With a unique mix of industry and academic experiences, Dr. Carver has developed and deployed innovative solutions to pressing problems both inside and outside the classroom and around the world. As an Army leader and technologist, Dr. Carver led the development of software systems that supported our nation during the Bosnian and Afghanistan conflicts. During a military career spanning 27 years, he deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, lived in Italy and Korea, and spent twelve years as an educator and administrator at West Point. West Point was ranked as the #1 college in America by Forbes magazine and the #1 public liberal arts college by US News and World Report during his tenure. As an educator, Dr. Carver was a Professor of Computer Science, American Council of Education Fellow, recipient of the FISSEA Educator of the Year Award as well as a number of best paper awards at international conferences.

Known as a thought-leader in the information technology arena, Ferro is a frequent guest speaker and panelist, both in Atlanta and nationwide. In recognition of his accomplishments, Ferro was selected as as one of ComputerWorld’s 2015 100 IT Leaders, as well as Georgia CIO of the Year in 2011, and is currently serving as chair for the Georgia CIO Leadership Association. Ferro was also selected to join Leadership Atlanta’s Class of 2015 and participate in a rigorous year-long leadership development program alongside other prominent Atlanta leaders. His commitment and dedication to community involvement is evidenced by the time and energy he contributes. In addition to his work with Priscilla’s Promise, in 2011, he was elected to the board of directors for TechBridge, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization that helps other nonprofits use technology to improve their capability to serve the community.

Ferro earned both his BA in political science and his MBA from the University of Georgia. He continues to be involved with his alma mater, both as a mentor for young alumni and as a member of the alumni board of directors for the Terry College of Business. Ferro lives in the metro Atlanta area with his three sons.

Kevin Gowen serves as Chief Information Security Officer for Synovus and is responsible for all aspects of information and cyber security, physical security, business continuity, fraud, and financial crimes. This includes security architecture and operations, risk assessment, business continuity planning, disaster recovery, identity and access management, fraud monitoring and investigations, and crisis management. He was named Chief Information Security Officer in February 2015. Gowen earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received the James H. Blanchard Leadership award in 2016. Gowen was a finalist for both the ISE Southeast Information Security Executive of the Year and the ISE North America Financial Services Information Security Executive of the Year awards in 2019. Gowen is an alumnus of Leadership Columbus and serves as a board member of the National Technology Security Coalition.

Art Hopkins is an Executive Director in Russell Reynolds’ Information Officer Search Practice. In this capacity he advises clients within the Technology Sector, as well as conducting searches for executives across Russell Reynolds’ clientele. Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Art was with Macquarium, an experience design and strategy firm, most recently as CEO and earlier as President.  Prior to joining Macquarium, Art was the managing director and vice president of consulting for Blackwell Consulting Services, a Chicago-based IT Strategy Consultancy. He has held leadership roles at William James and Associates and began his career with the National Bank of Detroit, now Chase Bank. Art is a frequent speaker at CIO events and was featured in the premier issue of Black I.T. Professional Magazine in an article on “The New IT Professional”. He has co- authored pieces for CIO magazine’s Consultant Briefing on subjects including “CIO’s, Mentoring is a Way to Increase Your Success”, “Managing Your Identity Crisis”, and “Becoming the Business-Centric CIO”. Most recently he served as guest editor for the Cutter IT Journal’s June / July 2014 double issue on Empathy–Based System Design. Art is very active in the community and has a personal interest in matters related to education. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), and as the chair of the ITSMF Networking Committee, he has served on the Executive Committee for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Georgia’s Commission for School Board Excellence, Junior Achievement of Georgia, and as the Board Chair of the W.E.B. DuBois Society. He has also served on the advisory boards for Vignette Software (acquired by OpenText in 2009) and Diversified Information Technologies (acquired by EDM Group in 2013) through their acquisitions. Having earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from the University of Maryland and a certificate in eBusiness Strategy from the University of Chicago, he has been recognized by Chicago\’s Museum of Science and Industry as one of Chicago\’s top technology innovators. 

Kateau James has more than 20 years of experience in information technology, ranging from full life cycle software development, operations, and management, to organizational change and IT strategy. She has extensive expertise in building, developing, and leading high-performing and distributed global teams.

Jason Molfetas is a senior vice president and chief information officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. In this role, Molfetas leads the Bank’s Information Security and Technology Solutions Services functions. He also is a member of the Bank’s Management Committee.

Jason has extensive transformational leadership experience, having led the implementation of new strategic technology initiatives at several companies. Prior to joining the Atlanta Fed in July 2020, Molfetas served as managing director of CIO Advisory for KPMG and director of IT Enablement for DXC Technology. Before that, he was Amtrak’s chief information and digital officer from 2012 through 2017, where he led the transformation of the IT team to an innovative business enabler and technology partner. He has also served in CIO roles with other organizations, including Brambles Industrial Ltd., Westcon Inc., and Xerox Engineering Corporation.

Molfetas earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Pace University and a master’s degree in business administration from Fordham University.

AJ Rodrigues is General Manager of IT Transformation at Delta Air Lines. He leads a global organization that supports IT strategy development and oversees strategic partnerships, vendor management and Delta’s Global Capability / Captive center in India. His team has successfully generated innovative solutions that leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and other emerging technologies that position Delta at the forefront of innovation. AJ was recruited to Delta in 2016 to lead enterprise sourcing for technology and contingent labor. Prior to Delta, AJ spent 10 years at Emerson Electric Co., a global industrial conglomerate with operations in over 50 countries and approximately 80,000 employees. At Emerson, AJ held a number of roles in strategic planning and technology including vendor management, information security and leading the IT operations for an Internet of Things (IoT) business that delivered Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, electronics and services to over 16,000 retail stores.

AJ is passionate about leveraging technology to drive competitive advantage, building global teams and promoting women and minority representation in the IT industry. AJ has a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer Engineering from Christian Brothers University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Ms. Sacks-Mandel is the Worldwide Chief Technology and Transformation Officer at Microsoft for the education industry. Prior to joining Microsoft, she was the Chief Information Officer at two unique technically advanced large public-school districts where she enabled student-centric teaching and learning which resulted in significant improvements in student outcomes. 

Prior to pivoting to Education, she led innovation teams at IBM, Walt Disney World, and provided management consulting at many others. Serena has won numerous state, national, and global awards for leadership, vision, technical excellence, and her commitment to supporting women in technology.

Strategic-operational leadership for security utilizing creative and innovative aptitudes, skills, and expertise in Information Technology. Develop IT security solutions for governance, compliance, assurance, forensics and operations with a holistic approach throughout an organization with specific and sustainable business requirements.

A born change agent. Unquenchable passion for security challenges — produce creative problem solving with a win-win solution orientation. Results-driven professional that thrives in collaborative environments with colleagues motivated by accountability, integrity, and the pursuit of excellence. Respectfully challenge the status quo and provide continuous improvement and innovation in the outcomes produced.

Instrumental in implementing security controls / constraints to IT footprint for both traditional and cloud-based service environments. Implement and maintain efforts for global ISO/IEC 27001, NIST, COBIT, SAE16, SOC2-3, standards and certifications. Ensure compliance for PII/HIPAA, SOX, CALEA and PCI-DSS requirements.

Direct and drive information and information system objectives to align, sustain, improve, and innovate information solutions, tools, communications and support for organizational objectives. Supported various constituents with information technology and support services, along with fiscal management of associated personnel and resources.

Conduct enterprise risk assessment and planning, perform information and information system audit programs and audits to assess risk management, compliance, policies, and strategic initiatives, evaluate internal information system controls, and provide management guidance for improving of operations.

Environments include current OS technologies and associated services, traditional and cloud-based infrastructures. Designing, purchasing, performance monitoring, fault tolerance strategies, troubleshooting, and disaster recovery of all network assets and applications. 

Will Alexander has been the CIO at Benevis since 2019.  Prior to Benevis, he was the VP of Information Technology at RaceTrac Petroleum where he led all strategic and tactical technology activities.   During his tenure at RaceTrac, Will also lead the Special Projects, Merchandise Supply Chain, and Procurement departments.  He began his professional career at Milliken & Company.

Will holds an MBA from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Will serves on the Executive Advisory Board for Atlanta Technology Professionals (ATP) and is a member of the Georgia CIO Leadership Association. Will also serves as vice chairman on the board of InspirEDU, formerly PowerMyLearning.  He enjoys spending time with his wife and two young daughters and is an avid fan of Georgia Tech’s football and basketball teams and the Atlanta Braves.

Eric is the Managing Partner for the Egon Zehnder Atlanta office and the Head of the “FinTech” practice group. He is a core member of the Financial Services and Technology Practices serving industry clients in executive search, board search and management appraisal capacities. He is also a member of the Financial Officers practice having accomplished numerous senior level assignments.

Eric’s consulting work touches on a broad array of functional areas, including senior general management positions as well as senior level functional leadership roles in a variety of sectors including financial services, software, services and high technology in both public and private equity backed companies.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder International, Eric was the President of BISYS Compliance and Licensing Services where his responsibilities included growing the Education, Licensing and Advanced Designations’ business for BISYS. BISYS was sold to Citibank in 2005.

Prior to joining BISYS, Eric gained significant experience in the technology field as a Vice President for S1 Corporation, a financial services software company, covering sales, marketing and general management in the U.S. and internationally. He served as Senior Vice President/General Manager of Knowledge Alliance, an information technology consulting organization, and Vice President of Sales and Marketing for ExecuTrain Corporation. Additionally, Eric worked for Baxter Healthcare in various international sales, marketing and operations roles.

Eric has a BS in Marketing from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA in International Business from the University of Miami. After university, he served in the Armed Forces as a helicopter pilot in the Army. Eric, his wife Pam and their three children reside in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Leslie Anderson serves as the Executive Director of Enterprise Strategy & Architecture for NCR Corporation where he is responsible for global I.T. Enterprise Architecture, strategic planning, technical standards, and integration strategy.

A well versed technology executive, Leslie is experienced in leading strategic planning, digital transformation, Enterprise Architecture (EA), standards, governance, application & middleware development, data, security, and infrastructure operations with a proven track record of delivering business improvement through Information Technology (I.T.) for large fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining NCR Corporation, Leslie held Director and other senior-level positions leading global Enterprise Architecture, I.T. strategic planning, integration strategy, and standards governance with MassMutual Life Insurance, Raytheon Company, and others.

For the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), Leslie represented Raytheon while working with a team represented by industry leaders across the technology industry develop the U.S. Government’s Cloud Computing Reference Architecture and other cloud computing guidance. For the Net-Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC), he led teams with representatives from across the global aerospace and defense industry to author several interoperability patterns for use in multimillion/billion-dollar programs.

He is certified in TOGAF and EACOE. He is also a SOA Certified Professional and Raytheon Six Sigma Specialist. Leslie holds a Bachelors of Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University and is pursuing his Masters of Computer Information Systems from Boston University.

Vidhya Belapure is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Huber Engineered Materials & CP Kelco, two Business Units of JM Huber Corp. During the last 25 years, Vidhya has had several roles in Supply Chain, Finance, Commercial, and IT. During his career, he has worked on several business transformation initiatives starting with ERP implementation to more recently Digital Transformation. He has extensive experience in organizational leadership, strategic cross-functional planning, business integrations, and business transformation. He has also led several small to large-scale M&A integration and divestiture projects. His current focus is on driving the industry 4.0 initiative for the manufacturing sites at Huber Engineered Materials & CP Kelco.

Vidhya received his Bachelor’s (Pune University) in Mechanical Engineering, a double Master’s in Mechanical Design (Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai) & Manufacturing (Villanova University), and an Executive MBA from Emory University.  He lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife, Sonali, and son, Soham.

Brian Benn is Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of the Atlanta Housing Authority.  Brian is responsible for the development and implementation of technology strategies that are aligned with and anchored by the overarching strategy of the agency.  Brian studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and has a Master of Business Administration degree from Belhaven University.  Brian volunteers as an executive ambassador for TechBridge, Incorporated, serves on the executive advisory board for Atlanta Technology Professionals, the advisory board for the Government Technology Special Districts Program, the advisory board for GeorgiaCIO, the Greater Atlanta CIO governing body for Evanta, serves as board chair for the Southeastern Software Association, executive board member for the Technology Association of Georgia, and on the Atlanta CIO advisory board.  Brian is a technology evangelist and has a passion for bridging the digital divide.

Shoukat Ali Bhamani is the Chief Information & Digital Officer (CIO & CDO) for the Schaeffler Group Americas, a global automotive, industrial & aerospace manufacturer with $3.2B revenue and 13,000 employees in Americas.  Over the past 20 years, Shoukat has led several operational and strategic business functions to support a double digit growth in the manufacturing environment. This includes Strategic Planning, General Management, R&D, Program Management, Quality Systems, Continuous Improvement, Process Management and IT. His effective transformation leadership has successfully integrated the IT and business priorities via program management, roadmaps, goals, KPIs and strategic initiatives, across multiple platforms & business units, nationally & internationally.  Resulting in a uniform SAP landscape region wide, measurable business improvements, increased sales opportunities, optimized business processes & supply chain, efficient technology & infrastructure, IT cost transparency, and a high performance IT team to support business growth & strategy. He has now taken over the responsibility of digital transformation and is in the process of prioritizing business needs, establishing talents and executing digital solutions. 

His business experience includes 10+ years of successful customer relationships to manage key programs & business development to support a significant increase in market share and bottom line.  His R&D contribution includes several new product development initiatives to meet the market challenges of new innovation and technology.  His international experience includes major programs across multiple platforms & business units, including product development, manufacturing, investment, cost reduction & IT projects in US, Canada, Mexico, Japan & Germany. Shoukat received his Bachelor\’s (NED) and Master\’s (McGill) degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.  He lives in Fort Mill, SC with his wife and two children.

Gary Brantley is an innovative technology strategist renowned for his financial acumen and expertise in cultivating productive collaborations. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the technology sector, in addition to 17 years of leadership, to the City of Atlanta as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Department of Atlanta Information Management (AIM).

Before joining AIM, Gary was the CIO for the DeKalb County School District, the third largest school district in Georgia. While he was there, Gary spearheaded the district’s largest technology overhaul, Digital Dreamers, which included the distribution of over 70,000 desktop computers and laptops to teachers as well as students.

Gary began his career with IBM before becoming the Regional Operations Director for MCIWorldCom. There he continued to have an impact on technology and took that expertise to the Ohio State Department as the Director of Technology. He later became CIO for the Lorain City School District, which is one of the largest urban school districts in Ohio.

Gary’s admirable professionalism and unyielding dedication have earned him numerous awards and accolades.  Gary was named as one of the Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education in 2015, ComputerWorld’s Premier Top 100 Technology Leaders for 2017 and awarded the Making IT Happen award from the International Society for Technology in Education. Gary was a finalist for the 2018 Georgia CIO Leadership Association’s CIO of the Year Award.

Mr. Barry Cohen serves as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Asbury Automotive. Mr. Cohen joined Asbury as Director of IT Enterprise Services in January 2011 and became CIO in March of 2014. Prior to joining Asbury, Mr. Cohen was the Vice President of Information Technology for Wells Real Estate Funds, which raised and managed more than $12 billion in real estate investments for more than 250,000 investors.  Mr. Cohen is the recipient of multiple awards in his field and community including: Institute of Data Warehousing Best Management Practices, Presidents Award from Blue Cross Blue Shield of GA, Computer World Top 100 IT Professionals and Metro Atlanta YMCA Volunteer of the year. Mr. Cohen earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer and Information Sciences and a Master\’s Degree in Business Administration from Augusta State University. In 2010 he completed the Emerging Leader Academy program at Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Penny Collins is an experienced multifunctional global technology and business executive with a demonstrated history of building enterprise scale solutions to meet business and technical challenges. She has extensive experience in IT leadership building high performance teams and driving transformational initiatives across multiple industries. Penny has exceptional talent for understanding complex business problems and leading cross-functional teams in the development of innovative and effective solutions while maintaining focus on the overall strategic business plans.

Penny brings a wealth of experience working across many functional areas and is a thought leader and strategic thinker who is sought after by organizations to challenge the status quo, establish effective organizational structures, and deliver innovative solutions to drive business effectiveness growth. Penny has a track record of building partnerships from board members to company directors and motivating teams across all levels of the organization.

Penny excels in driving operational excellence. She champions a strong focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Penny’s leadership style is one that creates an empowered, highly engaged workforce with the skills needed to succeed in this era of exponential technologies. At her core, she is a servant of our community and an advocate for women in leadership because it makes sense. Passionate about women and girls of all ages excelling in S.T.E.A.M. from the classroom to boardroom. Penny’s core values are continuous improvement, teamwork, results orientation, integrity and trustworthiness.

Penny Collins is the President and CEO of Women In Technology (WIT) responsible for the execution of WIT’s strategy while delivering program and events to promote increasing the number of women and girls in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). WIT empowers girls and women to excel in STEAM from the classroom to the boardroom by providing female students in middle school, high school and college with education, exposure and experience. By sharing the stories of successful professionals across the STEAM fields, WIT encourages all generations of girls and women to write their future.

Prior to joining WIT, Penny was the Chief Technology Control Officer for First Data Corporation, Global Lead for Disaster Recovery and Head of Global Cyber Security and Controls PMO for the CEO. In addition to all these roles, she served as the global leader for First Data’s Women’s Leadership Council and a solid champion for the organization’s diversity and inclusion programs.

Prior to First Data, Collins spent time as a business owner and entrepreneur, was Chief Process and Usability Officer for British Telecom (BT), and has spent her career leading global technology teams.

She was named by Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan as one of 15 Outstanding Women in Leadership in 2020. Penny also received the United States Women in Payments’ award for Education in 2019 and was nominated for the 2021 TechBridge Bill Bolling Non Profit Leader Award. She is an active member of Kiwanis Club and Atlanta’s non-profit community.

Nicholas Coussoule joined BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee in February 2008 as senior vice president and chief information officer.  In this role, Nick is responsible for a broad range of strategic initiatives, technical and operational support functions. He leads more than 800 employees and oversees a $190 million budget for the company’s information services and business engineering divisions. He reports directly to BlueCross’ chief operating officer and serves on the company’s corporate leadership council.

Nick has more than 30 years of extensive experience in operations and technology consulting and IT management in the U.S. and internationally.  He began his career in consulting with Keane Inc. serving as a project manager and account manager in the US and the Netherlands, before moving into senior management.

He has held senior IT leadership positions at Alumax Inc. as well as the chief information officer position at Pameco Corporation and Teltek Inc. Nick most recently served as the senior vice president and chief information officer at Crawford & Company, the world’s largest independent provider of claims management solutions.  

At BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee he has been instrumental in helping the company successfully implement the requirements of the Affordable Care Act allowing BlueCross to obtain dominant market share while meeting our customer obligations. His team developed a Member 360 dashboard providing significantly improved customer service efficiency and effectiveness. His team also partnered with BCBST strategic marketing team to implement significant digital capabilities including an award winning member portal and award winning mobile applications.

Prior key accomplishments for Nick include being part of a leadership team that developed and implemented a global order management and inventory system for a Fortune 500 chemical company. Nick also led the executive committee IT research, due diligence, synergy plan, acquisition and integration of a $200 million third-party administrator of custom claims and medical management solutions.

Nick is a graduate of Dartmouth College, where he obtained a degree with honors in economics and mathematics. He is a graduate of the 2015 Nashville Healthcare Council Fellows program. Nick is also a member of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics – the statutory public advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on health information policy.

Tim Crawford is ranked as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Chief Information Technology Officers (#4), Top 100 Most Social CIOs (#7), Top 20 People Most Retweeted by IT Leaders (#5) and Top 100 Cloud Experts and Influencers. Tim is a strategic CIO & advisor that works with large global enterprise organizations across a number of industries including financial services, healthcare, major airlines and high-tech. Tim’s work differentiates and catapults organizations in transformative ways through the use of technology as a strategic lever. Tim takes a provocative, but pragmatic approach to the intersection of business and technology. Tim is an internationally renowned CIO thought leader including Digital Transformation, Cloud Computing, Data Analytics and Internet of Things (IoT). Tim has served as CIO and other senior IT roles with global organizations such as Konica Minolta/ All Covered, Stanford University, Knight-Ridder, Philips Electronics and National Semiconductor. Tim is also the host of the CIO In The Know (CIOitk) podcast. CIOitk is a weekly podcast that interviews CIOs on the top issues facing CIOs today. Tim holds an MBA in International Business with Honors from Golden Gate University Ageno School of Business and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Golden Gate University.

Martin is a results driven C-Level Executive and Business Leader with extensive experience across Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Food, Automotive, Transportation and Insurance industries, delivering value globally in large Fortune 100 corporations and privately-owned companies. He focuses on high quality business outcomes which result in customer satisfaction and return on investment.

Martin has been the CIO for 10+ diverse companies, coupling a strategic focus with tactical management, and has delivered $multi-million value across multiple industries. He has also successfully driven Industry 4.0 / Operational Intelligence Strategy to increase manufacturing efficiency and reduce costs.

He is a regular presenter at conferences and webinars on subjects including Digital Transformation, IT Strategy, Organisational Change Management, and Industry 4.0. Martin holds an MBA with Distinction from Warwick Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with Mathematics from Kings College London.

Scott DuFour is the Global Chief Information Officer at Fleetcor.

Before joining McKesson in May 2013, Scott DuFour was previously senior vice president of lS Strategic Programs for Ingram Micro, responsible for the implementation, development and support of Ingram Micro’s SAP global template. He was named to the position in March 2009. Prior to this role, DuFour served as corporate vice president, Global Business Solutions Development where he had overall responsibility for the development, deployment and support of global applications. DuFour joined Ingram Micro in December 2006. DuFour has more than twenty years of experience in information systems. Before joining Ingram Micro, he was COO-Americas at Elemica, Ltd., a leading provider of supply chain integration and optimization services where he held several senior level technology and commercial roles.  While at Elemica, DuFour successfully lead the launch of several SaaS offerings targeted at helping enterprises integrate and automate their supply chain processes to drive cost savings, inventory reductions and reduced transactional errors. Before joining Elemica, Ltd., DuFour spent a year working at Covalex.com Inc., as CIO. Prior to that, six years at Sun Chemical Corporation where he served as director of information services.  At Sun Chemical, Dufour led the development and roll-out of a new ERP system throughout the company’s North America operations. His career began in 1990 consulting for Accenture. DuFour holds an MBA from the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business, Finance & Accounting.  He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.

John Dunbar is the Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Atlantic American Corporation, a publicly traded holding company with three subsidiaries involved in well-defined specialty markets of the life, health, property and casualty insurance industries.  He is responsible for setting the IT vision for Atlantic American, including overseeing strategic planning, implementation, and management of all IT functions for the organization. 

John has over 20 years of experience in senior IT leadership positions for several global organizations in a variety of industries.  Prior to joining Atlantic American, John served as the CIO for Aquilex Corporation, an industrial service provider to the energy industry and as the CIO for EMS Technologies, a manufacturer of specialty electronic components for wireless communication.  John specializes in strategic planning, process improvement, and leading successful teams to provide valuable technology solutions for business. 

John has a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Florida State University and a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems from Georgia State University. He is a board member of the Atlanta chapter of the Society for Information Management, and has served on the Advisory Board of the Georgia CIO Leadership Association.

As head of the shared services technology group, Esparza oversaw the strategic vision, direction and delivery of technology initiatives across Jackson Healthcare’s campus and operating companies.

Esparza brings a wealth of experience with some of the leading brands in Atlanta, including The Weather Channel, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Cox, and The Home Depot. Immediately prior to joining Jackson Healthcare, he was a vice president of software engineering at The Weather Company, an IBM Business, where he managed engineering teams in Atlanta and Israel to build the company’s advertising, video, and content delivery platforms in all digital formats. Previously, as a global innovation manager at IHG, he launched the world’s first mobile key platform.

Esparza holds a bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin and studied at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He stays involved with a number of technology organizations in the Atlanta area and sits on the boards the Alpharetta Technology Commission and the Technology Association of Georgia. He was the recipient of the Atlanta Technology Professionals 2018 Leadership Award. He is a licensed pilot, scuba diver, avid traveler and resides with his wife, Brittany, and 2 kids in Brookhaven, GA.

Steven Ferguson is a 23-year veteran of the IT industry. As the Chief Information Officer for the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), he leads a talented team of IT professionals in support of TCSG’s technical education, adult education, economic development and workforce divisions across the 88 campuses of Georgia’s 22 technical colleges. Recently, he spearheaded the adoption and deployment of an award-winning artificial intelligence chat bot, successfully championed a data center infrastructure consolidation initiative, standardized and expanded enterprise cybersecurity technologies and led the system through the rollout of a new mobile app to enhance the student experience.

Ferguson holds an M.S. in Information Technology from Southern Polytechnic State University, a B.S. in Business Administration, Information Technology from Columbia Southern University, an A.S. in Engineering from Gainesville State College, and is a proud graduate of TCSG’s Executive Leadership Academy.

Ferguson is the only Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert employed by the State of Georgia, becoming CCIE #10202 in September of 2002, adding the coveted certification to a stable of certifications from CompTIA, Microsoft, Cisco and Red Hat.

 Beyond his service to the State of Georgia, Ferguson is very active in his local community, currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Development Authority of Lumpkin County, Advisory Board Member for the Georgia Digital Government Summit, President of the Board of Directors for Castleberry Ridge, Communications Chair for Leadership Lumpkin County and as a volunteer for various non-profit and educational organizations. Recipient of the 2019 Georgia CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner | Nonprofit/Public Sector.

Michael Frazee is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Lendlease, a globally integrated real estate and investment group committed to the creation of communities which thrive.

With over 28 years of IT experience at Lendlease, Michael is a trusted leader in building global teams and large-scale security programs that address cybersecurity, technology risk and enhance operational resilience. He currently oversees the security architecture, governance, and operation for the business to ensure that its data infrastructure and assets are protected.

Michael also serves on the Leadership Board of the Real Estate Cyber Consortium (RECC), an organization focused on elevating awareness across the real estate community about cyber security preparedness for buildings and facilities.

Dale Gawley is a dedicated, focused, results-driven senior executive with over twenty years’ experience in diverse areas of finance, operations and information technology and 15 years in the insurance industry.  He has lead large scale global transformation initiatives that deliver quality results and efficient and sustainable operations.  

Currently Dale is the Corporate CIO for AXIS Capital a Bermuda based Global Provider of Specialty (Re) Insurance, with $5bn in revenue and 1,100 employees he is responsible for delivery of all IT services to the corporate functional areas at AXIS including Risk, Actuarial, Finance, HR, Legal, Internal Audit, Corporate Communications, Operations and Vendor Management.  Dale defined the Corporate IT strategy and multi-year road map including off shore delivery capability. He has specialized experience in leading large transformation projects that impact people, process and technology, most recently leading the Finance Transformation at AXIS, which included building the business case, funding approval and successful implementation of corporate wide financial systems.  Prior to his current role Dale had responsibility for AXIS’s Global Operations which included creating a managing general agent support unit, building a scalable offshore BPO capability including vendor selection, contract negotiation and organization structure realignment.

Prior to AXIS Capital, Dale served as the Controller and Assistant Plant Manager of Sennheiser Ireland a manufacturing of state of the art headphones. 

Dale serves on the Insurance Strategic Advisory Council for Oracle and has performed speaking engagements for Oracle on their Financial Systems products.  Dale is a member of the Advisor Board Council for HMG Strategy.  Dale is an avid golfer and dive master.

Dale is a qualified chartered accountant and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Mitch Gersten is chief information officer at Cox Automotive. Over his nearly 25-year career in technology, Mitch has consistently adopted an “in the trenches” approach, successfully leading large-scale initiatives to transform organizations into more agile teams, revitalize growth by increasing focus on key priorities, and provide critical support for business operations.

In this new role, Mitch is responsible for developing and overseeing Cox Automotive’s strategic business initiatives and aligning them to the global technology operations roadmap for enterprise business systems, enterprise infrastructure and support. Mitch’s experience leading enterprise-wide technology solutions will ensure that his team is a partner in driving innovation, simplification and efficiency to create value for clients and a more connected experience for team members.

Mitch joined Cox Automotive in 2008 and has held senior technology leadership positions for Manheim and, more recently, Cox Automotive’s Enterprise Platforms organization. During this time, he has played a critical role in the development and implementation of a multi-year technology plan to modernize business systems and has been instrumental in architecting and delivering secure, scalable back-office systems that contribute directly to our product development investments, growth and profitability.

Mitch graduated from Baruch College with an MBA in Investment Analysis and International Finance and from State University of New York at Buffalo with a Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems and Finance.

Jimmy is currently serving as the VP of Information Technology at Sutherland Global Services (SGS), a global process transformation company operating in over 30 countries with 10,000+ employees integrated in all major verticals . He sits in the CIO/CDO office where he leads strategic initiatives for partnerships, roadmaps, cloud platforms, integrations, process transformation and digital deliveries.  Prior to SGS, Jimmy was the Director of IT for ABM Industries for 17 years, a Fortune 500 publicly held company with 140,000 + employees and 6 billion in revenue, where he helped transform/build an IT department from a major outsourced engagement ($ 58 million annual spend) to an in-sourced IT team of 150 + today.  He states that this effort, “…has been the most fulfilling in my career as I got to put a personal stamp on the new IT department. It created substantial agility to grow and match business needs in a more efficient and dynamic fashion – one that SHARES the company’s vision and working towards that success.”

He has a tremendous track record of creating a collaborative and positive environment that generates energy with strong leadership  while partnering with company leaders to execute the overall company strategy.  Colleagues are quick to point out that he is sincerely passionate about creating a culture where the team is inspired, share a vision, know how they contribute and understand they are vested to the organization’s future and success – a culture with shared voice while driving positive change.

Outside of his professional contributions, Jimmy has a wife of 25 years and two children that attend SEC universities.  His son is a freshman at UGA majoring in Computer Science and his daughter will be attending Ole Miss to study Management Information Systems.  Additionally, Jimmy makes it a priority to contribute to his local communities.  He served as a volunteer Head Coach from 2005-2012 where he enjoyed teaching teamwork and life lessons to youth through the game of football.  Although coaching has little to do with technology, there is no question the experience has directly influenced his leadership in a positive way of building & leading teams – and success as an IT leader. 

Wendy Harris is the Director of Information Technology for the City of Memphis.  Wendy is a lean thinker and decisive leader with a robust background in continuous improvement, IT operations and project management and is successful in leading teams to deliver rapid results.  At the City of Memphis, she has governed a project portfolio of over 50 million dollars, implemented Lean methodologies and managed the Operations Infrastructure teams

With 20 years in both public and private sectors, Wendy has experience in project management, team building, account management, professional development and strategic implementation. For the last 12 years at the City of Memphis, she has climbed the ladder of success exceling as a Project Coordinator, Project Manager, PMO Director, Operations Manager and Deputy CIO.

Wendy received her BA degree in Psychology and minor in Sociology from the University of Memphis.  She is a member of the Project Management Institute local and international chapters and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification.

Toni Harrison-Hogan is a business technology visionary with 20 years of experience changing the B2C and B2B digital landscape in the banking, management consulting, retail, telecommunications, transportation, and manufacturing industries on four continents. She is recognized for envisioning and accelerating a corporation’s digital future and has earned a strong reputation for balancing innovation with operational excellence for long-term sustainable growth. Exploring the boundaries of the possible, Toni introduces innovative operating models to drive additional value from technology to generate revenue. At Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and Truist, she envisioned and redesigned digital banking platforms and their omni-channel experiences. Over the years Toni developed a playbook that is a comprehensive blueprint to achieve corporate vision and strategy recognizing her to be a top-line growth contributor. The playbook encompasses talent and culture strategies, customer and employee experience approaches across all channels, business model modernization, operational excellence, and risk management. Innovation and the future of technology impacting business, culture, and society lies at the center of Toni’s interests. Toni has built a brand for herself as an advisor to boards and CXOs on technology as a strategic imperative and business enabler. She recently was elected to serve as a Board Director of the National Society of Information Management (SIM), nominated as a member of various CIO Advisory boards. Toni is a sought after and prolific speaker at industry events as well as a regular interviewee on technology podcasts. Toni holds an MBA from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina, a BA in Psychology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and certifications as a Certified Scrum Master, SAFe Agilist, and Certified Product Owner/Manager. In addition, she is a graduate of the prestigious Executive Academy of Information Technology Senior Management Forum where she became a published author of “Preparing the C-Suite for Transformations.” When she is not working, you will find Toni spending time with family, entertaining, and actively supporting the Arts. Toni comes from a long legacy of giving back to the community, and she is committed to supporting organizations addressing food insecurity, family, women’s issues, and children’s education in underserved communities.

Tim Huff was the Vice President of Information Technology for the Global Products division of Owens & Minor, a Fortune 500 medical supply manufacturing and distribution company.

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With over 27 years of experience, Tim built his leadership foundation serving 14 years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army and National Guard, including graduating from Ranger School, the Army’s premier Infantry Leadership school. He capped his service with a year in Afghanistan as the Chief of Operations for a brigade responsible for training and maintaining the Afghan National Army.

Always fascinated with the power of technology, Tim began his IT career with The Walt Disney Company in Orlando, Florida. His Disney experience included supporting a large SAP implementation as well as leading teams in delivering a new Disney Cruise Line website and Disney’s first ever online Dining Reservation System. After 10 years and a relocation to Atlanta, he joined the Macy*s IT organization, leading teams responsible for the macys.com and bloomingdales.com websites. Following Macy*s, Tim joined the IT Executive Leadership Team at CRH Americas Materials, a leading provider of building materials, leading the Infrastructure and Operations function. In October 2019, Tim accepted a position leading the IT organization supporting the Global Products division (Halyard Health) of Owens and Minor, a Fortune 500 medical services company based in Richmond, VA. For the past two years, he’s been supporting a major managed services implementation across all IT functions and preparing for a major ERP transformation.

Tim is also an Executive Coach and the owner of Platinum Level Leadership with a passion for helping IT managers and executives Level Up their leadership abilities and live a more fulfilling life.

Tim lives in Cumming, Georgia, with his wife, Kristin and two sons, both in college. He loves all kinds of music and enjoys really good wine!

Shaun Hunt manages the Technology group at McKenney’s, covering everything from mobility to Robotic Process Automation. Shaun is an early adopter and thought leader for the emerging Automation First movement. He holds a Master of Organizational Leadership from Southern NH University. Shaun launched his technology career in consulting at Accenture followed by Deloitte Consulting, before holding senior technology positions in financial services and non-profits. Shaun is passionate about creating efficient and effective systems by leveraging emerging technologies that enable clear business value.

Jason James previously served as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Net Health, which recently acquired Optima Healthcare Solutions, and leads the development and transformation of all IT applications, infrastructure, security, DevOps, support and operations. Jason has over twenty years of experience transforming and modernizing IT organizations to ensure the highest level of performance and business alignment. In 2017, Jason was named “20 must-follow CIOs on Twitter” by The Enterprisers Project.  Prior to joining Optima, he directed IT for several fast-growth technology companies including EarthLink, PRGX, and Servigistics.  Jason is a frequent contributor to thought leadership publications like CIO.com and The Enterprisers Project.  In addition to various technical certifications, he holds a bachelor\’s of science degree from Oregon State University and a master’s degree in Applied Information Management from the University of Oregon.

Dhil Jith (DJ) is the Global Head of Payments and Servicing at US Bank and is responsible for driving the innovation and building out the best in-class systems and processes necessary to support US Bank’s rapid growth in money movement, digital payments and onboarding. DJ has helped large organizations through their transformation and re-engineering efforts by introducing a multistep process involving the formulation of strategy and structure, process and tools, enablement and people, and metrics and management.  

Prior to US Bank, DJ ran large Engineering, Consulting and Professional Services functions in multiple software companies including different verticals and geographies. Most recently as Senior Vice President and CIO for the Direct-to-Consumer Technology division of Equifax and helping them in their cloud transformation and product re-engineering. He has helped Equifax adapt to the product model and also consolidated systems and operations following acquisitions. 

Jana Kanyadan is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Senior Vice President of IT at Mohawk Industries, Inc. In this capacity, Jana is responsible for leveraging technology to achieve Mohawk’s strategic objectives and drive innovation across the global enterprise.

After earning graduate degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University, Jana spent the past two-decades growing his leadership skills in technology roles up to the CIO level. His career has been focused in the manufacturing sector, including time with leading global companies such as Cummins, Ingersoll-Rand, Eaton and Ecolab. Jana’s previous roles have included significant manufacturing, engineering and finance assignments; and, to further enhance his business acumen, he earned an MBA from Duke University. 

Mohawk Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and sale of Always in Style floor covering products for residential and commercial markets globally. 

Steve Kendrick is President of KER Partners, LLC.  His background includes over 25 years of successful retained executive search industry and corporate recruitment professional experience. This experience includes leading successful search engagements and client relationships across commercial industry segments including financial services, payment systems, consumer retail, online-eCommerce, logistics-transportation, industrial, pharmaceutical and healthcare.  He has served industry leading clients including global Fortune 500 multinationals, mid-cap-mid-market public/private firms, as well as private equity backed portfolio companies.

Prior to KER Partners, Steve was a partner at Heidrick & Struggles’ Dallas office and a key member of the firm’s global Information Technology Officers Practice.  He was also a Principal at Spencer Stuart and an Executive Director at Russell Reynolds Associates previously. He also served as president of a Dallas-based retained executive search boutique specializing in recruiting IT executive leaders and CIOs.

Prior to entering executive search, Steve spent six years with EDS Corporation, performing both technical and professional recruiting, as well as providing recruitment training and counsel on employment-related issues.  He began his career as a district manager with PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay, where he was responsible for sales management and operations.

Steve is an active speaker and panelist at key industry forums on topics including executive IT leadership development, career management and succession planning.  He is a member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) and the Society for Information Management (SIM).

Steve earned his undergraduate degree in business from Jacksonville State University in Alabama, along with graduate studies at the University of Texas in Dallas.

Brandon Kenney brings over twenty-five years of technology experience with the past eight years as a Chief Information Officer.  Brandon has experience in leading global technology efforts in the automotive industry, leading technology efforts through mergers and acquisitions in the hospitality industry and bringing a consumer and branding approach to the government sector.  Brandon is a self-described data evangelist, believing that data and analytics can lead to insights with the power to change the way we live, work and play.

Brandon currently serves as the Chief Information Officer for Forsyth County, GA.  Forsyth County consistently ranks as one of the fastest growing counties in the United States.  In his role as Chief Information Officer, Brandon leads a group of IT professionals in a digital transformation strategy to fundamentally change the way government approaches technology.  Brandon brings his extensive experience in the private sector to lead a “consumer focused” approach to providing services to both residents and those doing business within the county.   Brandon also leads a group of Geographical Information Service professionals, focusing on spatial analytics and bringing the power of location-based services to decision making.

Prior to joining Forsyth County, Brandon served as the Chief information Officer for Herschend Family Entertainment, the largest privately-owned theme park company in the United States and as interim CIO for Saab Cars of North America.

Brandon received a B.S. in Operations and Systems Management from the University of South Alabama and received his MBA from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a concentration in the Management of Technology.  In 2015, Brandon was recognized as a finalist for the Georgia CIO of the Year award in the Corporate category and is a finalist for 2019 in the Non-Profit/Public Sector category.

Amith Kota is the Chief Information Officer of Landis+Gyr Americas. In this role, he is responsible for the Business Technology, cloud services offered to Landis+Gyr customers and digital initiatives that support the growth of Landis+Gyr. Prior to joining Landis+Gyr, he was the Chief Enterprise Architect and Global Head of Emerging Technologies at Gulfstream Aerospace, A General Dynamics company, where he was accountable for global enterprise strategy & architecture to create new revenue channels and optimize business margins through technology innovations. Earlier in his career, Amith held various leadership positions at Progressive Insurance and various startups across Architecture & Strategy, Sales, Business Applications organizations responsible for digital customer experience, Omni-channel engagement and systems Amith holds a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and an Executive Certificate in Innovation and Strategy from the Case Western Reserve University.

Rohit Lal is responsible for ensuring that Saia\’s information technology enables and supports the company\’s key business objectives in advanced analytics, deployment and optimization of technology, and expansion.

Prior to this position, Rohit was with CONA Services, a Coca-Cola System IT Services Company, where he was responsible for the Enterprise Architecture, supporting a strategic initiative

Todd Lant, Chief Information Officer, Blackbaud: Todd Lant has served as Chief Information Officer at Blackbaud since January 2017. In this role, Lant helps Blackbaud power social good by leading the company’s enterprise IT and cybersecurity strategy. Leveraging his 25 years of experience in bringing the value of IT by leading transformational change at the intersection of business and technology, Lant is responsible for Blackbaud’s global IT digital transformation, business applications, operations, project management, governance, and infrastructure. Since joining Blackbaud in May 2003, he has helped lead the company through significant growth, both organically and through acquisitions, and helped develop subscription and cloud-based solution offerings and supporting platforms. Prior to Blackbaud, Lant held various commercial software and telecommunications IT leadership positions. 

As an accomplished leader in technology and business, Lant speaks on digital transformation and technology trends at various industry and community events. He has been a contributing member of regional technology development activities and an avid supporter of nonprofits and educational institutions. Lant currently serves as a board member of Advocate – the Premiere TBM Services Company.  He also serves on the boards of the Charleston Digital Corridor Foundation, Trident United Way and the YMCA of Greater Charleston.  He is also a member of The Citadel’s Department of Engineering Leadership & Program Management advisory board, and  a member of Charleston Southern University’s Computer Science department advisory board. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA from Georgia State University.

Lo Li is the Senior Vice President, CIO of Global Consumer Solutions at Equifax. She has spent the past two decades leading global multi-billion dollar corporations for some of the world’s most renowned hospitality and retail brands in the world, working with hundreds of teams dispersed in the UK, China, Singapore and India. Some of her work includes the creation for dynamic pricing and predictive analytics engines for global hotels, scaling big data and Agile to enable business transformation at large retailers including double digit growth plans for digital and international presence.

She brings a deep understanding of how to translate corporate visions and strategies into simple, elegant solutions – using her international business acumen and technology background as both a business enabler and a competitive differentiator.

Lo Li is multi-lingual – fluent in Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, English, is the recipient of the several industry awards such as the March of Dimes Women of Distinction Award, and serves on the Board of Directors for several national organizations. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Georgia.

Professor Ephraim R. McLean – “Eph” – has worked in the computer field for 53 years and been a faculty member for 46 years.  He earned his bachelor and masters degrees in mechanical engineering at Cornell University, graduating in 1958. After service in the U.S. Army as an Ordnance officer, he worked for the Procter & Gamble Company for seven years, first in manufacturing management and later as a computer systems analyst, beginning in 1962. In 1965, he left P. & G. and entered the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning his master\’s degree in 1967 and his doctorate in 1969.  His dissertation research was conducted at the Lahey Clinic in Boston on a “Computer-Based Medical History System.”  

While at M.I.T., he served on the faculty of the Sloan School as an instructor and assisted in the preparation of three books: The Impact of Computers on Management (MIT Press, 1967), The Impact of Computers on Collective Bargaining (MIT Press, 1969), and Computers in Knowledge-Based Fields (MIT Press, 1970).  In the fall of 1969, Dr. McLean left M.I.T. and joined the faculty of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was the founding Director of the Information Systems Research Program and three times Chairman of the Information Systems area, both within the Anderson School. While at UCLA, he won one of the $2 million grants from IBM for the study of the management of information systems (MoIS).  He also established a joint MBA-MPH degree in Medical Information Systems between the UCLA Schools of Management and of Public Health.

In the fall of 1987, he was named to the George E. Smith Eminent Scholar\’s Chair in Information Systems in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA., only the second endowed chair in information systems in the nation at that time and the first in Georgia.  Since joining GSU, he has helped the Computer Information Systems Department improve its U.S. News & World Report\’s rankings to first in the southeast and eighth in the nation. In 2002, he was named Regents\’ Professor, representing less than one percent of the faculty in the University System of Georgia. In 2007, he was appointed Chairman of the CIS Department at Georgia State, a position he held until he stepped down to return to the faculty in June of 2014.

He has been a visiting professor at the University of South Australia; the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in The Netherlands; ESADE Business School in Barcelona, Spain; and the Alexandria Institute of Technology in Alexandria, Egypt.

Dr. McLean has published over 135 articles in such publications as the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Communications of the ACM, Information Systems Research, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, MISQ Executive, Journal of MIS, European Journal of Information Systems, DATA BASE, and the Proceedings of ICIS, ECIS, HICSS, AMCIS, and NCC. In 2007, a survey published in the Communications of the AIS ranked his ISR paper (co-authored with William DeLone) on “Information Systems Success” (1992) as the most-cited IS research paper published in the world in the last 15 years.  A recent Google search found over 8,000 citations of his published works.

He is the co-author (with John Soden of McKinsey & Co.) of Strategic Planning for MIS (Wiley Interscience, 1977), the first book on IS planning; co-editor of a book of programs entitled Management Applications in APL (UCLA, 1981); co-editor of The Management of Information Systems (Dryden Press, 2nd ed., 1994), and co-author (with Efraim Turban) of the textbook Information Technology for Management (Wiley, 5th ed., 2005), the second largest selling information systems textbook in the world at that time. He was a founding Associate Editor for Research of the MIS Quarterly and, for seven years, the Co-Editor-in-Chief of The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, the oldest business-oriented computer publication in continued existence.

Dr. McLean has three times served on the national Executive Council of the Society for Information Management (SIM); helped found the SIM Southern California and Atlanta chapters; and was Conference Program Co-chair in Los Angeles (1977) and Atlanta (1999). In 1980, he hosted and co-chaired the Organizing Committee for the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) at UCLA and was Conference Co-Chairman in Cambridge, MA (1981); Conference Chairman in San Diego, CA (1986); and Conference Co-Chairman in Atlanta, GA (1997). He served as the Conference Co-chair for the Americas Conference in Information Systems (AMCIS) in Savannah, GA in 2014. For ten years he was the Executive Director of the ICIS and of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) of which he was one of the founding members. In 1999, he was recognized as one of the first Fellows of AIS, one of only seven in the world so honored at that time.

In 1997, he and his co-author Stan Smits were recognized by ACM’s SIGCPR for their ten-year contribution to computer personnel research; in 1998, he was the first winner of the CIS Department’s Myron Greene Award for Outstanding Teaching; and in 2003, he was honored as the \”Information Systems Educator of the Year\” by the Association of Information Technology Professionals (formerly DPMA). In 2007, he was designated as an ACM Distinguished Lecturer; and in December 2007, he was given the LEO Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor in the world for academics in the information systems field.  He is a member of ACM, AIS, DSI, GCLA  (the only non-CIO member of this organization of Georgia CIOs), IFIP (a founding member of WG 8.3), INFORMS, Mensa, SIGCPR & SIGMIS (of ACM), SIM, and ΣΧ (the scientific honorary society).

Steven McWilliams is the Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), one of the largest healthcare trade associations in the state of Georgia. He joined GHA in 2015 and currently is responsible for overseeing IT strategic initiatives, operational effectiveness, and regularly contributes to the organizational advocacy efforts.

Prior to joining GHA, Steven served as part of the IT management team at Oakwood University, a private not-for-profit university located in Huntsville, AL.

Steven obtained his Master of Science in IT Project Management and Leadership from Purdue University. He is an active member of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Steven has been nominated and recognized by a number of organizations over the years but is most proud of his contributions addressing digital literacy, the digital divide, and healthcare technology.

Since joining Aaron\’s in 2014, Tommy Meek has been recognized for his strengths in delivering technology innovation, client satisfaction and the ability to propel teams to grow and excel. In his current role, Tommy serves as the CIO and oversees the digital transformation strategy for technology infrastructure and services as well as the enterprise solutions for its 1,300+ company and franchise stores.

Heather Milam is the Vice President of Global and Enterprise Technology Solutions with a leading technology company in the Travel industry.   She has held Senior Leadership roles within technology for over 20 years at global and fortune 500 companies.  Her experience spans many industries from tech companies to technology for grocery, financial, transportation, and lab companies.  She spent the bulk of her career focused on transformations toward building quality and agility within software development delivery lifecycles; and had the opportunity to launch new technologies and capabilities throughout her career; including electronic payment systems, API Webservices, mobile, microservices, artificial intelligence and cloud.    In addition, led teams within migrations as the technology industry moved to agile; from waterfall to Rup/Iterative, Scrum, Agile, Scaled Agile and then into Scaled Agile Frameworks.  She has provided leadership in major company transformations, but also led large projects such as full migrations, replications, third party integrations, modernizations and engineering quality improvements which resulted in higher customer satisfaction and improved Net Promotor.  She holds a BSIT (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology) and is currently pursuing her MBA.   Heather founded a non-profit effort to support the Cincinnati Children’s Home Christmas for Teens program in 2013 which is still in place today.  More recently, in 2019 founded Helping Orphans Win which supports both the North Georgia Angel girls’ home and Goshen Valley boys’ home.  Heather’s primary residence in North Tennessee, with a second residence in North Georgia which she shares with her husband, 2 dogs and a cat.  She has 4 adult children and 3 grandchildren.

Rob Mills is a highly respected technology executive with a career spanning more than 20 years. He is adept in strategic technology planning, e-commerce, and operations leadership in customer-oriented environments. Using his expertise in leveraging custom and package solutions – including SAP, ATG, and IBM WebCommerce – Rob has provided high-level direction, driving innovation and spearheading market-leading products and services to outpace competitors and establish new industry standards. Prior to Tractor Supply, Rob joined was the Chief Information Officer for Ulta Beauty. From 2005 to 2011, Rob was the Vice President, Chief Information Officer for the online business unit at Sears Holdings Corporation where he began as an Information Technology Customer Relationship Leader in 2001. Prior to 2001, he held roles at Allstate Insurance, Rockwell International Telecommunications Division, and Household Finance Corporation.

Rob Milstead is the Senior Vice President for Strategy and Digital at Genuine Parts Company. In his role, Rob oversees Genuine Parts’ strategic planning process in addition to a variety of digital initiatives. In tandem, these functions are focused on developing strategic plans for the future of GPC by leveraging technology to improve the customer experience, drive competitive advantage and capitalize on our investments to grow topline and bottom-line performance. His team supports numerous B2C and B2B efforts in digital marketing, eCommerce, data science for GPC’s businesses around the world.

Rob joined GPC in early 2015 following a successful 20+ year career in the consulting world where his experiences ranged from running his own marketing agency to working for one of the world’s largest business and technology firms. His focus has been nearly exclusively on business planning, strategy, and digital where he previously assisted numerous Fortune 500 companies improve their performance.

Prakash Muthukrishnan is Chief Technology Officer for Purchasing Power, LLC, a newly created position he was promoted to in January 2017. His current responsibilities will include overseeing eCommerce Platform and User Experience, Product Management, Technology Development, Delivery and IT Operations. Muthukrishnan is based in Atlanta and reports directly to Purchasing Power CEO Richard Carrano.

Previously, Muthukrishnan served as Chief Information Officer, which he was appointed to in 2014. Muthukrishnan joined the company in 2013 to assume responsibility for defining the company’s technology strategy, leading all IT efforts in executing strategic business initiatives, building the company’s e-commerce website and managing IT operations. Within two years, Muthukrishnan was credited for developing Purchasing Power’s award-winning mobile website and app, a strategic initiative that now accounts for more than 50% of gross customer sales and won the company a Bronze Stevie Award in 2015. Additionally, under his leadership, his team won the SAP Hybris North America Success Story of the Year award in 2016.

Prior to Purchasing Power, Muthukrishnan worked in leadership roles for a variety of companies, including Manhattan Associates where he served three years as senior director of technology strategy, and Blockbuster, Inc., working as senior director, enterprise architecture. At each assignment, Muthukrishnan demonstrated a strong background in supply chain, e-commerce, mobile and retail technologies, as well as a solid vision for IT solutions.

Muthukrishnan received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the College of Engineering at Guindy, India. He subsequently earned his Master of Science degree in computer science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. A US Patent holder, he also received a certification in IT Leadership from the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University in Northern California.

A former member of the MIS Industry Advisory Board at the University of Texas in Dallas, Muthukrishnan also is a 2015 ATP Innovation Award winner, recognizing visionary entrepreneurs, advanced technology innovations and outstanding enterprise applications. Furthermore, he is writer and speaker, regularly providing bylined articles for industry trade magazines and newsletters, as well as business presentations for professional conferences and summits around the country.

Mr. Naderi is the Senior Vice President of Technology for Atlanticus Holdings (NASDAQ: ATLC) and the Chief Information Officer for Atlanticus’ auto-loans subsidiary.  He joined Atlanticus in September of 2004 to help start and grow Atlanticus’ presence in the sub-prime auto financing space. He was instrumental in the merger and acquisition of Wells Fargo’s CAR Financial Services division,  HSBC’s ACC Consumer Finance, and Just Right Auto dealership group. In March of 2014, concurrent with the CIO role for Atlanticus’ auto subsidiary, Kas stepped into a role of strategic importance as a turnaround executive for Atlanticus Holdings focused on providing Sales Finance, unsecured Mastercards, and personal loans to millions of customers across the United States, United Kingdom, Guam and Saipan.

Through proprietary data mining, flexible technology platforms, digital application process, and instant decisioning, Atlanticus’ financial services companies have helped provide $25 billion in financial solutions to over 17 million customers.  Atlanticus’ companies stay ahead of the curve using Big Data Analytics and innovative technologies in order to offer the best and most efficient financial service experiences to their customers.

From 2000 to 2004 Mr. Naderi served as the Chief Technology Officer for two Atlanta FinTech organizations – one focused on developing a Municipal Bond trading platform and the other focused on supply chain optimization using Point of Sale standard-based digital receipts. Prior to 2000 Kas was the Senior Director of Emerging Technologies for Intercontinental Hotels where ComputerWorld magazine recognized him as one of the United States\’ top 100 premier technology leaders. From 1989 to 1998, he held several leadership positions within IBM’s research and development laboratory in Austin, TX, including overseeing the development of the AIX operating system, OS2 data communication subsystem, WebSphere middleware, and Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) application framework.

Jeff Petet is a Certified Healthcare CIO and the Vice President of Information Technology for Upstream Rehabilitation, the leading provider of outpatient physical therapy in the United States with over 1200 locations.  He is responsible for setting the IT vision for Upstream, including overseeing strategic planning, implementation, and management of all IT functions for the organization. 

Jeff has over 25 years of experience in leadership positions for several organizations in a variety of industries.  Prior to joining Upstream, Jeff led a global software development team for Unum, a leading disability insurance provider and member of the Fortune 250.  Prior to Unum, Jeff built the IT organization from the ground up at Arcade Beauty, the global leader in multi-sensory marketing and sampling systems.  Jeff specializes in strategic planning, turnarounds, mergers and acquisitions, software development, organization optimization, implementations, information security, and project management.

Jeff has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and holds certifications in Healthcare, Leadership, Information Security, and Project Management.

Molly Rauzi has twenty years of experience leading large, complex business transformation, culture and organizational change initiatives. As a consultant and Chief Information Officer, she provides expert counsel to our clients who are undergoing rapid change. Prior to joining Gagen MacDonald, Molly was the Managing Director leading the Business Advisory Services Practice in the Denver office of Grant Thornton LLP.

From 2007 to 2011, Molly served as an appointee of then Mayor John Hickenlooper (now the Governor of Colorado) to serve as the Chief Information Officer for the City and County of Denver.  Before working for the Mayor of Denver, Molly served as the Director of Technology for Denver International Airport. She has been an active member of her community for more than twenty years. Molly serves on the Board of Directors for Craig Hospital NewCloud Networks, and the Colorado Technology Association.  She also serves on the Center for Information Technology Innovation Board for the University of Colorado Denver Business School. She was voted one of the Twenty five most powerful women in Colorado in 2017. She was honored as Outstanding Woman in Business in 201o by the Denver Business Journal.  Molly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Adminstration, Pre-Law with a minor in Sociology from Regis University, and a Master in Systems Management from the College of Systems Science from the University of Denver. 

Darrell Riekena is the Chief Information Officer of Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC). With roots extending before Prohibition, RNDC is one of the nation’s leading wholesale beverage alcohol distributors. RNDC operates in 23 states through 28 distribution centers with a mobile sales team of 4,000+ people to serve customers nationwide. Darrell is responsible for the company’s overall technology and digital strategies, solutions and initiatives. Darrell is an experienced executive in the Retail and Wholesale Distribution industries spanning consumer-facing, Omni channel companies with retail, grocery, healthcare, global supply chain, and manufacturing capabilities. His primary focus has been transforming organizations through an evolution of strategy, operations, and technologies to enable business objectives that have impacted over 15,000 employees. He has led site-specific and enterprise-wide change management initiatives and orchestrated organizational transformations to position for growth, streamline operational & customer service levels, increase margins and enhance customer, supplier and associate experiences through digital solutions. His experience includes adhering to cyber security best practices and enablement of new business start-ups, divestitures and mergers & acquisitions. Darrell has held global technology and business leadership roles at some of the most recognizable companies in America including: National DCP LLC (supply chain for Dunkin’ Donuts), Target Corporation, Kroger Company, LimitedBrands Inc. and JCPenney Company. In addition he has served on many industry councils including: SAP Retail and Wholesale Advisory Council, Verizon Retail, Travel & Distribution Customer Advisory Board, Verizon Cloud Technology Council, Motorola Retail Mobility Council and National Retail Federation’s Association for Retail Technology Standards. He is also a notable industry advisor, serving as a presenter at Gartner IT/Xpo, Gartner Summit (London), Deloitte Analytics Symposium, SAP Advisory Council (Germany), SAP Sapphire Annual User Conference and Manhattan Associates Annual User Conference Momentum. His work has been recognized by InformationWeek Elite 100 and as a finalist for Georgia CIO of the Year. 

Matt Ringer was the Global Director of Information Technology / CIO who worked with Universal Alloy Corporation the organization to drive growth through innovation and process improvements. Matt empowers his partners by bridging the Gap between IT and the business to better enable success. Matt has quickly moved in to an executive leadership position by focusing on and listening to his partners and learning from his peers. Matt is an active Youth Pastor, Worship Leader and First Priority volunteer. He strives daily to empower the youth of tomorrow to be the best they can be. Matt holds a degree in Information Technology from Georgia Southern University.

James Robertson is VP & Chief Technology Officer for Time Warner’s Enterprise Infrastructure.

Responsible for the end-to-end delivery across a suite of core services that covers the range of traditional IT and Media, Robertson and his team specializes in providing agile transport, solid security and best of breed end-user collaboration technologies. He and his team are focused on creating innovative and effective ways to more efficiently utilize technology in a media-centric, technologically-based, organization like Time Warner.

In his role as CTO, he has responsibility for setting the vision, developing standards, leading R&D efforts and implementing enterprise-class solutions across the company which includes marquee brands such as HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner.

James is also leading the technology plan from base-building construction to end-user collaboration for the new Time Warner Corporate Headquarters in New York. Consisting of approximately 1.5M usable square feet of office, broadcast production and technical space, the new facility is the anchor building within the largest real estate project ever undertaken in the Manhattan. When fully opened in 2019, 5500+ employees of Time Warner will utilize the latest in communication and collaboration capabilities to maximize productivity across the Time Warner working environment and beyond.

Ken is an award-winning technologist, trusted digital transformation leader, and innovation amplifier. He is an author, speaker, and board member known for helping organizations define and pursue their digital transformation journeys with guiding experience, connections, conversations, and collaborations. Key to his success as an active practitioner and coach/mentor is helping senior executives embrace the value of values and prepare for next generation processes and workplace challenges (including resiliency, policy/process development, validation of technology vision/direction, road-mapping, and Enterprise Architecture).

• 2021 Award Winner – HMG Global Leadership Institute Award
• 2020 Award Finalist for the North Carolina Tech Awards (for Industry Driven Healthcare Tech)
• 2018 CIO of the Year Award (finalist) ORBIE Awards/Charlotte Business Journal

Senior Roles/Projects/Investments include:
• Chief Information & Innovation Officer, New College Institute
• Chief Innovation Officer, Curran Biotech
• VP of Digital Transformation and CIO, Pfeiffer University
• Chief Architect & Executive Director, Applied Technology Acceleration Institute
• EVP Digital Transformation & Emerging Markets, iTalent Digital Solutions
• Chief Information Officer, Murdock Research Institute
• Executive roles at Cisco, Bank of America, Duke Energy
• Private Equity Advisor Practitioner – Organization, Technology, and Process

A technology pioneer, Ken developed early Intranet systems for large banks which led to his participation in developing one of the first successful Internet-based training platforms.

• Enterprise Architecture Thought Leader and Coach (TOGAF Certified)
• Nanotechnology and Digital Water Thought Leader
• Focus on Simplification, Resiliency, and Automation via Cloud based solutions

IoT, PMO Acceleration, AI/ML, Business Intelligence, Data Science, M&A, DLT, CPaaS integration, Collaboration, Privacy, Cybersecurity, Help Desk/Contact Center, DevOps & Managed Cloud transformations

Board of Advisors – Curran Nanotechnology Transformation Group
Board Member – Water Innovations Alliance
Board of Advisors – NanoBCA

As Chief Technology Officer of the Nation’s premier Public Health Agency, Jaspal Sagoo is responsible for and leads the development of Information Technology standards, best practices and strategic guidance in support of CDC’s business and scientific mission priorities.

Under Mr. Sagoo, the CTO Office operates both the CDC Technology R&D and Infrastructure Architecture activities. Mr. Sagoo has been with CDC since 1989, serving in a number of roles. Beginning at the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP), Sagoo served as a Senior Network Engineer and Chief Technology Officer and Co-chair of the CDC CTO Council. 

Since 2004, Mr. Sagoo has served as the CDC Chief Technology Officer, playing a significant role in the development of CDC IT Tactical and Strategic IT Policy. In addition to his role as CTO, Mr. Sagoo co-chairs the HHS Cloud Computing Advisory Council (CCAC), the CDC High-Performance Computing (HPC) committee and co-chairs the CDC Innovation and New Technologies Subcommittee (INTS).

As the Head of Cyber Security for thyssenkrupp North America, Stuart Samples led teams to execute global security initiatives including measured response to cyber security incidents and the reduction of risks and threats in alignment with the broader global team.  He performed a wide variety of duties in support of technical and global security services as well as the direct professional and administrative supervision of the Cyber Security engineering team including its emergency incident response teams.

As a Senior Executive leader within the cyber security arena, Stuart is accountable to thyssenkrupp’s top executives globally and possesses the skills to effectively communicate risks, assess impacts and recommend mitigations to reduce threat vectors. Mr. Samples is a strategic technology leader with a foundation of integrity, and a passion for people and service delivery. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biology from the University of West Georgia followed by later studies in emergency medicine, incident management and complex data center operations. He is an avid outdoor enthusiast and founded Alpha Team K9 Search & Rescue, where he also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and volunteers his time within the community to help find lost and missing persons.

Jikin Shah was a Senior Vice President at SunTrust bank in Atlanta, GA. As a Consumer Technology Executive, he was accountable for enabling Retail Bank and Global Contact Centers with innovative technology solutions – 15,000 teammates organization. He has successful track record leading business and IT transformation by establishing alignment across strategy, people, process and technology. He is leading key OMNI initiatives to allow clients seamlessly bank with SunTrust across various channels.

Prior to his current role, he established Enterprise Shared Service capabilities (reusable business components similar to LEGOs) and operationalize global IT team for BPM (Business Process Management, SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and Salesforce.com at SunTrust.

Prior to SunTrust, he worked at MetLife for eight years and managed eBusiness portals and led Small Market enrollment transformation initiative.

He has MBA in Finance from Rutgers University, MS Computer Science from Marist College and BE in Instrumentation Control from LDCE, India.

Grant Shih is Vice President of the Integration, Development, Enterprise Architecture and Support (IDEAS) team at Carter\’s. Prior to joining Carter\’s, Grant spent 15 years with Accenture where he had responsibility for the Global SOA Center of Excellence and Accenture\’s Google Alliance while working across a wide variety of industries and clients. Grant has a Marketing degree from The University of Georgia.

Andrew Sohn is the Former SVP of Global Digital and Analytics Services at Crawford and Company. Crawford is the world\’s largest publicly listed independent provider of claims management solutions to insurance companies and self-insured entities with an expansive global network serving clients in more than 70 countries.  Andrew is responsible for the global data platforms developing and implementing the strategies for data management, data integration, reporting and business intelligence, advanced analytics and digital innovation.

Don Stockslager serves as VP, Strategy & Transformation – Equifax Consumer Services, where he is accountable for rapid transformation of consumer care. By rapidly applying advanced solutions for telephony, CRM, Operational Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation, Equifax is reducing effort for consumers to manage their financial goals. With deep experience in technology delivery and business optimization, Stockslager is skilled in leading agile,cross-functional teams to deliver customer-centric products.

Prior to joining Equifax, Stockslager served in multiple roles at First Data, including leading the global Center of Excellence for Customer Relationship Management technology.  By transforming localized CRM into an enterprise solution, First Data aligned marketing, sales and service into a global system of customer engagement. Role included management of key vendor acquisitions of cloud-based sales enablement solutions, with accountability for service reliability, delivery optimization, and compliance management. 

Other roles at First Data include product delivery for multiple mobile applications for sales enablement, which increased revenue through improvements in Time to Close and increased Initial Order Product Penetration. 

With a background spanning technology and business, Stockslager holds a Bachelor of Science, Computer Science from Shippensburg University, a Master of Business Administration from Frostburg University and is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Alan Stukalsky oversees all facets of Randstad’s technology strategy and implementation in the U.S. and Canada. He looks to steer technology that drives innovation, generates economies of scale and develops best practices for all Randstad businesses. Under his leadership, Randstad consolidated websites, infrastructure and systems that resulted from acquisitions — and used technology to create efficiencies in back office processes. Stukalsky also spearheaded the launch of mobile apps and chat functionality to improve the company’s customer experience.

In this capacity, Stukalsky unifies the power of innovation, technology and marketing to accelerate the integration of digital tools and platforms into the channels, processes and operating models that drive our client and talent experiences.

Stukalsky has a strong focus on digitizing processes and improving interactions with clients, talent and employees to help them be successful in their interactions with the company. He looks to new products, big data, social technology and analytics to move the company forward, and he plays an integral role in conceptualizing and implementing Randstad’s global infrastructure.

Stukalsky is passionate about raising awareness of STEM careers with primary, secondary and college levels students and actively participates in STEM-related activities, including work with Junior Achievement, Georgia State University, STE(A)M Truck and more.

Stukalsky has been selected to participate in the prestigious 2016 Leadership Atlanta program and was nominated in both 2013 and 2015 as Georgia CIO of the Year. He currently participates in and leads IDG’s CIO Staffing Roundtable and serves on the boards of the Georgia CIO Leadership Association, Omicron, Staffing Innovation Exchange and Community Guilds Board.

Julie has nearly 20 years of experience in Information Technology, Cyber Security, and Data Management across numerous Industry Verticals.  Julie is currently the General Manager, Global Vice President of Digital Identity and Data Services at Optiv where she is accountable for developing and implementing identity and data services that protect organization’s most critical assets while ensuring a secure, compliant and uniform digital experience.  Julie has held key transformative CISO and Data Leadership positions where she established and aligned global security and data strategies while leading the implementation of Security and Data capabilities to reduce each organizations cyber risks exposure  while enabling them to maximize their data to grow revenue, product evolution and consumer delight.   

Julie was a finalist for the Atlanta Technology Professional (2017) Award and the Central Region Information Security Executive of the Decade and was recognized as the Central Region Information Security Executive of 2010, which are awards sponsored by Tech Exec Networks (T.E.N.).   Currently, Julie is serving as Board Member on the Identity Defined Security Alliance and an Executive Committee member for the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).  Julie has also served on the ISC2 Trustee Foundation, a Board member of The Drug Free Alliance and Dell Software Security Advisory. 

Julie has a passion for supporting women in their advancement and fulfillment within their careers and has sponsored several Women in Technology Intiatives.  Julie also has obtained Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP), and Certified Governance Enterprise IT (CGEIT) certifications and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Alex has over 20 years of experience in Information Technology, Cyber Security, Pen Testing, Compliance and Internal Audit Management across numerous industries such as payment processor, entertainment, bank, start-ups, and manufacturers.  Alex is currently the Cybersecurity Officer at Rheem Manufacturing where he is accountable for developing and implementing the cybersecurity program and running the Global Security Operations Center (GSOC).  Alex has held key positions in ERP implementation projects, PMO and Internal Audit, where he championed reducing cyber risks in partnership with senior management.

Alex also has obtained Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP),  Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountant (ASCPA), Project Management Professional (PMP) certifications and has a bachelor’s degree in business accounting from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Victoria, Australia.

Prior to joining Rheem Manufacturing, Alex has worked at British American Tobacco, Heidelberg Druckmaschinen, Ernst &Young, Global Payments, and Turner Broadcasting.

Srinivas Thummalapalli was SVP – Chief Enterprise Architect for Fifth Third Bank.  Srinivas started as a Java developer in the late 90’s and has architected several key capabilities at AT&T using emerging technologies prior to moving into leadership roles helping the enterprise scale the delivery.  He then helped establish Walmart’s Enterprise Architecture program to help drive the rapid transformation of their online business and scaling of store systems.  Later, he played a key role at Capital One leading the technology delivery helping Capital One becoming the first financial institution to be fully deployed on Cloud. 

Srinivas is a regular on the speaking circuit, sharing his learnings with fellow leaders in the industry on key technology trends that can enhance the business.  He stayed close to technology and developed code in multiple platforms throughout his 20 year career keeping  in trend with the leadership traits of technology led organizations.  He is currently working on strategies that can advance legacy enterprises modernize using Cloud and Cloud enabled services that can advance enterprises. 

Srinivas volunteers for non-profits including Destination Imagination – a group with a mission to advance creative thinking and innovation in the next generation.  He earned his  Masters in Computer Science from Midwestern State University, Texas

John Trainor is Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Aaron\’s, Inc., an Atlanta-based specialty retailer that leases furniture, electronics, and appliances.  Since 1999, his technology and organizational leadership has helped Aaron\’s grow to be a $4B organization.  Prior to joining Aaron\’s, he worked at the Southern Company and the United States Senate.  He has a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

John serves on the Board of Directors as well as Chairman of the Georgia Technology Summit for the Technology Association of Georgia.  He is an Advisory Board member for GeorgiaCIO\’s, a Board member for PowerMyLearning Atlanta, and an Executive Board member for ATP. He volunteers and raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Georgia.

John lives in Roswell, GA with his wife, Heather, and 3 sons, Jack, William, and Phillip.  John likes triathlons, running, and photography

Gautam Vyas is EVP and Division Executive at FIS. Gautam was recruited to FIS in 2016 to build its Global Professional Services business and accelerate its growth trajectory. Gautam added Growth Officer responsibilities in 2018 and expanded his remit to build and grow Services business for the Banking Solutions segment in 2019. Gautam now leads the Banking Solutions Services business spanning Digital & Banking, Payments and Wealth. As Global Head of Professional Services, Gautam’s responsibilities include accelerating FIS’ top and bottom-line growth through new and unique Services, productizing services, Go to Market through expansion of client footprints, and creating new distribution channels. FIS’ Professional Services division is a Digital & Banking and Payments modernizer that actively supports financial institutions globally, helping clients meet their unification and transformation goals across the entire organization – through Strategy consulting, Business transformations, Proactive and bespoke services, System integrations, Implementation of software and ancillary services, and Go to Market plans. Gautam’s division also ignites its client’ growth through Advanced Analytics & customer adoption programs. Prior to FIS, Gautam has held senior executive roles in large Financial companies and Management Consulting firms like Equifax, Ernst & Young and others, building and transforming businesses and fueling growth. Gautam is advisory board member of CxO advisory organizations, and at Kansas State School of Business, his alma mater. Gautam is an active participant in FinTech industry thought leadership, and actively speaks at industry forums on Strategy, Innovation & Trends, and Business Transformation topics. He earned his M.S (Electronics) from S.P. University and MBA from Kansas State University. Gautam is based in the Atlanta area with his teams across the Globe.

Gerald Waldherr is Vice President for Information Technology for Mondi Group in Americas. In his role he is responsible for all IT topics in the region America which includes facilities in the USA, Mexico and Colombia. Beside the technical infrastructure related topics and cyber security, he manages the change management process for applications provided by the Mondi Group Corporate Information Management team.

Gerald joined Mondi in 2005 and served in a variety of progressively more responsible information technology (IT) roles including the oversight of the global ERP systems and other global applications (data warehouse and CRM) for two of Mondi’s business segments. Locations across Europe, North Africa and Arabic countries allowed him to deal with many different cultures. Outsourcing in near (Eastern Europe) and offshore locations (India) complete his international experience.

Gerald earned a master degree in business administration from the Vienna University of economics and business.

Dwain Wilcox is the Executive Vice President and CIO for thyssenkrupp Elevator Americas.  Thyssenkrupp Elevator is a global manufacturer and service provider for elevators, escalators and passenger boarding bridges consisting of over 52,000 employees and $9 billion in revenues as part of Thyssenkrupp AG, a diversified industrial group with traditional strengths in materials, capital goods, and services businesses with over 158,000 employees in 80 countries.

In his current role, he is responsible for IT strategy and operations for the company’s largest and most profitable business unit serving as a key member of the executive committee and leading major transformations in Field Service and Manufacturing Operations.  He is also responsible for major initiatives in the areas of customer experience, digitalization and IoT.

Prior to thyssenkrupp, Mr. Wilcox served CIO of Axiall Corporation where he was responsible for IT strategy, business transformation, and leading acquisition integration for a fortune 500 global chemical company.

Mr. Wilcox’s career has spanned more than twenty years in diverse industries including consulting, manufacturing, supply chain, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.  Over that span he has led more than eighteen mergers, acquisitions and divestitures and increased business value through global digital transformation. He is married with two children and enjoys golf, outdoor sporting events, camping, fishing, and hiking.

Education:

Florida State University
B.S. Management Information Systems / Computer Science