Catherine Luelo
Chief Information Officer, Government of Canada
Catherine Luelo is a Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Chief Information Officer of Canada.
Prior to her appointment as CIO in July 2021, Catherine was the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Air Canada, where she was responsible for the Information Technology systems that support and enable Air Canada’s global business. In this role, she additionally led innovation in the artificial intelligence space while managing the security and reliability of Air Canada’s worldwide systems in an operational landscape that substantially shifted during the global pandemic.
From 2001-2017, Catherine held senior management and executive roles at major Canadian companies, including Enbridge Inc., WestJet Airlines Ltd., and TELUS Communications.
Catherine holds an MBA from Athabasca University in Alberta and a BSc from the University of Alberta.
From 2018-2021, she served on the Board of Directors for scale ai, the Montreal-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) supercluster that aspires to increase competitive advantage for Canada globally in AI . She has also served as a Board Member for Creative Destruction Labs, as well as serving as Chair for Health Canada’s Industry Advisory Roundtable on COVID-19 Testing, Screening, Tracing and Data Management.
Catherine is a proud mother of two children and is a fierce advocate for mental health. In March 2020, she was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Foundation and participates regularly as a panelist and speaker on Mental Health in the workplace.
Stephen Burt
Chief Data Officer, Government of Canada
In March 2022, Stephen Burt was appointed Chief Data Officer for the Government of Canada, at the Treasury Board Secretariat. His mandate is to provide leadership across government on information and data governance and integration, privacy modernization, and data-enabled digital services and programs.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Burt was the functional authority for data governance and analytics capability for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF). He drove the analytics adoption and maturity throughout DND/CAF, and led the department-wide initiative to establish analytics and data governance.
Mr. Burt began his career in the Government of Canada in 1997 with Revenue Canada. In 1999, he joined DND, where he worked in a variety of policy, operational and defence intelligence roles, including two years as Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister.
Mr. Burt moved to the Privy Council Office (PCO) in 2007 to work in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat as Senior Advisor on National Security. In that role, he was secretary for the committees of the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister. In 2009, he joined the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat (IAS) at PCO, and held positions as Director for Afghanistan and, later, for Asia. Mr. Burt was appointed Director of Operations for the IAS in January 2012, and took on the position of Assistant Secretary on an acting basis in March 2014.
In April 2015, Mr. Burt assumed the role of Assistant Chief of Defence Intelligence at Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, where he led the federated production of intelligence within DND/CAF, and oversaw defence intelligence policy.
Mr. Burt has an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Ottawa, as well as a Master’s in Public Administration from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Scott Jones
Executive Vice-President, Shared Services Canada, Canada
Scott Jones was appointed Executive Vice-President of Shared Services Canada and, concurrently, Associate Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, effective April 11, 2022.
Prior to this appointment, he was Federal Lead on Proof of Vaccine Credentials and Associate Deputy Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, starting in August 2021. Scott collaborated with federal partners, provinces and territories to successfully deliver the Canadian COVID-19 proof of vaccination program that is used for travel in Canada and internationally.
Scott also led IRCC’s efforts related to digital transformation, modernization, IM/IT and data, as well as the Citizenship and Passport programs.
From October 2018 to August 2021, Mr. Jones worked as Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE).
Since beginning his career in 1999, Mr. Jones has held various positions at the CSE. They included Assistant Deputy Minister of IT Security; acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services; Chief Financial Officer; and Director General of Cyber Defence, providing leadership in the areas of signals intelligence and IT security. Before that, he worked at the Privy Council Office as a National Security Policy Advisor in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat.
Scott has been with the public service for over 20 years. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa, where he earned a Master of Business Administration. Scott also holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electronic Systems Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Regina.
Shaifa Kanji
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Digital Officer, Digital Transformation and Services Sector, Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada
Shaifa Kanji assumed her role as Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Digital Officer of the Digital Transformation and Services Sector (DTSS) of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) on Aug 9, 2021. She began her career in public service in 2011 and has led the digital transformation of Municipal Government (Region of Peel) and not-for-profit (Toronto and Region Conservation Authority) including establishing the vision and strategic technology direction for these organizations within a highly complex, political and multi-stakeholder environment.
Before joining the public sector, Shaifa spent her career across multiple sectors – telecommunications, (Bell Canada), financial (Royal Bank) and consulting (Accenture). Those experiences gave her a broad perspective on the critical elements required to drive change and transformation in complex organizational structures.
Shaifa holds an Executive MBA from The Western Ivey School of Business and a Computer Science degree from York University.
Hillary Hartleyi
Chief Digital and Data Officer, Deputy Minister, Digital Strategy, Cabinet Office of Ontario, Canada
Hillary Hartley is Ontario’s Chief Digital and Data Officer and became Deputy Minister of Digital Strategy within Cabinet Office in June 2022. As CDDO, she is responsible for the administration of the Simpler, Faster, Better Services Act to deliver better, more easily accessible services to the people, communities, and businesses of Ontario.
Hillary was previously the head of the Ontario Digital Service, joining the province in April 2017 as Deputy Minister Responsible for Digital Government. She also served as Deputy Minister of Consumer Services, which included the government’s retail services operation (ServiceOntario), and programs focused on consumer protection.
Prior to coming to Ontario, Hillary was the Deputy Executive Director of 18F, a digital services agency in the U.S. federal government, and was a Presidential Innovation Fellow in 2013. She has worked with governments across jurisdictions for twenty-five years, serving as a director at NIC Inc., an organization that helps governments deliver programs and services online.
Michael Goit
Director, Digital Credentials, Policy and Agreements, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Canada
Michael Goit is the Director of Digital Credentials Policy at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Office of the Chief Information Offer. He holds a Master of Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Science from Mount Allison University.
Michael works at the intersection of technology and policy and works to advance a national approach to digital identity and credentials in the context of digital government for Canada.
A public servant with over 20 years experience, working in and leading numerous transformation and re-engineering projects, Michael brings a unique and innovative technologist’s perspective to complex problem spaces.
Yvan Gauthier
Head, Artificial Intelligence Accelerator, Data Analytics Centre, Digital Technologies, National Research Council, Canada
Yvan Gauthier is a senior data scientist with the National Research Council’s Digital Technologies Centre and leads the NRC AI Accelerator for the Government of Canada, which delivers AI solutions to other federal departments and agencies and supports them in their digital transformation. Before, he worked for 20 years as a defence scientist with the Department of National Defence (DND), where he became the first-ever Director of Data Science and established a new enterprise data science team supporting DND’s Chief Data Officer. He also chaired a NATO Specialist Team on Advanced Analytics and AI and has led several operational research projects while being embedded with various parts of DND and the Canadian Armed Forces.
Soltan Bayramov
Deputy Director, E-Gov Development Center, Azerbaijan
Mr Soltan Bayramov is Deputy Director of the E-Gov Development Center subordinate to the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He is an accomplished business development professional with a proven record of accomplishment in managing business activities in G2B, G2C, B2C & B2B environments. He is experienced in a diverse range of business fields, primarily within innovations management, and business consultancy. Mr Bayramov`s primary specialties include, but are not limited to digital transformation, public relations and partnership management, corporate strategy development, and product development.
He owns bachelor`s degree and master`s degree both from University of Wales, Cardiff in business management during 2004-2009.
Mr Bayramov is certified senior project manager (Level B) of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He holds professional certificate in Project Management issued by Duke University.
He is fluent in Azerbaijani, Turkish, English and Russian.
Cristina Akemi Shimoda Uechi
Advisor to the General Coordinator of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil
Eliana Cardoso Emediato de Azambuja is the General Coordinator of Digital Transformation of the Department of Science, Technology and Digital Innovation, Secretariat of Entrepreneurship and Innovation of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations – MCTI. She is a Business Administrator, specializing in Technological Management from JUSE – Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers – Tokyo, Japan, PennState University – Pennsylvania, USA and Executive Program at Singularity University in Santa Clara, California, USA.
At MCTI, she coordinates the activities of the Brazilian Strategy for Digital Transformation -EDigital. She is responsible for the Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Chamber of Industry 4.0, the Chamber of Smart Cities, the Agro 4.0 Chamber, the Digital Health Chamber, the Tourism Chamber as well the Governance Committee of the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Strategy. She also coordinates with business, government and academic sectors to build common agendas to promote digital transformation in Brazil.
Dr Stelios Himonas
Permanent Secretary, Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Cyprus
Stelios Himonas is the Permanent Secretary of the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy.
He previously served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, as well as Director of the Department of Electronic Communications and Director of Telecommunications at the Ministry of Communications and Works.
From 2012 onwards, he has been appointed from the Council of Ministers as Digital Champion of the Republic of Cyprus, while having previously served as member of the Board of Directors of the Research and Innovation Foundation (then called Research Promotion Foundation), and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta).
At European level, he served as Vice-Chairman of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), as well as Chairman of the Regulatory Affairs Working Group (WGRA) of the CEPT/ECC.
He is a holder of Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Science and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York in Stony Brook. From 1989 until 1997, he was an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the New York Institute of Technology, USA, having also served as a Professor of Engineering and Informatics of Intercollege, Cyprus. From 1994 until 1997, he was collaborating with the Multimedia Communications Research Group of Bellcore’s Applied Research Division in Morristown, New Jersey, USA.
Dr. Himonas has published numerous research papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings in the fields of detection and multimedia communications. He is listed in the Who is Who in the World, Who is Who in American Education and Who is Who Among Human Services Professionals.
Srinivas Kompella
Vice President, Americas Data & Analytics, DXC Technology
Srini currently serves as the Vice President for Data & Analytics, Americas in DXC Technology. Srini and his teams are responsible for partnering with companies in shaping and executing their Data-driven transformation.
Srini brings in more than 25 years of Industry and IT services experience focused on driving execution of transformation projects at scale for private and public sector forms across the globe. He played regional and global leadership roles in Hewlett Packard and DXC Technology including extensive experience in Asia Pacific & Japan where he & his teams worked closely with local & multinational companies and Government agencies across Australia, Singapore & India on their data-led transformation programs.
In his prior Global leadership role at DXC, Srini led the development of multiple Industry solutions such as DXC Robotic Drive – a Data Driven development platform for Autonomous Driving, FedRamp authorized Data platform on Cloud, Risk, Fraud & Anti-money laundering solutions and DXC Data Factory that accelerates modernization of Data Estate with Cloud Technologies.
Srini also incubated and scaled Hewlett Packard’s Data & Analytics capabilities across the globe including centers in Philippines, China, India & Poland and played leadership roles in the company’s acquisitions to expand the Data & Analytics capabilities.
Srini has a Bachelor’s Degree in Metallurgical Engineering from National Institute of Technology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management. He lives in Virginia with his wife and high-school going son. He enjoys reading, hiking and going on road trips in his free time.
Tuula Lybeck
Project Director, Development and Digitization Project of State Aid Activities, Ministry of Finance, Finland
uula Lybeck leads the improving and digitization of discretionary government grants in Finland. Tuula has worked for more than 25 years as a civil servant of the Government in many different expert and management positions in the Ministry on Education and Culture and in the Ministry of Finance. Tuula has experience among other things in legislative drafting, state budget preparation and strategic policy planning. She has also been responsible official for religious freedom and ecclesiastical matters as well as copyright issues.
Master of Laws from the University of Lapland in 1995.
Christina Lang
Chief Executive Officer, Digital Service, Germany
Christina Lang is co-founder and CEO of the DigitalService, the internal digitalization unit of the Federal Government of Germany. Providing interdisciplinary product teams, the DigitalService builds user-centered digital public services together with the government. It also drives the digital transformation of public administration through the fellowships Tech4Germany and Work4Germany. In spring 2020, she initiated the #WirVsVirus hackathon of the German Government as a national, coordinated covid response effort. Before founding the DigitalService in 2019, Christina worked at the Federal Foreign Office and as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. She is a trained lawyer and holds a Management degree from London Business School.
Magdalena Zadara
Head of Product, Digital Service, Germany
Magdalena works as Head of Product at the Digital Service. As a product designer by training, she combines user-centred design with her experience from software teams to develop digital solutions with and for government. Before joining the German Digital Service, she worked as a product manager and designer at a range of organisations, including a telemedicine start-up, corporate venture builder BCG Digital Ventures and digital agencies. She holds degrees from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
Kevin Cunnington
Former Director General, Government Digital Service (GDS), United Kingdom, and Expert Advisor, Global Government Forum
Kevin was Director General of the International Government Service and Digital Envoy for the UK from August 2019, until April 2021. Prior to that, he was the Director General of the Government Digital Service from August 2016 to July 2019. Kevin left the UK Civil Service in April 2021.
Kevin has led a variety of large scale, and global, digital transformation programmes. He spent his early career in programming and IT consultancy. More recently he was the Global Head of Online for Vodafone Group and Business Transformation Group Director General at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Kevin now advises Global Government Forum, and leads the Global Government Digital Leaders’ Study.
Andri Heiðar Kristinsson
Chief Executive Officer, Digital Iceland, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Iceland
Andri Heiðar Kristinsson is the CEO of Digital Iceland, a cross-functional unit within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, tasked with leading the digital transformation across the Icelandic government. Mr. Kristinsson is a product and technology visionary with over two decades of experience working in technology and entrepreneurship in Europe and Silicon Valley.
Prior to joining Digital Iceland, Andri was a product lead at LinkedIn in San Francisco and a product manager for SlideShare‘s mobile apps. Andri also served as the CEO of Travelade, a travel technology startup, as well as the founder and CEO of Icelandic Startups, the leading startup accelerator in Iceland. Andri holds a B.Sc. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Iceland and an MBA from Stanford University.
Fellow and Chief Data Scientist for the Americas, Intel
Dr. Melvin Greer is Intel Fellow and Chief Data Scientist, Americas, Intel Corporation. He is responsible for building Intel’s data science platform through graph analytics, machine learning and cognitive computing to accelerate transformation of data into a strategic asset for Public Sector and commercial enterprises. His systems and software engineering experience has resulted in patented inventions in Cloud Computing, Synthetic Biology and IoT Bio-sensors for edge analytics. He functions as a principal investigator in advanced research studies, including Nanotechnology, Additive Manufacturing and Gamification. He significantly advances the body of knowledge in basic research and critical, highly advanced engineering and scientific disciplines. Dr. Greer is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and serves on the Board of Directors, U.S. National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Dr. Greer has been appointed to Senior Advisor and Fellow at the FBI IT and Data Division. He is charged with acceleration of the FBI mission by supporting appropriate data collection, data analytics, discovery and visualization via advanced data science and AI techniques.
Dr. Greer is one of the 2018 LinkedIn Top 10 Voices in data science and analytics. He also received the Washington Exec inaugural Pinnacle Award as the 2018 Artificial Intelligence Executive of the Year. He received the 2017 BDPA Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2012 BEYA Technologist of the Year Award which recognize his outstanding technical contributions that have had a material impact and high value to society as a whole. Dr. Greer has been appointed Fellow of the National Cybersecurity Institute where he assists government, industry, military, and academic sectors meet the challenges in cyber security policy, technology and education. Dr. Greer is Professor, Master of Science in Data Science program at Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Adjunct Faculty, Advanced Academic Program at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches the Masters of Science course “Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence”.
In addition to his professional and investment roles, he is Founder and Managing Director of the Greer Institute for Leadership and Innovation, focused on research and deployment of a 21st Century Leadership Model. Dr. Greer is a frequent speaker at conferences and universities and is an accomplished author; his fifth book “Practical Cloud Security a Cross Industry View” is his most recently published book.
Melvin is a Board of Director at National GEM Consortium where he oversees and aligns its strategic direction, educational policy, finances and operations with the mission of the Fellowship program.
As a popular educator and board member at a number of Historical Black Colleges and Universities, Dr. Greer is leading science, technology, mathematical and engineering (STEM) research initiatives, directly trying to shape a more diverse generation of up-and-coming technical talent.
Jonathan Drover
AVP, Business Development, Interac
Jonathan oversees the strategy and business development of Interac’s digital verification solutions and identity and access management offerings. He leads a number of leading-edge Canadian digital programs across public and private sector. Jonathan excels in product and business development, currently leading and delivering critical initiatives in Canada. Prior to his work at Interac and 2Keys, Jonathan was a Consultant for Accenture delivering technology solutions to the public sector.
Jonathan holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University and is a certified Project Management Professional.
Herve Barge
Chief Executive Officer, Agence eSante, Luxembourg
Since 1 July 2012, Hervé Barge holds the position of Managing Director of the Agence eSanté, the Luxembourg national agency for shared health information.
Before moving to Luxembourg, Hervé was Director of the Health Information System (SIS) – Telemedicine at the Regional Health Agency of Franche-Comté. A specialist in medical engineering, Hervé Barge joined the ARH of Franche-Comté in 2000, where he was responsible for regional information systems and telemedicine projects for over 10 years. During this period, he was involved in various university diplomas at the Faculty of Medicine in Besançon (pediatrics, emergencies, neurology, pharmacy), as well as at the ISIFC (Biomedical Engineers) and Centrale Santé Paris. He is an expert in information sharing and exchange in the health sector and has set up technical and functional structures to run the regional network in an urbanised approach.
Since 2018, Hervé Barge has been appointed as an expert to the Health Working Group of the Economic and Social Committee of the Greater Region.
Frederic Markus
Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Living Lab, Agence eSante, Luxembourg
Frédéric Markus holds a Master’s degree in “Distributed Systems and Networks” and joined the Agence eSanté in August 2014 as a Health Project Manager.
Frédéric Markus obtained his Master’s degree from the University of Franche-Comté in 2007, and a university diploma “DU artificial intelligence applied to health” from the University of Paris-Cité in 2021.
Before joining the Agence eSanté, Frédéric Markus worked for the implementation of the Franche-Comté Cancer Network, as well as the Franche-Comté Regional Federative Cancer Institute, and more particularly for the implementation of RCP (Multidisciplinary Consultation Meetings) and telemedicine. Frédéric Markus has also had the opportunity to teach at the “Institut supérieur d’ingénieurs” de Franche-Comté (ISIFC) – Génie Biomédical in the context of introductory courses on telemedicine and interoperability.
Within the Agence eSanté, Frédéric Markus is responsible for the Living Lab. In this capacity, he is the contact point for innovation projects between the eHealth Agency, public bodies and industrials.
Michael Wernick
Senior Strategic Advisor Associate, MNP Digital
A Senior Strategic Advisor Associate on MNP Digital’s Ottawa Consulting team since 2020, Michael Wernick retired in 2019 after a 38-year career as one of the key leaders of Canada’s federal public service, culminating in his appointment in 2016 as the 23rd clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to cabinet.
As clerk, he was head of the public service and drove the renewal agenda, tabling four annual reports on the state of Canada’s public service. With 28 years as an executive in the federal public service, including 17 years in the community of deputy ministers, Mr. Wernick has a sound foundation to provide leadership and advisory services to today’s public sector leaders.
In addition to the wide range of experience and perspective gained through four different stints at the Privy Council Office, areas of particular expertise include Indigenous issues, intergovernmental relations and partnerships, cultural policy and governance. Mr. Wernick has been accountable for large workforces and expenditures and has been a leader and change agent in public sector administration and governance for many years.
Before joining the Agence eSanté, Frédéric Markus worked for the implementation of the Franche-Comté Cancer Network, as well as the Franche-Comté Regional Federative Cancer Institute, and more particularly for the implementation of RCP (Multidisciplinary Consultation Meetings) and telemedicine. Frédéric Markus has also had the opportunity to teach at the “Institut supérieur d’ingénieurs” de Franche-Comté (ISIFC) – Génie Biomédical in the context of introductory courses on telemedicine and interoperability.
Within the Agence eSanté, Frédéric Markus is responsible for the Living Lab. In this capacity, he is the contact point for innovation projects between the eHealth Agency, public bodies and industrials.
Chelsie Bright
Global Head of Public Sector, Qualtrics
Chelsie Bright is the Global Industry Leader for Government at Qualtrics. Her team partners with governments around the world on the design and implementation of experience management programs. Prior to joining Qualtrics, she worked for the State of California managing a research and data analytics team. Chelsie earned her Ph.D. in Political Science and has 10+ years of experience teaching university courses in public policy and research methods.
Sohail Carim
Expert Executive Advisor, Global Public Sector Industry Business Unit, SAP
Sohail Carim is an Expert Executive Advisor within SAP’s Global Public Sector Industry Business Unit (IBU), and a specialist in the discipline of Intelligent Government Management. As a seasoned, globally respected, and trusted advisor to the most Senior Public Sector Tech leaders (across the globe) – Sohail brings extensive and in-depth experience to help all spheres of government transform and transition toward intelligent, digitally-enabled, innovative, citizen centric and agile organisations.
Sohail works across SAP’s most strategically important geographies (including Europe, North America and Asia Pacific) to:
Collaboratively drive SAP’s competitive advantage for Intelligent Government in the Public Sector.
Guide and operationalise the strategy and go-to-market for SAP’s Intelligent Government Offerings.
Provide strategic expertise related to digital transformation and targeted at SAP’s most important and strategic Government customers.
Shape the Public Sector Intelligent Government strategy for SAP.
Prior to his tenure with SAP, Sohail spent 8 years at Accenture (joining in 2004 soon after graduating from the University of Pretoria). In his time with Accenture, Sohail moved swiftly through the ranks to Senior Manager level, where he headed up Management Consulting for Public Services and lead the delivery of large-scale Transformation programmes for Accenture’s Government clients. At Accenture, Sohail was recognised as a “future leader”, achieved early promotion to the Executive level in 2008 and completed the Accenture Executive Development
Sean Hinton
Chief Executive Officer, SkyHive
Sean is a recognized thought leader and innovator in labor economics and the Future of Work, having invented Quantum Labor Analysis that marries economic theory with artificial intelligence to produce the most advanced real-time knowledge graph of jobs, skills, training, and labor market intelligence in the world.
Sean is the Co-Chair of the Entrepreneurs Circle of the Canadian American Business Council (CABC) and a member of OECD’s Future of Work Forum Engagement Group. In 2020, Sean was invited by the Government of Canada to join the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) and represent Canada as one of the 15 founding countries. GPAI is one of the most extensive collaborations on AI policy and the first international standard for AI.
Prior to founding SkyHive, Sean led a $250 million multinational company with 500 employees and 23 global offices. He has lived on four continents and conducted business in more than 70 countries. Sean holds an MBA from Queen’s University and currently lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Alison Pritchard
Deputy National Statistician for Data Capability, Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Alison is leading the transformation in data usage which will see ever more integrated data put to effective and safe use across the private and public sectors. She ensures ONS has the right technology and skills to meet its ambitious goals in data analytics and data science and champions safe and secure data sharing for the public good in ONS and beyond.
Most recently Alison was Director General of the Government Digital Service leading the organisation through a busy and critical period. And before that, she was Director of Transformation at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
She began her Civil Service career in 1987. She has worked across a range of departments including the Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Her career has seen her enjoy a varied and interesting range of roles, including: spending five years in Saudi Arabia with a UK defence programme; leading the independent review of Royal Family and ministerial air travel; and being responsible for gambling and the National Lottery.
Outside government, Alison has experience as Head of Operations for an IT engineering business and on secondment to the third sector as Director of Programmes for a multi-faith research body supporting counter-radicalisation.
Mark Robinson
Director of Technology, Ministry of Justice, United Kingdom
Mark joined the Ministry of Justice Digital and Technology Team in late 2019 having spent the rest of his career in the private sector. At the MoJ Mark leads a team of around 350, delivering intuitive workplace technology services to 85,000 users across 1000 sites. As well as staff facing services, Mark’s team are working to provision infrastructure and digital services to an increasing number of prisoners in their cells delivering operational efficiencies, increasing staff’s positive engagement time with prisoners and young people by removing administrative activities, improving prisoner well-being and increasing prospects of rehabilitation and reducing reoffending.
Before joining the Civil Service Mark worked across a number of different sectors including Media and Transportation.
At Cubic Transportation Systems Mark was Head of IT Infrastructure where he had responsibility for the platforms and systems that underpinned many of Transport for London’s Payment Technology Systems such as Oyster, Contactless payments, and ticket machines and gates.
At Red Bee Media Mark was responsible for the global IT infrastructure used to prepare, manage, broadcast, stream and distribute content for many of the best known media brands, including BBC, Channel 4, BT Sport, Disney, Canal+, TV4.
Mark has an Executive MBA from Henley Business School.
MEGAN LEE
Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Government Central Digital & Data Office, United Kingdom
Megan is the Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer in the Central Digital and Data Office, the head of the Digital, Data and Technology function for the UK Government. Within CDDO, Megan leads the Strategy and Analysis, Performance and Assurance and Transforming Government Services teams, putting the right conditions and capabilities in place to drive digital transformation at scale in Government.
Megan joined the Cabinet Office from McKinsey, where she led day-to-day management of consulting teams across both public sector and private sector organisations on technology, analytics and organisational transformation topics.
Gayana Peiris
Head of Data and Technology, Chief Digital Office, United Nations Development Programme
Gayan is the Head of Data and Technology with Chief Digital Office at UN Development Programme (UNDP). He leads the implementation of the Data Strategy for UNDP which includes driving the transformation of UNDP into a data-driven organisation and advising member states on their data, digital and cloud strategies. Gayan is an expert in bringing people’s voices into policy making. He has experience in digital campaigning and led data collection and analysis efforts of several global initiatives such as UN75 and MYWorld which brought in over 10 million voices worldwide through both public and private sector partnerships.
ANN DUNKIN
Chief Information Officer, Department of Energy, United States of America
Ann Dunkin is currently the Chief Information Officer of the US Department of Energy. Before joining DOE she was Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for State and Local Government at Dell. Prior to joining Dell, Ms. Dunkin was the CIO for the County of Santa Clara. Ms. Dunkin also served in the Obama Administration as the Chief Information Officer of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and as Chief Technology Officer for the Palo Alto Unified School District. She also held a variety of leadership at Hewlett Packard. Ms. Dunkin is a published author, most recently of the book Industrial Digital Transformation, and sought-after speaker on the topics of technology modernization, digital services and organizational transformation. Ms. Dunkin holds an M.S. and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a licensed professional engineer in California and Washington.
CLARE MARTORANA
Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of E-Government & Information Technology, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, United States of America
Federal Chief Information Officer Office of Management and Budget Executive Office of the President Washington, D.C. Clare Martorana is an industry leader in deploying innovative technology and human-centered design to create products, services, and experiences that improve people’s lives.
In March 2021, Clare was appointed by President Biden as the Federal Chief Information Officer. She previously served as Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and a member of the U.S. Digital Service team at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, launching the agency’s enterprise-wide digital modernization effort to give Veterans the 21st century digital experience they deserve. Prior to joining government, Clare was a President at Everyday Health and Senior Vice President and General Manager and editor-at-large at WebMD.
Throughout her career, Clare has worked to improve and simplify the digital experiences people have when interacting with businesses – and knows the same is possible when our citizens interact with our government. As a creative leader and big thinker, she is leading government technologists and policy experts in meeting federal mandates while working collaboratively to deliver secure modern tools and services to our citizens. She looks forward to partnering with key stakeholders to maximize investments and deliver high-quality digital services to the American people.
John Pilon
Director Canadian Federal Government, Zscaler
John has over 20 years of experience in the Canadian technology space, working with large enterprise and Government clients.
With a core focus over the last 8 yrs on Cyber Security and Zero Trust. John has worked for companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Varonis, CrowdStrike and Zscaler.
Known for his Industry approach in regards to Cyber security, collaboration and continued education. John has earned the reputation as a valued advisor to several Organizations and Industry Partners across Canada.