them into tomorrow’s opportunities. He is passionate about not only serving the US Public Sector but also community as he has created programs to serve the homeless & needy and does mission trips yearly around the world.

Driving customer success is the central activity and the underlying purpose to the roles that Simon has held at OpenText. He is happiest when aligning OpenText capabilities to the customer’s underlying strategic vision and mission while delivering impactful projects.

Simon has over 30 years of experience in information management having been a customer (Bechtel) then worked for Documentum in their Professional Services organization.  Simon came to OpenText as part of the OpenText acquisition of the Documentum ECD business. He joined the USPS SLED sales team in August 2021 and progressively worked his way through the organization until assuming his current leadership position.  Simon lives in Hagerstown, Maryland and when he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with friends and family, restoring classic arcade machines, and is an accomplished chef.