Programs CTO & CIO Forum

Chetan Kandhari is the leader of Nationwide’s Enterprise Innovation and Digital organization. In this role, Chetan is accountable for maturing the company’s digital capabilities and expertise while creating new customer-centered digital products and services for members and partners.

During his 15-year tenure at Nationwide, Chetan has progressively held roles of increasing responsibility. In his most recent role as Chief Technology leader for P&C operations, Chetan oversaw the development and deployment of Nationwide’s Express platform and SmartMiles, as well as integrations with strategic partners such as Amazon, Toyota and Ford. He was also responsible for Personal Lines Transformation a 7-year, $500 Million-dollar effort to upgrade legacy systems to a more current platform.

In other roles at Nationwide, he has led the Customer Data and SOA Solution Organization, creating a single customer file. Earlier in his career, Chetan was a consultant with Diamond Technology Partners and Ernst & Young focusing on large scale program delivery and architecture.

Chetan holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Ohio State University, a Master of Science in Information Systems from Miami University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Muskingum University. He is a member of World 50, a private community for CEOs and C-level executives at globally respected organizations.

Chetan was born in India, where he frequently returns to visit, and he moved to the U.S. in 1993. Married, with two children, he enjoys hiking, reading and vacationing with his family in his free time and encourages his associates to look for a balance between work and life.

Jim is vice president of cybersecurity, product security and operational technology security at Trane Technologies. Jim has been with the company since 2018 and is responsible for leading digital risk and information security programsglobally. Through Jim’s leadership, Trane Technologies continues to build and mature cybersecurity and digital risk capabilities to keep up with the ever-evolving threat landscape.

These capabilities enable our businesses to meet the needs and expectations of our customersand remain compliant with a constantly changing set of global security and privacy regulations.Prior to joining the company, Jim was the CISO at LPL Financial for three years, and he held numerous leadership functions in a growing and maturing information security organization at TIAA over a ten-year span. In all, Jim has nearly 25years of IT experience, withmore than 20 years in Information Security and risk managementroles in the financial, manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries.

Jim serves on the Board of Directors for Opera Carolina, and serves on the IANS Research Advisory Board, a security research and advice service for CISO’s. Jim earned a Bachelor of Music from Illinois Wesleyan University and Master of Music degree Manhattan School of Music.He holds a Certified Information Systems Security Practitioner (CISSP)certification, a globally recognized cybersecurity certification

Dr. Rikin Thakker is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA). He leads the activities related to emerging technologies and advises WIA members on 5G strategies including densification, spectrum allocation, and broadband deployment. He analyzes impacts of current and future use-cases of 5G and provide recommendations on broadband infrastructure deployment strategies. He helps WIA members and their CTO offices identify future technology trends and shape their product, services, and real estate portfolio to make them ready for 5G and beyond.

Dr. Thakker possesses more than 20 years of experience in the field of cellular and wireless communications. He has helped design, deploy, and maintain cell sites, from 2G to 5G, for major cellular operators in the United States. Dr. Thakker has also served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee – BDAC and co-chaired the Job Skills and Training Opportunity working group.

Teaching is one of his passions; Dr. Thakker is an adjunct faculty for the Masters in Telecommunication program at the University of Maryland and has designed courses on 5G and cellular infrastructure. He received Best Instructor of the Year Award in 2018 and 2014.

Dr. Thakker earned his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering with a concentration in Mobile Communications and Spectrum Management from George Washington University, his M.S. in Telecommunications from University of Maryland, and his B.E. in Electronics and Communications from the Gujarat University.

Charlie Myers is the Chief Technology Officer for Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Charlie oversees a new department inclusive of information technology, engineering, cyber security, digital development, new technologies & innovation projects, and other critical technology needs.

Charlie joined Monumental from Sirius XM where he served as Vice President and General Manager of Media & Development Engineering where he was responsible for technology and media infrastructure, strategic planning, and design for all linear media platforms, as well as overseeing video production, IP networks and asset management systems. Under his leadership, Sirius deployed multiple new strategies and platforms to align with evolving best practices and digital advancements contributing to $8B in annual revenue.Prior to that Charlie worked for Discovery, Inc. and was involved with building major media facilities, overseeing global transmission platforms, and managing a media research and development team that was involvedwith the development and deployment of HD, 3D and UHD technologies worldwide.

Charlie holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from Farmingdale State College –SUNY and is anMBA candidate at the University of Illinois Gies School of Business. He is a longtime resident of Northern Virginia alongside his wife and two sons.

Luiz A. DaSilva is the inaugural executive director of CCI. He is internationally recognized for leadership and innovation in wireless communications and networks research. His 24 years of experience in academia include 18 years as a professor at Virginia Tech, where he is the Bradley Professor of Cybersecurity in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

DaSilva has led the CCI network for the past two and a half years. During its first two years of operation, CCIis estimated to have been responsible for the creation of1,035 jobs in Virginia and a contribution of $208 million to the GDP of thecommonwealth. Since CCI's inception, our researchers have brought in $115 million in funding from federal agencies and industry.

His most recent position prior to CCI was as the telecommunications chairholder at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and director of CONNECT –the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Future Communications and Network, a multi-university initiative convening the expertise of 250 researchers across 10 universities in Ireland.

DaSilva is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) for his contributions to cognitive networking and to resource management in wireless networks. He pioneered the application of game theory to analyze and design wireless networks,authoring the first book on the topic. He is also responsible for seminal work on cognitive networking and spectrum and network sharing. He has authored two books, more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, and is a frequent keynote speaker and invited lecturer around the world. He has also been an IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer (2015-18), a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and a Virginia Tech College of Engineering Faculty Fellow.

Melina Scotto serves as Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Hilton.

Long ago, Melina secured global health systems providing anti-retroviral drugs to PEPFAR countries with John Snow Inc. where she worked primarily in network security administration. Melina moved from international HIV work to domestic healthcare at George Washington Medical Faculty Associates. The position as Network Security Engineer focused on maintaining technical requirements of HIPAA Security Rule and HITECH in a dynamic virtual server and mobile device environment and assessing OCR criteria for HIPAA/HITECH compliance and Meaningful Use eligibility. It was at GWU where Melina became an instructor for master classes in Health Informatics, HIPAA Security, Business Continuity Planning and Risk Assessment. In 2012, Melina moved to National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she held several engineering security and leadership posts. Former Federal Health CISO for GDIT, she led cybersecurity engineers and analysts across 140 Federal Health and State/Local Health contracts. Melina holds a number of credentials including CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional), HISPP (Privacy and Health Data Security). Her concentration is in Federal, international and domestic data security and privacy regulationsas well as general FISMA, PCI and ISO best practice.

Currently, Melina reduces cyber-risk and strengthens security controls in Hiltons Global Information Security (GIS) where innovation for customer experience drives a fast pace and data must be secured to a variety of commercial and international controls across traditional data centers and cloud environments.

Maryland resident and lifelong Orioles fan. When not securely linked into a server, Melina enjoys championing Women in Technology programs.

Dr. Kamal Nayan Agarwal joined the Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences in 2001, after serving as MIS Manager at Cornet Technology, Inc., Springfield, VA, Director at Rockman Cycle Industry of Hero Group, India. His primary research areas of interest include: Information Systems, Network and Internet Security, Web Security, Information Assurance, E-Commerce and E-Business, and other related areas in Information Systems. Along with his research papers, Agarwal has also published a book on Information Systems, and has delivered a key note address on Information Security at the INFOTECH, organized by the University of Mauritius and National Computer Board. He has taught: Network/Internet Security Management, E-Commerce, Data and Network Communications, and Management Information Systems (Graduate). Agarwal holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration qualified in Information Systems, MS in Philosophy in Business Administration from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India, MS in Computer Systems Management from the University of Maryland University College, MD, MBA in Business Administration and Computer Systems Management, BBA in Business Management from Banaras Hindu University, India, Diploma in Computer Science from I.I.C.M., Ahemdabad, India, along with successfully completing a Professional MCSE Training Program.

As the CTO, Marqus Hutchinson has responsibility for establishing the Intelligent Waves’ technical vision and leading all aspects of the company’s technology development to include IT Department, Training, R&D, T&E, and VAR activities. Marqus brings over fifteen years of experience in Technical Integration, Network Architecting, Data Center Design, Security, Telecommunications Operations, Mobility and Daily IT Infrastructure Sustainment on an assortment of DOD and DOJ Programs.

Additionally, Marqus has served as the Program Manager, Chief Architecture Engineer, and Technical Solutions Architect for DOD and DOJ programs all over the world including such countries as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Marqus holds the following degrees:

• Master of Business Administration, Information Technology Management, Western Governors University
• Bachelor of Science, Information Technology/Network Management, Western Governors University
• Associate of Science, Network Support Services, Florida State College of Jacksonville

Certifications include PMP, CISSP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA, MCSE, MCSA, CEH, A+ and Network+.

Dr. Rikin Thakker is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA). He leads the activities related to emerging technologies and advises WIA members on 5G strategies including densification, spectrum allocation, and broadband deployment. He analyzes impacts of current and future use-cases of 5G and provide recommendations on broadband infrastructure deployment strategies. He helps WIA members and their CTO offices identify future technology trends and shape their product, services, and real estate portfolio to make them ready for 5G and beyond.

Dr. Thakker possesses more than 20 years of experience in the field of cellular and wireless communications. He has helped design, deploy, and maintain cell sites, from 2G to 5G, for major cellular operators in the United States. Dr. Thakker has also served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee – BDAC and co-chaired the Job Skills and Training Opportunity working group.

Teaching is one of his passions; Dr. Thakker is an adjunct faculty for the Masters in Telecommunication program at the University of Maryland and has designed courses on 5G and cellular infrastructure. He received Best Instructor of the Year Award in 2018 and 2014.

Dr. Thakker earned his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering with a concentration in Mobile Communications and Spectrum Management from George Washington University, his M.S. in Telecommunications from University of Maryland, and his B.E. in Electronics and Communications from the Gujarat University.

Kiran is Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Commercial Lending & Banking Technology at Wells Fargo, as part of Commercial and Corporate & Investment Banking Technology (CCIBT). Kiran and his teams support the Commercial Banking, Corporate & Investment Banking Lending and relationship banking as well as International Branch Technology.

Prior to this role, Kiran served as CIO for Risk, Compliance, Finance, Legal and Audit. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Kiran spent two years at J.P. Morgan Chase as the Managing Director/CTO for Consumer Banking Risk and Finance Technology where he drove transformational initiatives including AI/ML based Fraud risk technology transformation, data, quant modeling and reporting strategy. Kiran’s time at J.P. Morgan Chase was preceded by 14 years at Bank of America, holding various positions within Global Risk Technology, Quantitative Risk Technology and Fixed income trading.

Kiran earned a Bachelor of Technology degree at the National Institute of Technology, India in Mechanical Engineering. He is based out of New York and enjoys spending time with his wife and two young daughters.

Chetan Kandhari is the leader of Nationwide’s Enterprise Innovation and Digital organization. In this role, Chetan is accountable for maturing the company’s digital capabilities and expertise while creating new customer-centered digital products and services for members and partners.

During his 15-year tenure at Nationwide, Chetan has progressively held roles of increasing responsibility. In his most recent role as Chief Technology leader for P&C operations, Chetan oversaw the development and deployment of Nationwide’s Express platform and SmartMiles, as well as integrations with strategic partners such as Amazon, Toyota and Ford. He was also responsible for Personal Lines Transformation a 7-year, $500 Million-dollar effort to upgrade legacy systems to a more current platform.

In other roles at Nationwide, he has led the Customer Data and SOA Solution Organization, creating a single customer file. Earlier in his career, Chetan was a consultant with Diamond Technology Partners and Ernst & Young focusing on large scale program delivery and architecture.

Chetan holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Ohio State University, a Master of Science in Information Systems from Miami University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Muskingum University. He is a member of World 50, a private community for CEOs and C-level executives at globally respected organizations.

Chetan was born in India, where he frequently returns to visit, and he moved to the U.S. in 1993. Married, with two children, he enjoys hiking, reading and vacationing with his family in his free time and encourages his associates to look for a balance between work and life.

Claus is the Chief Digital Officer and Head of Technology for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He oversees the integration of data and technology resources and develops the data and digital platforms that will enable MSK to meet critical patient care and research objectives.

Claus also directs the operations of Information Systems, Health Informatics, and Data Products, as well as other core components of MSK’s information technology ecosystem. He works closely with leaders across MSK to design, create, and optimize solutions that benefit patients, researchers, clinicians, and administrators.

Claus is a transformational change agent with a track record of driving multi-year transitional agendas in large organizations, bringing together ideas, people and technology.

His background prior to MSK spans 20 years of transformational leadership roles at Danske Bank, IBM and as Chief Technology Officer of CVS Health/Aetna. During his time at IBM he was a trusted advisor on business and IT transformation journeys for many of the Fortune 100 companies.

Claus enjoys learning about world history and spends his vacations exploring different parts of the United States with his wife and two daughters.

Claus has a PhD in Computer Science from Aarhus University, Denmark. He is a thought leader in business and IT integration, holds 14 patents, and is a published author of six books and numerous articles.

Chetan Kandhari is the leader of Nationwide’s Enterprise Innovation and Digital organization. In this role, Chetan is accountable for maturing the company’s digital capabilities and expertise while creating new customer-centered digital products and services for members and partners.

During his 15-year tenure at Nationwide, Chetan has progressively held roles of increasing responsibility. In his most recent role as Chief Technology leader for P&C operations, Chetan oversaw the development and deployment of Nationwide’s Express platform and SmartMiles, as well as integrations with strategic partners such as Amazon, Toyota and Ford. He was also responsible for Personal Lines Transformation a 7-year, $500 Million-dollar effort to upgrade legacy systems to a more current platform.

In other roles at Nationwide, he has led the Customer Data and SOA Solution Organization, creating a single customer file. Earlier in his career, Chetan was a consultant with Diamond Technology Partners and Ernst & Young focusing on large scale program delivery and architecture.

Chetan holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Ohio State University, a Master of Science in Information Systems from Miami University and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Muskingum University. He is a member of World 50, a private community for CEOs and C-level executives at globally respected organizations.

Chetan was born in India, where he frequently returns to visit, and he moved to the U.S. in 1993. Married, with two children, he enjoys hiking, reading and vacationing with his family in his free time and encourages his associates to look for a balance between work and life.

John Saw, Ph.D., is the executive vice president of advanced and emerging technologies at T-Mobile, where he and his team of brilliant technologists are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to disrupt wireless and bring a little joy to customers’ lives.

John was previously the chief technology officer at Sprint, where he transformed its network performance and oversaw the company’s 5G rollout. John was also the chief technology officer at Clearwire before the company was acquired by Sprint in 2013. Long recognized as a pioneer in the 2.5 GHz band, he’s led the development of the 2.5 GHz band into one of the most valuable mid-band spectrums in the U.S. and one of the largest ecosystems in the world.

John has also held senior leadership roles developing and deploying wireless technologies at ATT Wireless, Bell Northern Research, Netro Corp and Nortel.

John earned a doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from McMaster University, Canada, and has six U.S. patents in wireless technologies. In 2017, the FCC chairman appointed him to the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. He also serves on the board of directors for Spectrum Effect, a pioneer in RF spectrum analytics, and he is on the advisory board of the Global TDD Initiative (GTI), an international industry consortium.

When John’s not working on network innovation, he enjoys golfing, skiing around pesky snowboarders, and hiking with his wife.

Rich Chung is the Head of Technology Agile Transformation for Wells Fargo. In this role, Rich is focused on helping and enabling the organization to move towards Agile ways of working. Rich drives the transformation from a primarily “waterfall” organization to continually looks to improve.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Rich spent over 15 years at JP Morgan Chase where Rich was most recently Head of Transformation Practice Enablement and Analytics for Chase Consumer and Community Bank (CCB). Rich has also worked in the Corporate and Investment Banking Division, responsible for the successful delivery of various technology supporting onboarding, client service and customer/account reference data.

Before joining Chase, Rich has held various leadership and delivery roles at other financial services, consulting and product firms.

Rich attended Carnegie Mellon University for Math / Computer Science with a specialization in distributed systems and software engineering. Resides in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters where tennis and traveling are a passion of the whole family.

Vonshe Jenkins is a Senior Vice President at Bank of America, where she currently serves as the Head of Supplier Diversity and Sustainable Sourcing. In this role, she is responsible for leading a team that develops and delivers business strategies that lead the company’s efforts in increasing opportunities for diverse businesses (minority, women, veteran, LGBT and disabled-owned businesses) to participate in Bank of America’s competitive Sourcing and Procurement processes, as well as, develops and implements the policies that sets the expectations we have for our entire supplier base in the areas of business integrity, labor practices, health and safety and environmental management .

Jenkins joined Bank of America in 1997 in Northern California and over the last 21 years, has held various leadership positions in Global Corporate Real Estate, Enterprise Services, Accounts Payable, Supply Chain Management and Finance Operations in Providence RI, New York City, Charlotte NC and Dallas TX before joining Global Procurement in 2018.

Before joining Global Procurement, she was the Corporate Real Estate Southwest (TX, OK, NM) Region Executive (2015-2018). In this role, she was responsible for approximately 8MM square feet of office space which includes the strategic and leadership oversight of complex third party facility partner management, with particular focus on meeting strategic and operational SLAs and effectively integrating all functional operations (Integrated Facilities management, Transactions Management, Project Management and Market Planning).

Before joining Corporate Real Estate, she was the Director of Supplier Diversity and Development (2011-2015). In this role, Vonshe led a team of Supplier Diversity professionals with primary responsibility for leading the company’s efforts in increasing opportunities for diverse businesses to participate in competitive Sourcing and Procurement processes, as well as senior level responsibility for enhancing and implementing innovative supplier development programs. Notably, while serving in this leadership position, she implemented key strategies that led to Bank of America’s induction into the Billion Dollar Roundtable.

Before her role in Supplier Diversity and Development, she led the bank’s Corporate Food Services Program. Corporate Food Services includes the management of Cafes, Conference Centers, Catering, Vending and the Office Beverage Program for North America and Canada. This portfolio of commodities represented an annual spend of $86MM and served approximately 100K bank employees.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Pfeiffer University and currently resides in Plano TX.

For the past two decades, Charlene Li has been helping people see the future. She’s an expert on digital transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work. She’s the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller, Open Leadership and co-author of the critically acclaimed book, Groundswell. Her latest book is the bestseller The Disruption Mindset. She is the Founder and Senior Fellow at Altimeter, a disruptive analyst firm acquired in 2015 by Prophet. Named one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company, Charlene is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School.

Guru Vasudeva is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Program & Application Services at Nationwide Mutual Insurance, a $27 billion revenue financial services and insurance company. In this role, Guru manages a shared services organization that provides program and project management, application development, and requirements and testing for the enterprise. He is also responsible for the delivery of large and complex programs, Lean and Agile transformation of application development and maintenance functions across Nationwide.

Prior to this role, Guru held several senior leadership positions at Nationwide including Enterprise Chief Technology Officer, Business Unit CIO, and Chief Architect.

Gary is Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer for CenterPoint Energy. He is responsible for technology operations solutions and infrastructure across CenterPoint Energy’s electric transmission and distribution and power generation, natural gas distribution and competitive energy business, which serves more than 7 million customers in eight states.

With 40 years of utility experience, Gary previously worked for TXU Energy where he led the delivery & operations of customer solutions for the retail, operating and marketing technologies. Prior to that, he was at Deloitte Consulting in the energy practice. Gary delivered consulting services on strategy, operations and large-scale implementation of customer, field services and enterprise solutions for regulated and deregulated companies providing electric, gas and competitive services. His energy career started at Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company, a regional regulated utility providing services to customers in Oklahoma and western Arkansas. At OGE, he was involved in the construction of three 550 megawatt power plants as well as the expansion of service and electric facilities across OGE’s service territory. He led the transmission engineering and land management departments. In 1996, he also led the SAP implementation for transmission and distribution operations, field services, facilities and transportation management.

Gary received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Oklahoma State University and is a registered professional engineer and land surveyor.

Claus is the Chief Digital Officer and Head of Technology for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He oversees the integration of data and technology resources and develops the data and digital platforms that will enable MSK to meet critical patient care and research objectives.

Claus also directs the operations of Information Systems, Health Informatics, and Data Products, as well as other core components of MSK’s information technology ecosystem. He works closely with leaders across MSK to design, create, and optimize solutions that benefit patients, researchers, clinicians, and administrators.

Claus is a transformational change agent with a track record of driving multi-year transitional agendas in large organizations, bringing together ideas, people and technology.

His background prior to MSK spans 20 years of transformational leadership roles at Danske Bank, IBM and as Chief Technology Officer of CVS Health/Aetna. During his time at IBM he was a trusted advisor on business and IT transformation journeys for many of the Fortune 100 companies.

Claus enjoys learning about world history and spends his vacations exploring different parts of the United States with his wife and two daughters.

Claus has a PhD in Computer Science from Aarhus University, Denmark. He is a thought leader in business and IT integration, holds 14 patents, and is a published author of six books and numerous articles.

Evan Lee is currently the Vice President, Strategy and Modernization for ICF International, a global consulting and technology services company. Prior to joining ICF, Evan served as the Chief Technology Officer for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.

Evan was responsible for helping HHS-OIG adopt proven industry IT practices and modern technologies to enhance mission capabilities in fighting fraud, waste and abuse in the $1.2 Trillion HHS portfolio. Evan’s focus was to establish Digital Service, implement federal mandates for IT Modernization, Data Accountability and Transparency, and Developing a Modern Workforce. In less than two years, Evan’s team rapidly and successfully deployed a secure and compliant multi-cloud hybrid infrastructure, enabling modern descriptive analytics, and high-performance computing, machine learning based predictive analytics. Previously, Evan served as the Chief Architect for the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts, where he led efforts in modernizing legacy systems, implementing Agile transformation, and adopting cloud computing.

Evan has also led multiple cloud, DevOps, and Digital Services related efforts throughout the Department of Homeland Security. Evan’s team deployed the first fully functional continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment platform in Amazon Web Services for the award-winning myUSCIS program at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The program was featured with President Obama at SXSW 2016, and TED Talks 2016 as the model for delivering modern digital government services. Before joining the government in 2012, Evan was the Vice President of Technology for a successful startup that focused on developing personality, cognitive and attitude assessments for hiring, training, and employee development. Evan is a graduate of George Mason University, with a B.S. in Computer Science.

Ronnie Clayton is the Deputy Chief Technologist at the NASA Johnson Space Center, serving as a principal advisor to the Center Director for technology, and assisting the JSC Chief Technologist as the Center points of contact for the Agency Chief Technologist and the Space Technology Mission Directorate. He helps guide JSC’s technology investment strategy and integrating and managing the comprehensive technology portfolio.

Ronnie’s previous assignments were in the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) Office at JSC. He worked in both the SSP Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) Office and the SSP Cargo Integration Office. In the SE&I Office he provided systems engineering for the Space Shuttle Main Propulsion System and Avionics Electrical Systems. He also coordinated Electromagnetic Environmental Effects analyses and testing for the Shuttle Program. In the Cargo Integration Office he provided electrical integration of Space Shuttle payloads and other Orbiter and crew electrical support equipment. The payload electrical integration included negotiating and defining the payload electrical interfaces with the Space Shuttle Orbiters and analyzing and integrating those requirements for each specific mission. Electrical interfaces were provided for both cargo bay payloads and pressurized crew compartment payloads and experiments. He negotiated interfaces and configured the Orbiter vehicles for payloads including Hubble Space Telescope, Spacelab, Spacehab, Tethered Satellite, Shuttle-MIR docking and ultimately ISS assembly and docking.

Ronnie earned a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He was awarded a NASA Silver Snoopy for his cargo integration work.

Ronnie is married and the proud father of three daughters. In his spare time, he kayaks, golfs, bicycles and spends time with his family.

Catherine is an industry-leading technology executive with extensive experience in roles spanning the commercial and industrial software business, from strategy through delivery. Her experience includes large and small enterprises in both the commercial and non-profit sectors, and she has led both technology and business operations. She has additional expertise in contract and intellectual property law and has served as liaison with counsel in several leadership positions.

In her current role, Catherine serves as Global Chief Information Officer and Head of Operations at Veeva Systems, a fast-growing enterprise cloud software provider headquartered in Silicon Valley with 2,800 employees and offices around the world (NYSE: VEEV). Catherine also serves as the site leader of Veeva’s second U.S. corporate hub office in Columbus, OH.

Catherine serves as Vice Chairman of the Board for the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, a consortium of Cincinnati Fortune 100 executives, civic leaders, and secondary educators focused on STEM education and technology career readiness for high school students. She also serves on the Advisory Boards for the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University and the School of Information Technology at the University of Cincinnati.

Previously, Catherine served as both Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer at KnowledgeWorks, a social enterprise focused on reinventing secondary education in America. Catherine’s IT team developed and supported a large SaaS LMS and technologies that enable the analysis of national education and community data. Catherine also lead the Foundation’s strategy, Board of Directors, HR, and Legal departments.

Catherine was responsible for the Software Engineering Division at The Kroger Company, the $180B national leader in grocery retail. Her team of 200 developed solutions for Kroger’s stores, customers, distribution centers, logistics, employee base, and manufacturing facilities, utilizing a broad base of technologies, from J2EE to .NET to SOA.

Prior to Kroger, Catherine served as President and CTO of a SaaS business that provided internet search, shopping, and advertising solutions to media companies throughout the US. She also served as VP & GM of the software division of The Standard Register Company, where her team designed and produced digital graphics and print software, digital asset management, and eProcurement solutions. Catherine’s early career was spent in Silicon Valley at PeopleSoft, Inc., where she spent 12 years in various executive roles including as a Vice President in the Tools & Technology products organization. She was responsible for product development teams, maintenance development, the global support center, security, and maintaining executive level relationships with PeopleSoft's C-level customer base.

Catherine is a Level 1 Sommelier and a concert pianist that performs regularly with high school instrumentalists.

Jacob Hsu is the CEO of Catalyte (www.catalyte.io), one of the largest software engineering services companies in the United States. Catalyte advances human potential for the digital revolution by using artificial intelligence to identify individuals, regardless of background, who have the innate potential and cognitive ability to be great software developers. With development centers in Baltimore, Chicago, Portland, and soon Boston and Salt Lake City, Catalyte has created a diverse and US-based technology workforce to help companies scale software innovation.

Prior to Catalyte, Mr. Hsu was CEO of Symbio, a global software engineering and R&D services company. He transformed Symbio from an early stage startup to a global diversified IT services company. Together with its parent company VXI, Symbio had over 23,000 employees around the world.

Before joining Symbio, he was the founding CEO of Trilogica, a data aggregation software company, and the founding CEO of Epitome, a banking applications company. Mr. Hsu began his career in investment banking focused on mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Hsu has also co-founded or been a founding investor in over thirty other companies in the United States and Asia. He received his bachelors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was named by Chief Executive Magazine as one of the world's Top 12 Young Global Leaders of Tomorrow and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Mr. Hsu is a founding member of the Markle Foundation’s Rework America Task Force, focused on modernizing the nation’s outdated labor market and unlocking economic opportunity for American job seekers, workers and businesses. He is also a board member of Welcoming America, which helps cities in the US be more welcoming of new immigrants.

Scott Dillon is head of Enterprise Information Technology at Wells Fargo and the company’s Chief Technology Officer, one of the country’s largest and most innovative information technology groups with more than 17,000 talented team members who help keep Wells Fargo at the forefront of America’s diversified financial services companies.

Under his leadership, technology team members set IT strategy, deliver systems software design and development, and provide Wells Fargo global customers ‘round-the-clock’ banking access through in-store, online, ATM, mobile device and telephone transactions. They serve customers directly through systems availability and security, as well as indirectly, through internal business partners who deliver a wide range of financial products and services.

During his nearly two decades with the company, Scott has held various executive positions, including global head of Technology Infrastructure Services, head of Enterprise Hosting Services, chief information officer for Wholesale, Trust and Investment Banking, and head of Payment Strategies – where he created and led the Strategic Alliances & Ventures groups.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Scott was a Partner at Deloitte Consulting holding various leadership positions in the Strategy and Financial Services practices while also acting as a Lead Client Services Partner for multiple top 10 financial services organizations.

Scott received a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

Steve Hagood is senior vice president and chief information officer at Ingersoll Rand and a member of the company’s Enterprise Leadership Team.

Steve leads the company’s global information technology (IT) organization and is responsible for the development and execution of Ingersoll Rand’s information technology strategies, including enterprise technology infrastructure, information security, and business IT solutions.

Prior to joining Ingersoll Rand, Steve spent 19 years with the Goodrich Corporation, most recently as the company’s vice president and chief information officer. With more than 30 years of experience, he has held multiple executive and financial leadership roles in the aerospace and defense, manufacturing and service industries.

Steve currently chairs the Charlotte CIO Executive Summit and previously served as the chair of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce IT Summit. He is a past director and Board Chair of Apparo, a Charlotte-based nonprofit organization, and a prior director for the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Technology Advisory Board.

Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as ‘CIO of the Year’ in 2014.

Guru Vasudeva is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Program & Application Services at Nationwide Mutual Insurance, a $27 billion revenue financial services and insurance company. In this role, Guru manages a shared services organization that provides program and project management, application development, and requirements and testing for the enterprise. He is also responsible for the delivery of large and complex programs, Lean and Agile transformation of application development and maintenance functions across Nationwide.

Prior to this role, Guru held several senior leadership positions at Nationwide including Enterprise Chief Technology Officer, Business Unit CIO, and Chief Architect.

Faye Francy is the Executive Director for the Auto-ISAC. This non-profit organization was established in August of 2015 and serves the global automotive industry through the analysis and sharing of trusted and timely cyber threat information about existing or potential cyber-related threats and vulnerabilities for on-road vehicle electronics and associated networks. The ED is actively engaged with private-sector stakeholders, partners and government agencies to facilitate information sharing and strengthen the industry's capability and capacity to detect, prevent, respond to, and mitigate disruptions related to the connected vehicle and supporting infrastructure.

Named Women of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal, Jin Zhang is a technology executive with both Fortune 100 and startup experience in enterprise software. She delivered 8-figure revenue at IBM, led engineering at Apigee to its IPO, and is now Director of Product at Amazon. Jin speaks regularly at technical conference and owns multiple patents in analytics. She is passionate about promoting diversity in technical companies, and she spends her spare time teaching product management and innovation at Stanford University (CSP).

Faraz is a technology executive with over 20 years of expertise in managing software design and development, project management, client services and professional services. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Naranga and is responsible for the day to day operations and general management of the company. In this role Faraz has helped establish Naranga as a Premier Technology service provider in the Franchise Space.

Prior to Naranga, he worked for Velti (a multi-national leader in the mobile marketing space), and led project management, client relationship management, professional services management, client support management and delivery. Faraz also worked in IT Consulting and held various leadership roles, and in Online Marketing creating systems that built online user loyalty (notably for the Official NASCAR Membership Club).

Faraz has an MBA in International Business and a PMP certification.

George Linares is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As CTO, George serves as one of the Agency's principal officials responsible for information technology (IT) at CMS in the following areas: systems architecture & security, platforms and networks. George advocates the optimization of CMS' IT investments and proposes enhancements to CMS IT and information technology practices to maintain cost-effective offerings, with an emphasis on the ever evolving and maturing of CMS’ technical environment.

Scott Dillon is head of Enterprise Information Technology at Wells Fargo and the company’s Chief Technology Officer, one of the country’s largest and most innovative information technology groups with more than 17,000 talented team members who help keep Wells Fargo at the forefront of America’s diversified financial services companies.

Under his leadership, technology team members set IT strategy, deliver systems software design and development, and provide Wells Fargo global customers ‘round-the-clock’ banking access through in-store, online, ATM, mobile device and telephone transactions. They serve customers directly through systems availability and security, as well as indirectly, through internal business partners who deliver a wide range of financial products and services.

During his nearly two decades with the company, Scott has held various executive positions, including global head of Technology Infrastructure Services, head of Enterprise Hosting Services, chief information officer for Wholesale, Trust and Investment Banking, and head of Payment Strategies – where he created and led the Strategic Alliances & Ventures groups.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Scott was a Partner at Deloitte Consulting holding various leadership positions in the Strategy and Financial Services practices while also acting as a Lead Client Services Partner for multiple top 10 financial services organizations.

Scott received a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

Steve Hagood is senior vice president and chief information officer at Ingersoll Rand and a member of the company’s Enterprise Leadership Team.

Steve leads the company’s global information technology (IT) organization and is responsible for the development and execution of Ingersoll Rand’s information technology strategies, including enterprise technology infrastructure, information security, and business IT solutions.

Prior to joining Ingersoll Rand, Steve spent 19 years with the Goodrich Corporation, most recently as the company’s vice president and chief information officer. With more than 30 years of experience, he has held multiple executive and financial leadership roles in the aerospace and defense, manufacturing and service industries.

Steve currently chairs the Charlotte CIO Executive Summit and previously served as the chair of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce IT Summit. He is a past director and Board Chair of Apparo, a Charlotte-based nonprofit organization, and a prior director for the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Technology Advisory Board.

Steve holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin and is a member of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as ‘CIO of the Year’ in 2014.

Kishore Khandavalli founded SevenTablets in 2012 as a part of the iTech group of companies. He started iTech in 2003 and he remains the group’s CEO & Chairman today. Under Mr. Khandavalli’s leadership, the company has evolved into a global group, established key partnerships and acquired numerous clients, many of which are Fortune 100 organizations. Currently managing over 1,200 employees, three offices outside the U.S., and five within the United States and Canada, he steered iTech to be the fastest growing technology company in New England. Over the last few years, he made strategic acquisitions to make iTech into a consortium of companies with global delivery centers offering solutions in IT services (www.iTechUS.com, www.SmtWorks.com) mobile technologies (www.SevenTablets.com), software solutions and data management (www.iTechDataServices.com). Before founding iTech, Mr. Khandavalli founded Primesoft in 1997, which was later merged with another software company. He spearheaded the merger and subsequently led the combined organization until 2002. Prior to venturing into the IT industry, Mr. Khandavalli worked as a chemical engineer at Enerfex, a technology think tank in Vermont where he developed a unique patented technology to capture greenhouse gases and reuse them as byproducts. He was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year finalist for two years in a row in 2009 & 2010. He was also a Wells Fargo Asian Business leader finalist in 2010. He is an avid flying enthusiast and a private pilot and holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Akron in Ohio.

Krish Krishnan is the Chief Technology Officer of Ampcus Inc, a Business and Technology Consulting Services Company based in Chantilly, Va. He is a recognized expert worldwide in the strategy, architecture and implementation of Big Data, Text Analytics, Analytics and Data Warehousing. His team focus at Ampcus is to provide leading innovation and solutions to Clients across Federal and Commercial. He leads the development of algorithms and solution frameworks that Ampcus will leverage across all solutions. Krish brings a vast experience of 24+ years with clients including USPS, eBay, Experian, Walgreens, Allstate, CNA Insurance, Cars.Com, Fox, State Street Bank, EMC, Elsevier, RBS, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Reliance Communications, Singtel, Electronic Arts, Brocade, Cisco and many others. Krish has written three books “Building the Unstructured Data Warehouse” with Bill Inmon and “Data Warehousing in the Age of Big Data” and “Social Analytics” with Shawn Rogers, and working on two more to come in 2017/2018. Krish is a featured speaker at many conferences globally and a faculty at TDWI.

Gopa began his career with the Bank in 1994 as an applications manager and was promoted to senior vice president in 2010.

Prior to joining the Bank, Gopa was the system manager and chief architect at Providian Financial. Gopa holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, India.

Gopa serves in leadership roles on several key Federal Reserve System workgroups, including Technology Service Council, Application Development Leadership Team, and the information Security Council. Gopa is a member of the Bank’s Executive Committee.

Gopa is a governing body member of the San Francisco CIO Executive Summit, and is also the co-chair of the San Francisco CIO Mid-Market Executive Summit.

Chintan is the CTO of Walgreens Boots Alliance and is responsible for all consumer facing experiences across all digital channels globally. As a part of this role Chintan also heads the innovation team responsible for all our work across new areas like telemedicine, in-store digital experiences etc. Prior to WBA Chintan was Vice President of Engineering at American Express responsible for developing a range of digital payments capabilities and Solutions. Chintan has a Masters in Computer Science from University of Hertfordshire.

Ralf is currently Global Director IT & Chief Contracting Officer. He has held this role since December 2015. Prior to this position, he was the Purchasing Director for Infotainment, Semiconductors and Software.

Ralf began his career in 1996 at Opel located in Bochum, Germany. In 1998, he moved to Opel Rüsselsheim, Germany. In 2000, he transitioned to an international assignment in Rochester, NY, working on Fuel Cells, and localized to GM a few years later. In 2007, Ralf moved to Michigan. He has held several positions in Purchasing and Program Management in the areas of Fuel Cells, Electrification, New Technology, as well as Commodity Purchasing and Crisis Management.

Ralf was born in Hildesheim, Germany. He has a dual masters equivalent degree in mechanical engineering and business administration (“Diplom Wirtschaftsingenieur”) from the University of Paderborn, Germany. He speaks German, English, Spanish and basic French.

Mike Nolfo is a senior vice president in Information Technology at Enterprise Holdings Inc. Mike leads the development of innovative, consumer-focused solutions and services that meet the dynamic needs of the entire entity and its customers. He has responsibility for the daily technical operations of a global IT team of nearly 2,000 employees.

Mike joined Enterprise Holdings in 1995 as a process manager in application development. During his tenure, he has had led diverse functions within IT, including application development, infrastructure, security and other key IT functions. Prior to joining Enterprise Holdings, Mike was a consulting manager at Ernst and Young.

Enterprise Holdings and its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management offer a total transportation solution. These businesses achieved $20.9 billion in revenue and operated nearly 1.9 million vehicles in more than 85 countries throughout the work in fiscal year 2016.

Joshua Soliz has held the position of Vice President and Chief Technology Officer with MGM Resorts International since 2012. In this position he leads the strategic direction for the MGMRI Architecture, Engineering and Innovation Delivery teams. This includes Architecture and Engineering of critical services for MGM Resorts International such as Infrastructure, Cloud (IaaS and SaaS), and commercial applications. He is also the primary advisor on multiple innovation initiatives and is leading a small team of staff for mode 2 delivery.

Prior to his promotion in 2012, Joshua was the Vice President of Global Infrastructure Management for MGM Resorts International Information Technology Department.

Joshua has over 18 years of experience in hospitality. Prior to joining the company, Joshua was the Director of IT Infrastructure for a global timeshare company, Sunterra Corporation (now Diamond Resorts International) in North Las Vegas and has worked for very large companies such as General Motors and AT&T. Joshua has been working in IT Infrastructure for over 25 years and is known for his excellence in crisis management while providing innovation, value creation, and technology leadership.

Joshua is the president of the Technology & Diversity for Charity board of directors and is a member of the Collaboration Leaders Council for Switch Data Centers.

Joshua is a native of Ohio and was educated at Purdue University and UNLV and holds various technology and process improvement certifications.

Jim Tussing is an Information Technology executive with over 29 years of experience spanning application development, application integration, infrastructure and data.

Jim is currently serving as VP, Enterprise Chief Architect for Nationwide Insurance, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Nationwide is the 7th largest homeowners insurer, the 8th largest auto insurer, the 8th largest life insurer, and the number one small business insurer in the U.S. In his current role, Jim has responsibility for Enterprise Architecture for Nationwide’s IT applications, infrastructure, and data, and the continued development and evolution of the IT Architecture capability.

Prior to his current role, Jim served as Infrastructure CTO for Nationwide, leading Nationwide’s adoption of cloud computing through the development and deployment of an internal private cloud and adoption of public cloud services. Jim’s prior focus areas have included server virtualization, implementation of Service Oriented Architecture application integration capability, and enterprise application integration across multiple platforms.

Named Women of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal, Jin Zhang is a technology executive with both Fortune 100 and startup experience in enterprise software. She delivered 8-figure revenue at IBM, led engineering at Apigee to its IPO, and is now Director of Product at Amazon. Jin speaks regularly at technical conference and owns multiple patents in analytics. She is passionate about promoting diversity in technical companies, and she spends her spare time teaching product management and innovation at Stanford University (CSP).