Honolulu, HI | August 21, 2024 | Hawai‘i Convention Center

Natasha Nicolai

Data Analytics and Transformation Leader, State & Local Government, AWS

Natasha Nicolai is the data analytics and transformation leader for state and local government at Amazon Web Services (AWS). During her time as an appointee of the Newsom Administration in CA, Natasha was the Chief Data Strategist and Deputy Director of Research, Automation, and Data for the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). During her tenure, she was responsible reimagining the department’s data, research and evaluation efforts. In just two years, she led efforts to automate over 100 federal and state reports, redefined the paradigm for program integrity functions, and planned for automation and data verification efforts that support service delivery to over 15 million eligible Californians.

Natasha served on the the advisory team of Chief Data Officers and other executives to complete the planning process for the State’s Cradle to Career data integration effort, and served in a similar capacity to advise implementation of the CHHS Agency Data Exchange as an early demonstration of the Center for Data Insights and Innovations. She was broadly responsible for strengthening CDSS’ capacity to collect, govern, analyze, and utilize analytics to provide a more human-centered and data-driven policy landscape- a task that proved especially crucial during the State’s response to the COVID public emergency and two extreme wild fire seasons.

John Larson

Executive Vice President and Leader of AI Practice, Booz Allen

John Larson leads Booz Allen’s artificial intelligence (AI) practice. He directs a world-class team of AI and machine learning engineers, innovators, and technologists who provide award-winning AI solutions supporting the most critical missions for national defense, civilian agencies, and intelligence communities.

His industry expertise encompasses the energy and natural resources, automotive, maritime, retail, and healthcare and pharmaceutical fields. John is a recognized expert in analytic techniques, such as machine learning, predictive modeling, Bayesian networks, and natural language processing. Prior to joining Booz Allen, John was global head of advanced analytics for IHS Markit where he led enterprise-wide innovation, developing artificial intelligence and machine learning-enabled products and consulting solutions for national governments and global Fortune 500 commercial entities.

John is a co-founder of Aurora Insights and Anomaly Investments. He is also a passionate advocate for AI education, serving on both the General Assembly AI & Data Science advisory board and the AI Education Project advisory board.

John holds a master’s in public policy and a double B.A. in economics and history, both from The College of William and Mary. In April 2023, John received the first Dyslexic Edge Award from the Dyslexic Edge Foundation, which recognizes individuals with dyslexia who have excelled in their chosen fields.

Mahdi Belcaid

Associate Chair of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Mahdi Belcaid is the Associate Chair of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he also serves as an Associate Professor in Computer Sciences and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. His research concentrates on the application of data science and artificial intelligence to computational biology, analytics, and collaborative research. Mahdi holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and graduate degrees in Bioinformatics and Computational Systems from the University of Quebec in Montreal.

Committed to the responsible development and application of AI, Mahdi is actively involved in AI upskilling and workforce development initiatives. He works with a diverse range of individuals, from high school students to seasoned professionals, to shape the next generation of tech innovators. His efforts are driven by the conviction that ethical and thoughtful AI applications can significantly benefit communities, businesses, and government institutions.

Nicole Cacal

Founder & CEO, Forbes Ignite

Nicole Cacal is a highly regarded leader in the entrepreneurship, digital & business strategy, and innovation fields, with a passion for advancing the Filipino community. Nicole is a strategic advisor to small businesses in Hawaii, where she helps them create customer-centric strategies and digital marketing. She is also the Founder and CEO of Forbes Ignite, a consultancy advising global companies on how to innovate at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and social impact (Forbes Ignite is a license partner of Forbes Media, LLC). She has worked with companies like American Express, Salesforce, Accenture, Colgate-Palmolive, and Givaudan. Nicole is also the Founder and Executive Director of Katalista.org, a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurship in the Filipino American community. A dedicated lecturer at the Parsons School of Design and a visiting professor at the Pratt Institute, she teaches courses on financial management, social innovation, and strategic technology to the next generation of diverse leaders. Nicole is also a Virtual Professional-in-Residence at the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE), playing a pivotal role in shaping the minds of budding professionals in the field. Nicole is also an accomplished keynote and TEDx speaker. Nicole holds a BBA in Finance & International Business from the University of Hawaii, an MSc in Strategic Design & Management from the Parsons School of Design, and an MSc in Technology Management from Columbia University.

Peter Dresslar

Founder, Hawai‘i AI Lab

Peter Dresslar was formerly executive director of Hawaii Center for AI, a nonprofit based in Honolulu dedicated to the beneficial use of responsible artificial intelligence for all Hawaii residents. Dresslar also serves as Program Manager for A‘oa‘oga Aso Nei at the American Samoa Community College, a $3M grant-funded innovation program designed to transform the college through technology, enhancing the experience for students, staff, and faculty. Dressler is also Founder and President of Pacific Broadband and Digital Equity, where he successfully led initiatives in Guam and CNMI to secure over $140M in broadband funding in 2023. This achievement underscores Dresslar’s commitment to bridging the digital divide and enhancing connectivity in the Pacific region. His main focus is on AI and its impact on Policy, Development, and Digital Equity to leverage cutting-edge technology for positive change. He lives in Ewa Beach on Oahu.

Leilani Farinas

Executive Director, TRUE Initiative

Leilani Farinas is the Executive Director of TRUE Initiative, a non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate technology adoption across Hawaii’s organizations. At TRUE, Leilani partners with tech leaders such as AWS, NEC, Salesforce, Servco, Central Pacific Bank, DataHouse, Pacxa and Pacific Point Inc. to deliver impactful programs focused on AI and cloud technology. In 2022, Leilani launched the TRUE Esports + Tech Lab at the Waipahu Public Library, establishing it as a gaming and tech educational hub for the community. In 2023, Leilani led the development of a homeless care coordination tool, transforming client servicing for the Institute of Human Services and tech-enabling 20+ case workers and counting. The tool has the potential to be adopted by the State of Hawaii to help address homelessness.

Previously, Leilani served as Vice President of Marketing at NBCUniversal Media. In this capacity, she played a pivotal role in establishing Keeping Up With The Kardashians as a global pop culture sensation, producing the show’s first-ever immersive event at London’s prestigious Saatchi Gallery. She also led the expansion of E! Entertainment, Telemundo and Bravo brands into new international markets, including Russia, China, Japan, Africa and New Zealand, scaling the marketing organization to reach 150M subscribers across 18+ global channels.

Earlier in her career at Comcast, she relaunched the brand into a leading lifestyle content producer. Innovative account-based marketing strategies contributed to the company’s growth from a start-up to a thriving business generating multi-million dollar volume deals. Leilani also managed high-profile talent relations and executive speaking engagements, solidifying Comcast’s presence as a major global player.

With a deep passion for data-driven, immersive storytelling, Leilani continues to leverage her expertise to drive impactful results.

Meridith Fonseca

Chief Data Officer, US Army Pacific (USARPAC)

Ms. Meridith Fonseca is the Chief Data Officer for US Army Pacific (USARPAC). The CDO is the change agent responsible for transforming USARPAC into an organization that effectively operationalizes data and enables key leader decision-making at the speed and scale necessary to outpace adversaries during competition, crisis, and conflict. ​Within the CDO she leads three divisions: KM/Data Goverannce, Data Management, and Analytics. She was formerly the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) Force Modernization Center (UFMC) Research and Development (R&D) Director at Fort Bragg, NC. There she led a directorate comprised of Science and Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Command Data Modernization. She developed strategies to resource low to mid Technology Readiness Level (TRL) solutions for multi-domain future Army Special Operations capabilities. Over the course of her government civilian tenure she has held the following Department of Army positions: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Commodity Chief at the Army Special Operations Aviation Command (ARSOAC), Force Modernization Supervisor for C4i, Intelligence Systems and Sensors, Robotics and Military Information Support Operations (MISO) at the 1st Special Forces Command (1st SFC), Aviation Requirements Specialist for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR) and Requirements and Acquisition Specialist for MISO at the USASOC Combat Developments Division (CDD). Meridith has industry experience in both Project Management and Product Management from the dual use outdoor recreation and law enforcement soft goods industry. Her military experience includes serving in the Army since 2003, initially enlisted and now a commissioned reserve officer, currently serving in the individual augmentee program at INDOPACOM J3. Together this experience and service drives her passion for holistic modernization, emerging technology integration and defense acquisition in support of our nations warfighters.

Raul Frias

Solutions Architect Leader, US West Enterprise

Raul Frias currently leads an organization of Solutions Architects at AWS, focusing on accelerating the adoption of cloud and AI technologies to advance enterprise business outcomes. He has been with Amazon Web Services for 11 years, during which he has led national and international teams of Solutions Architects across both private and public markets.

Raul currently resides in Southern California and is passionate about technology and its impact on companies and society. Prior to joining AWS, he spent several years in sales and pre-sales roles at companies like Cisco Systems and EMC. He holds several industry certifications, including multiple AWS certifications, and is a Network and Telecommunications Engineer, having graduated from ITESO University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Robert Groat

EVP, Strategy and Technology, SMX

Robert Groat is the EVP of Strategy and Technology for SMX, bringing to his position more than 30 years of experience and strategy consulting skills in designing, developing, and delivering market-leading products and services, especially in financial services, healthcare, federal, and Department of Defense sectors.

He helps formulate SMX’s strategy and vision and ensures the company’s technology innovations are optimized to support the strategy and aligned with current and future client needs. He and his team identify innovative technologies that can help clients accelerate mission success and help SMX operate more efficiently and cost-effectively and determine whether to build or acquire the technology. Rob is also responsible for building strategic partnerships, evaluating potential acquisitions, and leveraging them to achieve synergy and value for clients and SMX.

Under Rob’s technology leadership, the company has developed large-scale cloud solutions for Treasury, Department of Justice, Department of Interior, United States Navy, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Toyota, Dole Food, NFL Mobile, Allergan, Siemens, and Medtronic. The first use of virtualization technologies in theater (for the forward-deployed Marine Expeditionary Forces) took place under his leadership, as did the first government-wide solution hosted in the Amazon AWS cloud.

Before joining SMX, Rob was Chief Technology and Products Officer at netDecide Inc., where he led the creation of award-winning enterprise wealth management platforms for several large commercial enterprises. He began his career in software architecture with Booz Allen Hamilton.

He is a frequent lecturer at cloud and technology conferences including XML One, Amazon Web Services (AWS) RE:Invent and public sector conferences, DGI’s cloud summits, and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Service-Oriented Architecture conference. He has co-published numerous papers on advanced optimization mathematics, holds a patent in numerical analyses methods, and was the winner of the Northern Virginia Technology Council CTO Innovator of the Year award for his pioneering work in deploying cloud solutions for the federal government.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University, and several professional certifications across AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure. He and his wife of 15 years and their two children enjoy sailing and fishing the waters around Solomons, MD.

Erin E. Harbinson, PhD

Executive Director, Criminal Justice Research Institute

Prior to joining CJRI, Dr. Erin Harbinson was a research scholar for the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School where she led projects studying community corrections, authored several technical reports, and secured funding for research. Dr. Harbinson has worked as a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center conducting technical assistance for states implementing justice reinvestment legislation. She received her PhD in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati and worked for the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. While there, she conducted trainings on risk assessment and evaluated correctional programs.

Her research interests include criminal justice policy, risk assessment, and improving the measurement of performance metrics and outcomes in criminal justice. Dr. Harbinson has been invited to speak on evidence-based practices, applied criminal justice research, and cybercrime. She has published research on parole, corrections, risk assessment, white-collar crime, and cybercrime in journals such as Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Crime and Justice, Criminal Justice Studies, and European Journal of Probation.

Dean Hazama

Deputy Director, State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA)

Dean Hazama serves as Deputy Director for the State of Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA). Appointed in January 2023, he is responsible for the management of the department and its mission to protect Hawaii’s consumers and ensure effective and timely oversight of the regulatory environment for businesses and consumers.

Mr. Hazama has extensive institutional experience in fiscal, budget, and legislative management and brings a strong passion to serve the people of Hawaii. He previously served in various federal positions at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard including as Technical Director of the Pacific Fleet Technical Support Center, Logistics Officer for the Pacific Defense Information Systems Agency, and Business and Material Officer for the Defense Logistics Agency Maritime Pearl Harbor. Following his federal service, he joined the State of Hawaii as Business Management Officer at DCCA and at the Hawaii Department of Transportation.

He is Chair of the Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board and former chair of the Honolulu Planning Commission and State Apprenticeship Council and is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Accounting from the Shidler College of Business.

Alan Ito

IT Workforce Development & Regulated Policy Lead, University of Hawaii

Mr. Ito is with the University of Hawaii as IT Workforce Development & Regulated Policy Lead. Immediately prior to this, he was information security officer for Hawaii Pacific Health responsible for the oversight of Hawai‘i Pacific Health’s information security programs. Prior to joining Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Mr. Ito held various information technology leadership positions including chief information officer for TeamPraxis, Hawai‘i Health Systems Corp., and St. Francis Healthcare System. He helped start the Regional Extension Center program at the Hawai‘i Health Information Exchange and was involved in starting Convergence CT, a health care data company. He also served as a consultant with KPMG, an international accounting and consulting firm.

Ka‘imi Kahihikolo

Chief Technology Officer, Booz Allen Hamilton

Kaʻimi Kahihikolo, a data scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, brings extensive expertise in developing AI-powered applications, encompassing computer vision, natural language processing, and reinforcement learning. With a background in astrophysics and a strong foundation in mathematics, he specializes in creating proprietary machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms. He has conducted award-winning research across diverse fields such as astrophysics, bioinformatics, and geology. A three-time NASA research fellow and experienced public speaker, Kaʻimi is passionate about applying machine learning techniques to intellectually challenging tasks and learning new technologies and tools. (https://www.kaimi.dev/)

Arif Abdul Kareem

Manager-Solutions Architect, Databricks

Arif Abdul Kareem leads Databricks’ team of Solution Architects, serving state, local government, and education (EDU) customers nationwide. With extensive experience supporting public sector agencies, he excels in solving complex data challenges. Before joining Databricks, Arif worked at SAS, where he helped public sector customers design data architectures that integrate diverse technologies and foster collaboration among data teams.

Pranav Khadilkar

AWS Solutions Architect

Pranav is a solutions architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) with more than 15 years of experience in software development, design, and architecture. He works closely with partners to assist public sector customers in developing Well-Architected workloads on AWS Cloud. Pranav is passionate about emerging technologies – particularly Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). He is also an ambassador and member of the Generative AI Technical Field Community at AWS.

Brandon Lester

Director of Artificial Intelligence, Booz Allen Hamilton

With over 20 years of experience in information technology and engineering, Brandon is a technology leader delivering innovative solutions and outcomes for complex challenges in the defense and intelligence sectors. Brandon serves as the Director of Artificial Intelligence in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Indo Pacific CTO, leading the strategy, design, and implementation of cutting-edge digital transformation and AI approaches that enhance the security, performance, and efficiency of our clients’ missions and operations. Through Brandon’s career he’s served as a technical leader at Microsoft (Sr. Technology Strategist), SRC Technologies (CTO), CACI (Data Engineer), and Northrop Grumman (Multidiscipline Engineer) demonstrating core competencies in cloud technologies, cyber/security engineering, project/program management, data science/engineering, systems engineering, and big data analytics and dashboards. Brandon is also a Board Director of AFCEA International, previous President of AFCEA Hawaii and the AFCEA Asia Regional Vice President, where he helps build communities that connect the defense industry in support of national security. Brandon lives in Kailua with his wife and 2 sons.

Lord Ryan Lizardo

Vice President, Education, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii

Lord Ryan Lizardo has dedicated his life to a career in Education. Growing up in Ewa Beach, HI, Lord Ryan became passionate about a career in education through being a mentor in the Big Brothers and Big Sister Program to three little bros. When he graduated from James Campbell High School in 2010, he went on to pursue his undergraduate degree at Chapman University and graduated with a BA in Integrated Educational Studies with minors in Sociology and Anthropology.

Lord Ryan went on to join Teach for America Hawai’i and taught for six years at his alma mater, James Campbell High School. During his time at Campbell, he taught Social Studies and Education, served as the Academy Lead of the Academy of Public and Human Services, and advised the Class of 2020 student council and Rainbow Sabers. During his Summer’s, Lord Ryan worked with Teach for America Hawai’i as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness Facilitator supporting teachers through identity work and culturally responsive pedagogy. In 2016, Lord Ryan completed his graduate degree and earned an MSEd in Secondary Education from Johns Hopkins University.

Lord Ryan now works as the Vice President of Education at the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. His role acts as an intermediary to support business engagement with our local Department of Education schools through work-based learning (WBL). Engagements include field trips, mock job interviews, internships, etc. He also works as a strategic partner in developing statewide initiatives regarding work-based learning and employer engagement. He currently serves as a Board Member for the Hawaii LGBT Legacy Foundation.

Constancio Carvajal Paranal III

Office of Economic Revitalization, City & County of Honolulu

Constancio Carvajal Paranal III is a dedicated professional with a diverse background in community and economic development, government, academia, and the private sector. At the City and County of Honolulu’s Office of Economic Revitalization, he leads innovation and technology initiatives that drive economic growth. He also supports the Honolulu Federal Executive Board on projects for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI). In addition to his public service roles, Constancio manages programs for eWorld Enterprise Solutions, owns a boutique consulting firm specializing in management and digital marketing, and holds executive board positions in organizations like the Filipino Young Leaders Program, Filipino Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, American Lung Association Hawaii, and American Advertising Federation Hawaii. He co-founded the Finley Fort Foundation, a nonprofit focused on pet care in Hawaii, and educates future leaders and entrepreneurs at the University of Southern California, the University of Hawaii West Oahu, and the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship. As a lawyer specializing in cybersecurity and intellectual property, Constancio combines legal expertise with technological acumen, demonstrating his commitment to fostering equity and inclusion across all his work.

Rosemary Peh

Senior Vice President & Head of Data & Analytics, First Hawaiian Bank

Rosmary is an accomplished business technology executive with over 25 years of cross-industrious experience (i.e., Finance & Banking, Utility, Education, Retail & Hospitality, Quick Service, and Manufacturing). Throughout her career, she has consistently demonstrated excellent performance with continual growth in leadership & management responsibility. With a strong multi-industry business acumen and a proven track record of enabling business growth with technology in today’s global business environment. Her focus is on creating and delivering value to customers, shareholders and employees, by enabling the creation of value by developing and growing high performance teams that are focused on results via the balanced needs of people. Her leadership style is a passionate “play to win” style that is values and principles based; with effective communication skills used to motivate both large and small groups. Key values that make the fabric of her servant leadership style include integrity, respect, diversity, collaboration, applied knowledge, accountability, “can do” attitude, and compassion with a focus on both the individual and community. Her most recent position is as the SVP, Head of Data & Analytics at First Hawaiian Bank; where she is implementing an enterprise-wide data & analytics strategy and roadmap, that is designed to make FHB a more data driven and relationship excellence bank.

Summer Rankin

AI Solution Architect, Chief Technology Office, Booz Allen Hamilton

Summer Rankin is a computational neuroscientist who investigates the boundaries of AI and drives data science solutions for federal government clients. She is an AI Solution Architect in the Chief Technology Office at Booz Allen Hamilton. She serves as an artificial intelligence subject matter expert for Indo-Pacific defense and health clients and leads projects that involve a range of machine learning techniques including: deep learning, generative AI, anomaly detection, and performance measurement. She holds a PhD in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences and and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Charles Limb, MD at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has multiple peer-reviewed publications, public software releases, and conference presentations in the fields of AI, data science and neuroscience. Her most recent publications involved modeling mortality rates in chronic kidney disease and adverse event detection from health records (FDA).

Vanessa Rodgers

Associate Vice President, Workforce Development, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii

Vanessa Rogers currently serves as the Associate Vice President of Workforce Development at the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. In this capacity, Vanessa is responsible for increasing the local talent pipeline by connecting Hawaii employers to qualified jobseekers. Through her work managing talent pipelines and supporting Sector Partnerships, she plays a key role in preparing and connecting Hawaii’s residents to in-demand, family sustaining careers allowing kamaaina to thrive in Hawaii.
Driven by a passion for educational equity and professional development, Vanessa has spent her career in educational leadership, program management, staffing, and workforce development consultancy.

Prior to joining the Chamber, Vanessa spent nearly a decade working at a national workforce development non-profit, Year Up, where she held positions as a Business Communications Instructor, Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Academics.

Vanessa grew up in Seattle, Washington and received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Oregon.

Stason Rodrigues

AWS Solutions Architect

Stason Rodrigues is an AWS Solutions Architect, and he has helped Hawaii’s State, Local, and Higher-Education customers on their AWS cloud journeys for the past 3+ years. He has over 25 years of experience in various IT roles (Desktop, Developer, Analyst, Administrator, Consultant, Management), with the majority of time spent in Data Administration/Warehousing and Solutions Architect roles for various local private-sector companies.

Dr. Winston Sakurai

Interim Director, Curriculum Innovation Branch, State of Hawaii Department of Education

For over 34 years Dr. Winston Sakurai has been an educational leader at the local, state and national levels. He is a former Vice Chairperson of the Hawaii State Board of Education and currently the Curriculum Innovation Branch Director for the Hawaii State Department of Education where he has been tapped to lead their AI workgroup. Sakurai was recognized for his outstanding accomplishments as the NASSP National Digital Principal of the Year and HASSA Hawaii State Principal of the Year. He co-authored the book Education Write Now: Top Strategies for Improving Relationships and Culture and can be found on various podcasts and social media platforms.

Toby San Luis

Principal Solutions Architect, World Wide Technology

20+ years in information technology. Experience with commercial, healthcare, financial, state and local government, education and DoD customers. Mostly focused on working with hybrid data center/cloud customers covering cloud, storage, compute, converged and hyper-converged infrastructure, virtualization, and data management/protection.

Mark Schreiber

General Manager, Cloudwick

Mark Schreiber is the General Manager at Cloudwick, where he leads the development of AI-driven solutions for government agencies, focusing on siloed data integration and real-time reporting through the Amorphic Data Fabric, powered by AWS. His work includes strategic government data and reporting automation with CIOs and CDOs in Hawaii, California, and Arizona, leading to improvements in operational efficiency and lower costs of data and analytics. A notable example is California’s savings of over $37 million realized through the use of Amorphic.

Nick Sciarrilli

AWS Senior Solutions Architect

Nick Sciarrilli is a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services based in Hawaii. He works with AWS customers who are beginning their journey to the cloud. He also is a specialist in computer networks and machine learning.

Matt Sweetnam

AHEAD Chief Architect, Digital Solutions

Matt is a seasoned and accomplished Chief Architect for Data and Analytics, boasting over two decades of experience in designing and implementing cutting-edge data-driven solutions. With an extensive background in data warehousing, big data, and advanced analytics, Matt has successfully led numerous teams to deliver innovative strategies and architectures that drive business growth and efficiency. A visionary thinker, Matt is known for staying ahead of the curve, anticipating market trends and emerging technologies to keep organizations at the forefront of the data landscape. As a highly sought-after speaker and thought leader, Matt is dedicated to sharing knowledge and insights within the industry, fostering a collaborative environment to drive the future of data and analytics.

Mark Troske

Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, First Hawaiian Bank

With 28 years of experience in IT spanning various industries including Dotcom, Consulting, Retail, and Financial Services/Banking, Mark Troske is the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at First Hawaiian Bank. In this role, Mark oversees the Enterprise Technology Management and Cybersecurity Division, driving technological innovation and safeguarding the bank’s digital assets.

Previously, Mark served as Senior Vice President, Senior Director, and Head of Digital at TCF Bank from 2014 to 2021. During this time, Mark led TCF’s Digital Product and Engineering organizations and played a pivotal role in the TCF-Chemical Bank merger. From 2007 to 2014, Mark was a Group Manager at Target Technology Services, where he led Dotcom, Digital, and Property Development IT initiatives. Prior to that, he worked as a Product Manager at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu from 2002 to 2007, where he was instrumental in building global intranet and client extranet systems, as well as enterprise content management functions. Mark’s career began at Lante Corporation, where he worked as a Project Leader and Senior Developer from 1996 to 2002, contributing to various technology and strategy projects across IBM stack/Lotus Notes, Microsoft SQL/Visual Basic, and Java. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Mark holds BAs in Government & International Relations and Computer Applications and Programming.

Rich Uhl

Founder, Dev-Island

Rich Uhl is a seasoned technology executive who resides in Kaua’i. Rich is the Founder and former CTO of 1Strategy, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Premier Consulting Partner; Rich built 1Strategy into a top-tier AWS Premier Partner, leading to its acquisition by TEKsystems in October 2019. With 15 years of AWS expertise and 26 years of IT experience, including two Masters-level Architecture board certifications, Rich is an advisor and mentor to startups and technology leaders. Rich is deeply committed to creating opportunities in technology for Native Hawaiians and minorities in Kaua’i, which is evident in his role as the visionary founder of Dev-Island, a non-profit dedicated to this cause.

Mario Velez

Worldwide Public Sector GTM Lead, AWS Local Zones

Mario Velez has been with the WWPS Hybrid Cloud team since August 2021 as a Business Development Manager covering the Americas. He is the Worldwide Public Sector (WWPS) go-to-market lead for AWS Local Zones, defining and driving initiatives to help our customers leverage the cloud closer to their operations and/or end users. Mario has 30 years of international business development experience in the ICT sector. Throughout this time, he has developed an extensive background in driving geographic market development initiatives and leading efforts to establish new operations throughout EMEA and Latin America. Working in the telecommunications sector in various countries, he focused his energy on addressing the challenges associated with international connectivity. Leveraging this experience, Mario joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) in early 2018 and prior to joining the Hybrid Cloud team, was part of the WWPS Government Transformation team helping governments accelerate their migration to the AWS cloud by driving infrastructure expansion opportunities in EMEA and Latin America.

Lakshmi VP

Specialist Solutions Architect AWS Secure Hybrid Edge

Lakshmi is a Specialist Solutions Architect in the AWS World Wide Public Sector (WWPS) Hybrid Edge Team for Americas. She is one of the lead SA for AWS Local Zones in WWPS Americas segment and primarily works on USA – State local government (SLG), Education, Healthcare and NPO sectors supporting all Hybrid Edge Solutions. Lakshmi has extensive background in Networking, telecommunications and Security supporting worldwide Enterprise customers before joining AWS.

Mimi Whitehouse

Responsible AI, Public Service Governance & Advisory, Accenture

Mimi Whitehouse is a Senior Manager in the North America Responsible AI practice. She has consulted on Responsible AI for over five years, with recent focus on implementing governance frameworks to include NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework and Generative AI Profile. She brings over 15 years of experience, delivering solutions to meet policy and regulatory requirements for government agencies. Clients have included those in energy, health, defense, agriculture, financial regulatory and commerce. Solutions and events have included GenAI prototypes, full-scale production implementations of custom software, AI 101 training, and hackathons for agency employees. Mimi has an MBA from George Mason University and a BA from the University of Virginia.