Taka is the first Chief Data Scientist and the Director of Innovation Lab appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States for the Government Accountability Office to help GAO adapt to the consequences of web 3.0 technologies and beyond. The mission of the Innovation Lab is to better understand inner workings of machine learning techniques, cloud services, zero trust controls, blockchains, extended reality, and other integrated cyber-physical capabilities. Taka is leading the exploration and experimentation of emerging technologies as a necessary and critical foresight function.

Taka is a current member of the federal Senior Executive Services and has over 23 years of consistent track record on delivering technology innovations sustainably and at scale by combining data science with with IT competencies. He is passionate about fostering a data centricity mindset as a catalyst to address complex policy, regulatory, risk, operational, and business intelligence challenges.

Taka is natively fluent in both Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. In his spare time, he is also a serious classical chamber musician and a competitive tennis player.

Ryan Simpson is the Chief Technologist for the Public Sector at NVIDIA, where he leads strategic initiatives to innovate and implement AI and data analytics across Federal agencies through the NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN). With a robust background in AI architecture, Ryan previously served at the USPS, where he played a pivotal role in developing and deploying enterprise-scale AI solutions, including Information Retrieval, OCR, image search, and data labeling systems. His work resulted in significant advancements in data processing capabilities, earning him 8 patents in AI and image processing. In his nearly two decades as a government employee, Ryan has gained deep insights into the challenges and intricacies of aligning AI technologies with government constraints, policies, and regulations. His passion for bridging technology and public service drives his commitment to transformative government solutions.

Kurt Steege is the Chief Technology Officer at Thundercat Technology, is a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business that delivers technology services and solutions to the Public and Private Sectors.  At Thundercat he is responsible for leading initiatives around Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing as well as DevSecOps.   Kurt is also responsible for driving technology value for our clients through research and product selection on leading-edge and emerging technologies, participate in discussions with our clients and the public, and support our teams in tailoring solutions to our clients’ needs in support of their respective missions.

Prior to joining Thundercat, Kurt was the Chief Information Officer of MacAndrews and Forbes Inc., a diverse global holding company, based in New York City.  During his time there he led a complete IT transformation and brought the company a modern standardized infrastructure upon which the business can depend.  In the government space, Kurt served as the Chief Enterprise Architect at the FBI.   Under Kurt’s leadership at the FBI the EAPO created roadmaps for IT Transformation, strategic direction for Shared Services, Mobility, Storage, and User Experience.  Over the rest of his 30+ year career in Information Technology, Kurt has held roles within private industries for technology, financials, and education to help drive value and efficiency into small, medium and large organizations.

Chris Thomas is a leading Technology Strategist and Systems Architect focused on Communications, Cyber Security, IoT, Cloud, and Digital Transformation programs. Having over 15 years of experience in the IT industry, with 7 years focused on large enterprise networks, he has been consistently recognized for his leadership and innovation in IT transformation programs that deliver breakthrough enterprise business results. Before joining Dell Technologies, “CT” spent nearly a decade as a results-driven Information & Communications technologist with extensive experience in the engineering, design, and support of creating information & communication systems for Ruckus/CommScope. In his current capacity, he serves as a trusted advisor to a multitude of clients throughout the globe. His specialty is in helping organizations utilize and implement modular-based open systems engineering to drive tangible business and mission outcomes. Active IEEE member as well as a member of the IEEE Communications Society, Technology & Engineering Management Society, and Systems Council.