Speakers

Alejandra Y. Castillo was sworn in as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development on August 13, 2021. She has served in leadership positions for three presidents – Biden, Obama and Clinton. Her professional career spans two decades, focusing on creating equitable and inclusive opportunities for all Americans. Prior to EDA, Castillo was the Chief Executive Officer of YWCA USA, where she championed the 163-year-old organization delivering critical social, educational, and economic development services throughout its 204 associations. 

In 2014, Castillo was appointed by President Obama to serve as the national director of the  Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), becoming the first  Hispanic woman to lead the agency. During her tenure, she led MBDA’s efforts to boost the  growth and global competitiveness of minority business enterprises (MBEs). Under her  leadership, MBDA expanded its effort to help MBEs gain access to capital, contracts, and  business opportunities, assisting MBEs in growing in size and scale. 

Castillo first joined the Department of Commerce in 2008 as a Special Advisor to the Under  Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration  (ITA). Additionally, Castillo served as a Senior Policy Analyst in the White House during the  Clinton Administration.  

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a master’s degree in public affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from American University’s Washington College of Law. 

Carlo Capua is Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor and Council in Fort Worth, Texas.

Most recently, Carlo was co-founder of Z’s Café, a social enterprise based in Fort Worth, Texas. Over the past 13 years, Z’s Café has put 137 low-income men and women back to work, helping build self-esteem and job skills to return to the workforce with dignity and respect.  In 2017, the company won Fort Worth’s “Small Business of the Year” and “Woman’-owned Business of the Year.”

As co-owner of business venture Locavore, he created an innovative venture that gave commercial kitchen access, venue space and other cost-cutting measure to local food entrepreneurs.

A 2000 business school graduate of Texas Christian University (TCU), Carlo received his BBA in Marketing.  After graduation, he spent seven years teaching English in Japan and Mexico. He has been to 19 countries, including North Korea.  

Designing grassroots programs to support entrepreneurship is Carlo’s passion.  He has worked with over 300 small business owners in the US, Japan, Mexico and Swaziland to encourage outside-the-box approaches to outreach and community engagement.

Carlo speaks fluent Japanese and Spanish and has completed 18 full marathons and an Ironman Triathlon. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth and the TCU Alumni Association, and is married to the love of his life Dr. Rachael Carranza Capua. Currently, he is pursuing his Master’s from Harvard University focusing on International Relations.

Chris Bast is the Director of EV Infrastructure Investments for the Electrification Coalition. He leads the organization’s work to manage and support federally funded charging infrastructure and EV deployment projects at the state and local levels.

Prior to joining the EC, Chris served as chief deputy director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. He provided strategic communications and policy support for the agency and worked across the Northam Administration to advance a comprehensive climate agenda. His work included transportation decarbonization, environmental justice, climate policy, and carbon markets. 

Chris received his undergraduate degree from James Madison University, where he currently serves on the Political Science Alumni Board. He received his MPA from Seattle University.

Tonantzin Carmona is a David M. Rubenstein fellow at the Brookings Institution Metro program, focused on racial equity, wealth and inequality, public finance, and civic technology. Previously, she was the chief of policy for the Chicago city clerk and director of the Office of New Americans at the Chicago mayor’s office. There, Carmona led the Chicago Fines, Fees and Access Collaborative, the municipal ID card launch, and creation of immigrant integration policies. Her recent scholarship is on the risks and drawbacks of cryptocurrencies, particularly for Black and Latinx communities seeking to access financial services or build wealth. Cited in Bloomberg Tax, Quartz, and Tech Crunch, among others, Carmona has appeared on NPR Marketplace’s “Make Me Smart” podcast and in Bloomberg and Crain’s Chicago Business. She was Illinois political director for Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign and her deputy press secretary.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Captain Brian Geranen joined the Phoenix Fire Department in 2005. He is currently assigned to the Phoenix Fire Department’s UAS Program as the Program Coordinator where he serves as lead pilot and manages the training, response, and daily communications associated with the program.

Captain Geranen is a Certified Emergency Paramedic, an FAA 107 UAS Pilot, and holds an Associates Degree in Fire Science from Phoenix College, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Management from Grand Canyon University

Bob Leek leads Clark County’s Information Technology team of nearly 200 employees, driving innovation to efficiently deliver cost-effective, robust solutions that provide faster and better ways for employees to do their jobs and for resident of Clark County to access services.

Leek has an extensive background in managing large capital projects, developing strategic plans, and implementing systems. He has more than 30 years experience in information technology in both the private and public sectors, including time with Multnomah County, Ore., Kaiser Permanente and Egghead.com. 

Under Leek’s direction, County IT services include the assessment, development, implementation, and maintenance of technology-based business solutions to support County goals and objectives. The department also maintains a current and secure enterprise technology infrastructure that is required to protect County technology assets and to position the County’s infrastructure for the future. In addition to providing day-to-day business and technical services, IT is also responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction for the technology infrastructure on which these services are based. Through a broadband initiative, the County is leading efforts to connect the “last mile” of fiber to homes and businesses in underserved areas.

Steve Lommele is on detail to the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In this role, he leads communications and stakeholder engagement, supports technical assistance and capacity building, and collaborates with internal and external partners on workforce development priorities.

He joined NREL in 2008 and is a project leader in the Center for Integrated Mobility Sciences. Previously, he led collaborative efforts with end-users of NREL and U.S. Department of Energy transportation and mobility research to deploy innovative solutions for advanced transportation projects, encompassing alternative fuels, mobility systems, electric vehicles, fleet operation, and transportation efficiency. He also worked with Clean Cities coalitions and other industry stakeholders on efforts related to the energy impacts of evolving transportation technologies, managed the Alternative Fueling Station Locator, and coordinated standards development for electric vehicle supply equipment data sharing.

Before joining NREL, he worked as an outreach and education field programs manager for the International Mountain Bicycling Association, where he traveled the country and worked with advocates and land managers in 43 states. He also spent six years working in public relations, supporting clients in the technology industry. He holds a master’s degree in environmental policy and management from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Trevor Pawl is the Chief Mobility Officer for the State of Michigan, and leads Michigan’s Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. In this position, Pawl is responsible for working across state government, academia and private industry to grow Michigan’s mobility ecosystem through strategic policy recommendations and new support services for companies focused on the future of transportation.

Prior to this position, Pawl served as the Senior Vice President of Business Innovation at the MEDC, where he led the official state programs for mobility (PlanetM), supply chain assistance (Pure Michigan Business Connect), export assistance (Michigan International Trade program) and entrepreneurial assistance (Michigan Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program).

Before joining the MEDC, Pawl brought with him experience in supply chain matchmaking, having led the creation of the economic development program, Connection Point, at the Detroit Regional Chamber, which later became Pure Michigan Business Connect.

Trevor has been named Crain’s Detroit Business’s “40 Under 40” and “50 Names to Know in Government”. He’s also been named Development Counsellors International’s “40 Under 40 Rising Stars of Economic Development” and the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council’s “Government Advocate of the Year”.

Pawl holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Marketing from Grand Valley State University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Ken is a security and finance industry veteran, formerly serving as VP and Managing Director of Data Protection and Governance at OneMain Financial. Prior to OneMain, he served as Chief Security Officer for TechDemocracy LLC, MFS Investments, and before served as CISO for Pioneer Global Asset Management SpA (Including Pioneer Investments and all operating subsidiaries in 26 countries).

Ken’s Information Technology and Security experience spans over three decades, with strategic, technical, and executive experience at companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Capital IQ, Miradiant Global Network, Avaya, and Merrill Lynch. Ken coauthored Microsoft’s “Best Practices for Enterprise Security” white papers and participated on the Information Systems Security Association’s International Privacy Advisory Board covering the initial implementation of GLBA. He reported on security risks and performed vulnerability analysis for Windows IT Pro Magazine’s “Security Administrator” publication for four years, and has been a contributing expert for Information Security, CIO and CSO Magazines, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Ponemon Institute.

Rita serves as NACo’s chief information officer. In this capacity, she oversees the internal technology operations of NACo, and leads NACo’s technology programs and initiatives for counties. She is responsible for the NACo technology blueprint, which includes managing the development and delivering of technology programming on initiatives such as cyber security, technology infrastructure and cloud computing. Rita brings with her responsibility for serving on multiple boards and workgroups over the years including the PA Digital Advisory Board, the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center, and the NASCIO Cyber Security Workgroup. Rita also serves as the staff liaison to the NACo Technology Standing Committee and the GIS Subcommittee.

Before joining NACo, Rita served as the CIO for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, where she spent 20 years mainly focused on similar initiatives for CCAP and with counties in Pennsylvania. Prior to that Rita was an independent fiscal and computer consultant where she worked with numerous children and youth agencies in Pennsylvania and designed fiscal and data reporting applications, including a statewide AFCARS solution. Rita holds a B.A. in business administration with a minor in political science from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Rita has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years, including the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania’s 2019 Moxie Award, Government Technology’s 2017 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers, and State Tech’s “30 State and Local Government IT Influencers” for 2020.

Julia Richman joined OIT in February 2020 as the Chief Strategy Officer and was appointed Deputy Executive Director in December 2020 to have oversee OIT’s business operations. Julia excels at large-scale public sector transformations, and her wide range of experience from the public and private sectors is instrumental in bringing together strategy, product management, business architecture and communications for enhanced stakeholder alignment.

Prior to joining OIT, Julia was the Chief Innovation and Technology Officer for the City of Boulder. She joined the city in 2017 as the Chief Innovation and Analytics Officer and in 2018 assumed leadership of the city’s enterprise technology function as well. Under Julia’s combined leadership, an integrated innovation and technology function was created and overall organizational capacity improved. She worked to achieve city goals through programs and initiatives, focusing on high performance government, data driven decision making, operational effectiveness and efficiency, disruptive technology, a culture of innovation, Our Community as Resource, and enterprise technology. 

Prior to working for the City of Boulder, Julia spent a decade at Deloitte Consulting leading projects that advanced service and business operations strategies for her public sector clients. She worked with more than 30 states, universities, non-profits, and the federal government on large scale, enterprise-wide transformation efforts including restructuring, cost reduction, business processes improvement, operations improvement, enterprise governance, portfolio management, innovation, and organizational design.   

Julia is a Colorado native and community leader. She is a 2018 Colorado Governors Fellow, as well as a graduate of Leadership Denver and the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training. She is a mentor for Colorado-based Greenhouse Scholars and serves as part of the boards for both the Colfax Marathon and Colorado Smart Cities Alliance. She has also served on the Groundwork Denver Board of Directors. Julia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College with a double major in Government and English modified with Art History. She earned a master’s degree in public policy analysis from Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. An avid endurance athlete in hot pursuit of, and much failure at, a sub three-hour marathon, she has a willingness to engage her husband on any number of loony back-country adventures that turn into endurance events.

Buddy Rizer serves as the Executive Director for economic development in Loudoun County, Virginia, which was named the 2021 Economic Development Organization of the Year by the International Economic Development Council. He leads the agency responsible for encouraging growth and developing relationships with Loudoun’s business community in both the commercial and agricultural-based business sectors.  During his tenure, Rizer and his team have attracted more than $35 billion in new investment and tens of thousands of new jobs.

Mr. Rizer has been named a Tech Titan six times by Washingtonian Magazine, has been named one of the 50 most influential Virginians five times by Virginia Business Magazine, and was named to the Washington Business Journal’s Power 100 as one of the most influential businesspeople in Washington, DC.

Mr. Rizer serves as the Chair of the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation Board and is the Secretary of the Go Virginia Region 7 Council.  He is on the Board of Directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council and is a founding member of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance.

Mr. Rizer is a certified economic developer and a graduate of Virginia Tech’s Local Government Management Graduate Certificate Program.

Colonel Ty Shepard was commission in 1998 from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo as an infantry officer. He was assigned to the 3-502^nd, 101^st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell where he served as an Infantry Platoon Leader, Battalion positions, and deployed to Macedonia and Kosovo. In 2005 he joined California National Guard and served at the Joint Force Headquarters and then mobilized to Iraq as an infantry Company Commander in 2007 in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

Upon redeployment, Colonel Shepard served as a staff officer in the 79^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, executive officer 1-184^th Infantry, Joint Staff current operations officer, executive officer for the Joint Staff, and Brigade S3 for the 115^th Regional Support Group.  He was selected and deployed to the U.S. Embassy Ukraine in 2017 as a C4SIR advisor.  In 2020 he trained and led a Joint Task Force headquarters element to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba and served as the Deputy Director in support of the Global War on Terrorism.  In a state active-duty capacity, Colonel Shepard has stood up and has grown numerous programs such as the veteran’s employment initiate Work for Warriors, national defense support to civilian authority C4ISR program, and currently the California Military Departments Joint Task Force Cyber Commander full time and the Mday Joint Operations/J3 director for the California National Guard.

Colonel Shepard completed his resident Intermediate level education at the United State Army Command and General Staff College and Advanced Operation Course. His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (with four Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), Ranger Tab, Combat Action Badge, Airborne badge, and Expert Infantrymen’s badge.

Zach Katz is an artist who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He’s led multiple campaigns for car-free streets and bike lanes in Portland, Oregon, and has lived in Amsterdam, where he learned a lot about good (great) urban design. He currently runs the Twitter account @betterstreetsai and is building transformyour.city

Aarti Tandon is the CEO of Smart City Expo USA, the country’s leading event for cities and the only U.S. edition of Fira Barcelona’s Smart City Expo World Congress. She previously served as the Executive Director of Smart Cities New York and Smart City Expo Atlanta where she convened 1000+ global and local leaders on creating equity, resiliency, and economic mobility by harnessing the $1.6 trillion global smart city marketplace. She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s G20 Global Smart City Alliance. 

Ms. Tandon is additionally a seasoned lawyer, human rights advocate, and film producer who has been deeply committed to building inclusive economies for the last twenty years. She began her career as an information technology lawyer at Brown Raysman and later spent a decade within the creative economy representing Grammy-nominated artists, filmmakers, and more. She has overseen the tours of the world’s most famous Bollywood stars and organized high-level delegations for the U.S. State Department in advance of the 2014 World Cup. She consulted for Derek Jeter’s The Players’ Tribune and will.i.am’s sustainable joint venture with Coca-Cola, EKOCYCLE, facilitated Jay-Z receiving a key to the City of Columbia, SC, and José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen feeding the most vulnerable in Augusta, GA. She served as Interim Executive Director of the Blue Sphere Foundation (an ocean conservation NGO) and as a content producer for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2018 Goalkeepers event featuring President Macron and other heads of state. Most recently, she was selected to participate in the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, served as a Senior Advisor for Black Media Strategic Engagement to the Bloomberg 2020 campaign, as the Sponsorship Director of the national livestream event, Juneteenth Unityfest, and as an advisor for the World Economic Forum’s inaugural Urban Transformation Summit in Detroit. 

An early steward of criminal justice reform, Ms. Tandon is one of the rare lawyers in the United States to have successfully received a Presidential Commutation. In 2008, President George W. Bush granted the early release of Ms. Tandon’s client who was serving 14 years in federal prison for a first time non-violent drug offense – it was one of only 11 Commutations granted during President Bush’s eight years in office. Her efforts to reduce mass incarceration continue to this day and have included working with the wrongfully convicted through the Deskovic Foundation and with formerly incarcerated women through Project Liberation. 

Her feature documentary film credits include: Producer, ”Catching the Sun”, a film on solar energy’s ability to address income inequality, featuring Van Jones and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (Netflix, 2016); Co-Executive Producer, “The Uncondemned”, a film on the historic Akayesu case and first ever conviction of rape as a crime of war supported by Global Citizen with music by Aloe Blacc and Maya Jupiter, and; Co-Producer, “Survivors Guide to Prison”, executive produced by Susan Sarandon, Gina Belafonte, Adrian Grenier, and others committed to criminal justice issues. 

A native New Yorker, Ms. Tandon is a frequent speaker on criminal justice reform, smart cities and innovation, and 21st century public policy. She is a graduate of Emory University (B.A., International Studies; Certificat, Sorbonne Université) and the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law (J.D.) where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Moot Court Honor Society and was a recipient of the Jacob Burns Medal of Honor. Ms. Tandon is a member of the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide, a member of the third class of the Civil Society Fellowship (a partnership between the Anti-Defamation League and the Aspen Institute), and the Aspen Global Leaders Network. Ms. Tandon lives in New York City with her husband, Joseph. 

Aarti Tandon is the CEO of Smart City Expo USA, the country’s leading event for cities and the only U.S. edition of Fira Barcelona’s Smart City Expo World Congress. She previously served as the Executive Director of Smart Cities New York and Smart City Expo Atlanta where she convened 1000+ global and local leaders on creating equity, resiliency, and economic mobility by harnessing the $1.6 trillion global smart city marketplace. She is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s G20 Global Smart City Alliance. 

Ms. Tandon is additionally a seasoned lawyer, human rights advocate, and film producer who has been deeply committed to building inclusive economies for the last twenty years. She began her career as an information technology lawyer at Brown Raysman and later spent a decade within the creative economy representing Grammy-nominated artists, filmmakers, and more. She has overseen the tours of the world’s most famous Bollywood stars and organized high-level delegations for the U.S. State Department in advance of the 2014 World Cup. She consulted for Derek Jeter’s The Players’ Tribune and will.i.am’s sustainable joint venture with Coca-Cola, EKOCYCLE, facilitated Jay-Z receiving a key to the City of Columbia, SC, and José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen feeding the most vulnerable in Augusta, GA. She served as Interim Executive Director of the Blue Sphere Foundation (an ocean conservation NGO) and as a content producer for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2018 Goalkeepers event featuring President Macron and other heads of state. Most recently, she was selected to participate in the 2019 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, served as a Senior Advisor for Black Media Strategic Engagement to the Bloomberg 2020 campaign, as the Sponsorship Director of the national livestream event, Juneteenth Unityfest, and as an advisor for the World Economic Forum’s inaugural Urban Transformation Summit in Detroit. 

An early steward of criminal justice reform, Ms. Tandon is one of the rare lawyers in the United States to have successfully received a Presidential Commutation. In 2008, President George W. Bush granted the early release of Ms. Tandon’s client who was serving 14 years in federal prison for a first time non-violent drug offense – it was one of only 11 Commutations granted during President Bush’s eight years in office. Her efforts to reduce mass incarceration continue to this day and have included working with the wrongfully convicted through the Deskovic Foundation and with formerly incarcerated women through Project Liberation. 

Her feature documentary film credits include: Producer, ”Catching the Sun”, a film on solar energy’s ability to address income inequality, featuring Van Jones and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio (Netflix, 2016); Co-Executive Producer, “The Uncondemned”, a film on the historic Akayesu case and first ever conviction of rape as a crime of war supported by Global Citizen with music by Aloe Blacc and Maya Jupiter, and; Co-Producer, “Survivors Guide to Prison”, executive produced by Susan Sarandon, Gina Belafonte, Adrian Grenier, and others committed to criminal justice issues. 

A native New Yorker, Ms. Tandon is a frequent speaker on criminal justice reform, smart cities and innovation, and 21st century public policy. She is a graduate of Emory University (B.A., International Studies; Certificat, Sorbonne Université) and the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law (J.D.) where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Moot Court Honor Society and was a recipient of the Jacob Burns Medal of Honor. Ms. Tandon is a member of the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide, a member of the third class of the Civil Society Fellowship (a partnership between the Anti-Defamation League and the Aspen Institute), and the Aspen Global Leaders Network. Ms. Tandon lives in New York City with her husband, Joseph. 

Steven Boberski serves as Genesys Public Sector CTO.  He brings over two decades of experience designing, delivering and selling large enterprise VoIP, unified communications and contact center solutions to help government agencies create superior engagement with constituents and employees.

Dan Hopkins is VP of Applied AI and Public Sector at Eightfold.ai. Dan is responsible for helping agencies and global governments leverage Artificial Intelligence to create better employment outcomes across their internal hiring needs and externally for their citizens and veterans.

Dan has over 15 years of technology experience. Prior to his role at Eightfold, Dan was VP of innovation at Apttus, where he was responsible for Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain solution offerings. His past management experience includes a deployment to London where he oversaw the sales engineering team for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Dan has also provided technology consulting for past US presidential campaigns, members of congress, and government agencies.

Dan has an undergraduate degree in Political Science, a master’s in information systems technology and attended Columbia University for a Master’s in Business Administration. He lives in Washington, DC.

Morgan Reed spent nearly 4 years as Chief Information Officer for the State of Arizona, where he led cloud transformations to consolidate 30 different email systems, modernize 15 citizen-facing applications, migrate critical agency workloads off the state-owned mainframe, and shut down the state’s largest datacenter after migrating 80% to the cloud. He joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an Executive Government Advisor, to coach State and Local Government Executives through strategy, policy, and governance challenges to help them accelerate their journey to the cloud, and help governments innovate for their customers.

Amear Mitchell, a native Philadelphian, has worked to foster and nurture client relationships at GovExec since November 2021. A recent college graduate from Temple University with a BA in Political Science, he has a passion for government and persuasion. Amear is an attentive and empathic account representative. These qualities are at the forefront of his commitment and effort. Amear can be found running on the Schuylkill River Trail or with his friends grilling on the back patio in his free time.

Alisha Powell Gillis is the senior editor at Route Fifty where she is responsible for programming live and online events content, moderating panel discussions, soliciting, editing and writing analytical pieces and overseeing the annual Navigator Awards program. Before joining Route Fifty, Alisha was the director for community impact at the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) where she worked to connect urban public libraries to critical issues in state and local government and led event programming. Prior to ULC, Alisha served the nation’s governors for nearly a decade at the National Governors Association where she specialized in homeland security, emergency management and cybersecurity issues. Alisha holds a master’s degree in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hofstra University