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Photo by Sean Grado/DataHouse
Source: Hawaii to host first-ever Cloud Innovation Summit

The transformative summit is being presented by TRUE (Technology Readiness User Evaluation), a program of nonprofit organization Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative that focuses on creating a diverse and sustainable economy through tech enabling Hawaii, and Transform Hawai‘i Government, a nonprofit that advocates for government modernization to improve access, efficiency and cost-savings within government programs and services.

The event is made possible through the generous support of DataHouse, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Hawaii Tourism Authority. DataHouse, Hawaii’s leading IT consultanting firm, and AWS, the largest IT cloud services company in the world, are facilitating the content offering and providing insights and technical expertise to help drive Hawaii’s community toward a cloud-first future. Hawaii Tourism Authority are providing the world-class conference facilities at the Hawaii Convention Center.

Whether it’s for data storage, serverless computing, or other digital services, the cloud allows organizations to easily access information anywhere, anytime while providing a secure environment. More and more of Hawaii’s private and public sector leaders in the tech and non-tech industries are harnessing the power of the cloud to transform their organizations and improve productivity and efficiency, and make smarter, faster data-based decisions.

“We all need to move to the cloud to increase productivity and efficiency in our workplaces, but most importantly, to stay relevant in this global economy,” said Eddie Ontai, president of DataHouse, which integrates AWS products into its services for public and private sector clients. “As we learn from each other and from the keynote speakers, we’ll discover more opportunities for digital solutions to help Hawai‘i organizations flourish.”

“More than ever, both tech and non-tech businesses have the ability to leverage technology,” said Leilani Farinas, TRUE executive director. “The cloud has shown everyone that it is possible to remain operational and collaborate during the pandemic. This summit is an opportunity to come together to continue to lift each other towards our shared digital journey, showing Hawaii’s organizations new ways to be more productive and efficient.”

“IT leaders in the public sector face unique challenges and resource constraints,” said Christine Sakuda, executive director of Transform Hawai‘i Government. “We believe this summit will inspire new ways to modernize government by providing a forum to exchange ideas and freely share about challenges and success stories. Accelerating transformation will ensure Hawai‘i residents receive the services they expect from a digital government.”

The conference will feature informative panels and sessions focused on Business Operations, Technical Applications, Workforce Development Opportunities as well as an impressive line-up of thought leaders. Confirmed keynote speakers include:

• Kat Lawrence
  Title
  Kat Lawrence leads Medicaid work for Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) state and local government practice. In this role, she helps Medicaid agencies across the country use technology to solve their toughest challenges. Prior to joining AWS, Kat spent 6 years at the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), the District of Columbia’s state Medicaid agency. There, she led a $600 million city-wide digital transformation to integrate 66 health and human services programs into a single eligibility, enrollment, and case management experience. She ensured the District residents’ access to healthcare by automating Medicaid renewals and making State Plan changes to expand Medicaid. Kat is also a lawyer; in addition to her programmatic wor k, she has served as a Medicaid policy leader, secured funding from Pennsylvania’s Medicaid for Meaningful Use program, and advocated for individual Medicaid recipients living with HIV and AIDS. She holds a JD from Drexel University and a BA from Lehigh University.
• Stephen Brozovich
  Principal Evangelist, People Experience Team, Amazon Web Services
  Brozovich started his career at Amazon in 1999 as a web developer, and for the following 13 years held technical roles that allowed him to observe the organizational patterns that accompanied Amazon’s growth and technical evolution. Brozovich returned to his focus on culture as a principal evangelist for AWS Human Resources in 2019. Today, his mission is to help AWS customers unlock innovation and invention within their own organizations.
• Morgan Reed
  Executive Government Advisor, State and Local Government, Amazon Web Services
  Morgan Reed spent four years as chief information officer for the State of Arizona, where he led cloud transformations to consolidate 30 different email systems, modernize 15 citizen-facing applications, migrate critical agency workloads off the state-owned mainframe, and shut down the state’s largest datacenter after migrating 80% to the cloud. Today, he coaches state and local government executives through strategy, policy, and governance challenges and helps them accelerate their cloud adoption journey as governments innovate for their customers.
• Talauega Eleasalo “Salo” Va‘alele Ale
  Lieutenant Governor, American Samoa
  Va‘alele Ale has been the Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa since January 2021. After practicing law with an international law firm in Minneapolis for 17 years, he returned to American Samoa to take care of his mother and serve the people of American Samoa. He served as deputy attorney general before being elevated to attorney general and subsequently reappointed for another term. He has strong Hawai‘i ties: Before going to law school, Va‘alele Ale worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye in the early 1990s. After law school, he served as judicial law clerk to Chief Judge James S. Burns of the Hawai‘i intermediate court of appeals in the mid-1990s. He will speak about American Samoa’s digital transformation during the pandemic, how they defined success in the crisis, and lessons they learned during their journey.

Tickets are limited, register now:
www.eventbrite.com/e/hawaii-cloud-innovation-summit-tickets-353525051947

About DataHouse

DataHouse is the founding member of the ʻike family of companies, a growing group of innovators, technologists, and entrepreneurs who are committed to leading the way within their industries to make Hawaiʻi and the world a better place to live. Every ʻike company shares the same core values and we are working together to make them a reality for the success of our clients, our communities, and our employees.

About TRUE

TRUE is a program of the Hawaii Executive Collaborative, supporting the CHANGE Framework and Movement. TRUE’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of technology in Hawaiʻi. By leveraging technology, our community can upskill, increase productivity, improve efficiencies, and gain customer insights. Tech enabled jobs earn 53% more. By accelerating the adoption of technology, local organizations succeed, Hawaiʻi’s economy becomes more diversified and sustainable, and the workforce will earn higher incomes, allowing them to build assets and a better quality of life.

About Transform Hawai‘i Government (THG)

Transform Hawai‘i Government (THG) strives to create a delivery-driven government that enables people, communities, and businesses to thrive. Formed in 2011, THG serves as a catalyst for modernization of state government services through people, processes, and technology.