A fellow with the London-based Royal Society of Arts and a member of the London Speaker's Bureau, Boinodiris has focused on inclusion in technology since 1999. She is currently the business transformation leader for IBM’s Responsible AI consulting group and serves on the leadership team of IBM’s Academy of Technology. Boinodiris is the author of the book 'AI for the Rest of Us, and is a co-founder of the Future World Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to curating K-12 education in AI ethics. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in AI and Ethics at University College Dublin’s Smart Lab. In 2019, she won the United Nations Woman of Influence in STEM and Inclusivity Award and was recognized by Women in Games International as one of the Top 100 Women in the Games Industry as she began one of the first scholarship programs in the United States for women to pursue degrees in game design and development.  https://phaedra.ai/

Appointed to the Information Technology Strategy Board by N.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, Keith Briggs is director of enterprise architecture and innovation for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He is committed to innovation and continuous improvement.
Briggs has 25 years’ experience in technology leadership in data centers management, cloud, application infrastructure, application development, IT service management and information security. He has primarily worked for the private sector in the financial, technology manufacturing and health care industries.
Briggs joined NCDIT in June 2022. He was appointed to the IT Strategy Board prior to joining NCDIT. At the time, he was chief information officer for the N.C. Department of Insurance, a position he held since 2018.
Briggs holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and a master’s degree from Texas Christian University.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithbriggs

Christie Burris was appointed as the state's chief data officer with the N.C. Department of Information Technology in January 2024.
She leads NCDIT's statewide development of enterprise data strategies, including management, privacy and governance across all platforms. As director of NCDIT's Government Data Analytics Center, she also guides the state's use of integrated data to support public safety, fraud, compliance, healthcare, finance and performance and policy decision analysis.
An award-winning communications executive with experience in industries from radio and television to public housing and insurance, Burris joined the N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority, within GDAC, in 2016. She became its executive director in December 2017 and oversaw the ongoing strategy to develop a mature and modernized state-designated health information exchange, NC HealthConnex, and support health care providers in fulfilling the state mandate for data connections.
Burris holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Government Chief Information Officer Certification from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government. She received a State Leadership award from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers in 2019.

Throughout her impressive and diverse career, Stacey Caster has earned a reputation for being a forward-thinking leader, business consultant, executive coach, and workshop facilitator. Possessing an innate understanding of people, businesses, and systems that she has continued to develop throughout her 25+ year career, Stacey has been recognized for her innovative approach to organizational structure, management, and leadership development. At the core of her work, she was responsible for increasing the value and performance of senior leaders, c-level executives, organizations, and teams and for delivering the necessary support to help businesses run smoothly. Stacey is an accomplished and well-respected speaker, consultant, and engaging business coach. She’s also an accomplished business leader specializing in technology and business operations. Stacey is constantly driven to transform obstacles into opportunities and challenges into possibilities for her clients.
Stacey was chosen by LA Weekly as one of the “Top 10 Leadership Coaches to Watch in 2024” and a 2023 RISE Mentor of the Year. In addition, she is an ICF Certified Executive Coach, a Certified Master Facilitator, and a Genos Emotional Intelligence Certified Practitioner.

Nicole Coughlin is an award-winning technology executive who serves as the chief information officer for Cary, North Carolina. She is the principal strategist and architect for information technology and digital marketing across the organization. Raimundo is at the forefront of the smart cities movement, creating a connected community through piloting and implementing IoT technologies in the public sector. By fostering partnerships both locally and nationally, she leverages her private-sector background to fuel civic innovation in ways not previously seen in local government.
A self-described government rebel, Raimundo participates in numerous conferences and summits as a keynote speaker and panelist, and her work has been profiled in case studies as she continuously pursues new models of digital transformation for collaborative citizen-facing projects. Prior to her work in government, she spent more than 15 years in various IT leadership positions in the private sector, leading development teams in the U.S. and internationally.

Mick DiGrazia is the Senior Director of Enterprise Operations, North Carolina Department of IT, where he provides leadership in delivering application and infrastructure services to Citizens and 375 state agencies, local government, and educational institutions in North Carolina. With over 25 years of experience in IT leadership in State Government, Higher Education, and Healthcare, Mick has served in various capacities, delivering services in Infrastructure, Applications, Cloud Services, Identity Management, Information Security, and Risk and Compliance. As a change leader, DiGrazia has lead organizational transformation through automation and cloud technologies leveraging collaboration and community, in order to modernize and streamline institutional practices.

Michael Euliss is the Director of Communications, Government Relations, and Training for the North Carolina Office of the State Controller. Mr. Euliss is also a motivational teacher and holds numerous nationally-recognized certifications in training, teaching, and organizational health. He has provided educational events to hundreds of governmental, church, corporate, and civic groups across North America to help them develop a culture of servant leadership and displace ineffective and autocratic leadership practices.
He is internationally recognized for practical but powerful motivational and inspirational learning experiences. His expertise is in leadership development, public and interpersonal communication skills, strategic direction, and group dynamics. He uses a variety of methods to equip today's leaders with the tools they need to become peak performers as well as make others around them better.
Mr. Euliss has experience in the corporate world as well as the public sector. He served in local government for 20 years and served in executive management in the private sector for 10 years before founding a non-profit organization focused on servant leadership development where he served for 7 years.
He has been married since 1984, is the father of three children, and grandfather of six. He resides with his family in North Carolina.

Jonathan Feldman is an award-winning Chief Information Officer, speaker, and writer. He has been recognized for his positive impact on the communities he serves by the Frost & Sullivan CIO Impact Award and inclusion in Government Technology’s Top 25 Dreamers, Doers, and Drivers, and he is frequently listed among top CIO and IT practitioners. Jonathan is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of cloud computing, digital transformation, and civic tech, with Forbes calling his efforts “IT done right.”  
Jonathan’s success leading government technology led him to co-author Code for America’s book, “Beyond Transparency” with Tim O’Reilly and others. His column with InformationWeek magazine, which won an American Society of Business Publication Editors award, started many industry conversations about positive IT transformation. He has spoken all over the world about civic technology, the future of work, talent management, leadership, and digital transformation, and is often quoted in the media about these topics. He is active on social media both to learn and to share and tweets at @_jfeldman.

Raju is an IT executive with 25 years of professional experience in the information technology field. Raju joined the Division of Employment Security, NC Department of Commerce in July 2016 as their Chief Information Officer. Raju works with the assistant secretary, senior executives and directors to set business priorities and develop the supporting IT strategy at NCDES.
Prior to joining at NCDES, Raju worked at Oxford University Press for approximately six years. He held the position of US IT Director, served as the Head of Software Development and Content Systems for Global Academic business unit. Prior to that, Raju worked as the VP and CIO of a technology services company in Morrisville, NC. Raju graduated with a master’s degree in Computer Science from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, AL. For more information on his professional experience, please refer to his LinkedIn profile at

As chief privacy officer for the N.C. Department of Information Technology, Cherie Givens is responsible for a strategic and comprehensive statewide privacy program that defines, develops, maintains and implements policies and processes that enable consistent and effective information privacy practices.
Givens is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) and an attorney with more than 20 years of experience. She joined NCDIT in December 2021 after more than a decade supporting federal privacy programs in the Washington D.C. area – first as a federal employee and then as a contractor.  
Givens brings experience in creating, assessing, and maturing privacy programs. She has supported privacy at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Government Publishing Office and the U.S. Department of Defense - Advana (Advancing Analytics). 
Givens is the author of “Information Privacy Fundamentals for Librarians and Information Professionals” as well as several book chapters on the topics of information privacy, cybersecurity and information governance. 
She has taught graduate level privacy and information science courses for San Jose State University, a governance course for the University of Alberta and information science courses for the University of Maryland’s iSchool. 
Givens earned a Juris Doctor from Louisiana State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia.

Joey Harrison has served as the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s human resources director since October 2017.
In this role, Harrison leads the Human Resources Division and is responsible for guiding the development of human resources programs and practice for the agency. 
His team manages and guides critical organizational support functions involving recruitment and selection, classification and compensation, employee relations, workforce development, diversity and inclusion, performance management, benefits administration, safety and health, and HRIS administration.
Harrison is a career state employee with more than 27 years of service. He has worked in a variety of human resources roles at other agencies, including five Cabinet and two Council of State agencies. 
A native of Wake County, Harrison earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Appalachian State University.

Chris’ experience since 2001 includes career growth and accomplishments with Fortune 500 companies (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Dell EMC Corp, & Fortinet, Inc.) and entrepreneurial companies (Mimecast, Fuze & LPS Integration) including roles as Director of Sales Engineering for North America, Enterprise Sales Engineering Manager for North America, Sales Engineering Manager, Sales Engineer, Cloud & Automation Architect, Territory Manager, IT Director, IT Solutions Architect/Consultant, and Project Manager.
Chris has over 20 years in the technology space. His success has been based on strengths in sales engineering, training/development, enterprise account strategies, IT infrastructure build out, network/data center administration, large-scale project management (up to 20 projects simultaneously), virtualization, back-up/storage solutions, IT security and disaster recovery.
He earned a reputation for his ability to provide leadership direction to multiple sales engineering teams, turnaround underperforming sales engineering departments, drive growth by expanding into new markets, and achieving record-breaking results for my companies. These strengths can be demonstrated by recent results, including:
• Managing a team of 110+ Sales Engineers supporting enterprise clients throughout the world.
• Leading the enterprise sales engineering team to secure 34 new Fortune 500 accounts in 2017 & 2018.
• Collaborating with executives on the North American Go-To-Market Team on future direction of the company.
• Redesigning sales engineering processes/procedures that improved ability to close deals with enterprise accounts.
In addition, Chris has intangible strengths including a results-oriented leadership style, ability to explain complex technology in understandable terms, and experience working with professionals from administrative staff to C-Level executives.
He has impacted the success of his employers by listening to needs of decision-makers and transforming IT concepts into real world solutions that support business strategy.
Chris also holds a Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP) certification by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium (ISC2).

As chief operating officer, Torre Jessup oversees the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s administrative functions, which include human resources, legislative affairs, internal audit, procurement, communications, and facilities.
He most recently served more than four years as commissioner of the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles, where he oversaw daily operations and provided strategic direction for the division’s key functions, including vehicle registration, driver license issuance, vehicle safety and emissions inspections as well as activities to halt vehicle theft and identity fraud. Under his leadership, NCDMV relocated its headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount, made significant process improvements and expanded online services.
Jessup’s experience also includes director of the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization for the U.S. Department of Transportation and regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration's Southeast Sunbelt Region.
He also spent 20 years in the office of North Carolina Rep. Mel Watt as district director and in various liaison roles. During his tenure, Jessup set policy objectives, oversaw district-level strategy and operations and managed outreach and constituent affairs. 
He also served appointments on the Board of Directors for the American Association for Motor Vehicle Administrators and North Carolina Criminal Justice Information Network, as well as the North Carolina Human Relations Commission and the Charlotte Metropolitan Transit Finance Working Group.
Jessup is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice.

Dan Kempton serves as the senior technology advisor for the N.C. Department of Information Technology. He brings more than 30 years of technology and business experience, having worked for large and small firms in the private sector as well as for 15 years with the state of North Carolina.
Kempton has held several IT leadership roles, including chief technology officer positions in the private industry and both deputy chief information officer and subsequently chief technology officer at the N.C. Department of Revenue.  At NCDIT, he has led several teams (including the engineering section) that have brought new products, notably multi-cloud capabilities, to state agencies.
Kempton is a strong technology-focused leader who can easily discuss business needs to determine the right solution that fits them. His extensive and broad technical background provides the experience to guide business leaders to the solutions that will achieve the best results.
Kempton has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of South Carolina.  He has also earned certification as a government chief information officer from the UNC School of Government.

Rachael Newberry leads innovation programs and public sector support at RIoT, an economic development nonprofit focused on emerging technology and IoT sector growth. Rachael launched the RIoT Accelerator Program in 2018, and has advised 130+ startups that have created 400+ jobs and generated over $100 Million in revenue. She led expansion of the program, launching RAP in four locations and extending support to both corporate and government innovation initiatives. At RIoT, she acts as a liaison between public and private sector partners to spur collaboration in the smart cities space and entrepreneurial ecosystem development. Previously, Rachael built and ran a behavioral science-focused startup program at Duke University (though she is a proud UNC alum), where her work was featured at Google and in Forbes and Inc. Magazine.

Tracy-Ann is a seasoned, well-rounded, executive leader with 25+ years of global transformation experience and deep expertise across all areas of the business. She is a catalyst for change and a savvy, courageous leader who is unafraid to tackle difficult challenges. Optimistic in the face of uncertainty, Tracy-Ann is able to skillfully navigate through ambiguity and stay ahead of the market. She is a stellar relationship builder and inspirational leader who creates diverse, resilient teams that consistently exceed growth targets. Tracy-Ann develops bold leaders through passionate, empathetic mentorship. With a pioneer mindset, she develops winning cultures and empowers people to deliver value beyond their own expectations. Tracy-Ann is a celebrated motivational speaker, executive coach known for accelerating growth in the face of adversity, exceptional entrepreneurial success, and visionary leader.
Tracy-Ann is a 2023 Stevie Award Winner – Women Executive of the Year, a CRN Executive Mentor of the Year, a CRN Inclusive Leader Award recipient, a Channel Futures Top 20 Cloud Channel Leader, a CRN Female Executive of the Year and Role Model of the Year finalist, and a CRN Power 100 recipient three years in a row for The Most Powerful Women of the Channel. Tracy-Ann is also the Founder of the “We Build Character” non-profit executive leadership mentoring program.

Robert Reynolds is the Chief Information Officer for Orange County, North Carolina. With over 25 years of diverse experience in Information Technology, Robert has held senior leadership positions in corporate, State and Local Government organizations with extensive IT operations and security experience in law enforcement and military high value mission critical environments. Robert specializes in leading IT organizations in both the public and private sector. He has consulted for the federal government and corporate clients as Advisory CIO helping them to improve IT operations, achieve better outcomes, and accelerate their strategic and business plan objectives. Robert also served in the United States Navy.
Robert holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from the University of Maryland. He also holds the CISSP, GCFA, MCSE and Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO) certifications. Robert is an active member of FBI InfraGard, and ISSA Raleigh Chapter.

Braydon Strous is the District Manager for the Acquisition team within HP's Public Sector organization. He’s been a part of HP for 5 years by way of the acquisition of Poly, where he was a senior account manager working with State and Local and Education customers upgrading their hybrid strategy, collaboration, and communication standards.
When he’s not talking to customers or the team, you can usually find him on the golf course or coaching one of his daughters many sports.

Michael Ware works for the North Carolina Department of Information Technology and serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.  Michael has 22 years of IT leadership experience and is a 24-year veteran of the US Air Force.  Over the years, Michael accumulated a robust range of IT experience with numerous domestic and international business partners across a diverse portfolio of technologies. 
Michael began his career in the Air Force in 1990 and served as an aircraft avionics technician before commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in August 2002.  He served in a variety of leadership positions throughout his career and a veteran of multiple campaigns and several overseas operations including Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. 
During Michael’s Air Force career, he was the Director of Operations for the 83rd Network Operations Squadron, where he directed network operations for half of the Air Force’s Information Network.  He led IT operations during deployments to Bosnia and Iraq (twice) supporting IT networks in dynamic situations working with a host of international contractors.  He also served as the Operations Flight Commander for the largest Communications squadron in the Air Force, the 86th Communications Squadron, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.   
After he retired from the Air Force, Michael joined the Department of Information Technology in November 2014 and was assigned as the CIO for DEQ in October 2016.  In this role, he provides IT leadership, strategic direction, and day-to-day operational oversight for 72 IT professionals supporting the department’s 1600+ employees. 
Michael holds an MBA from Webster University and a BS in Management Information Systems from National American University.  He completed the Certified Government Chief Information Officer program at UNC Chapel Hill.  Michael and his wife, Julie, have two sons: Collin and Carson.

Chief Information Officer Ron White is responsible for Avanade’s internal enterprise technology and for delivering the technology capabilities that power the company’s people and operations worldwide. Building on Avanade’s position as a premier example of using the Microsoft ecosystem to deliver leading digital solutions, Ron and his team contribute our experience and know-how as they work closely with our clients. Previously, Ron served as Avanade’s U.S. Midwest General Manager, leading the region to significant growth during his tenure. Prior to his GM role, Ron was the Chief Process Improvement Officer and CIO at Owens Illinois, a Fortune 500 company. Ron holds a bachelor’s degree in applied science from Miami University. You’ll have to move fast to catch Ron in his off hours. He enjoys climbing mountains, biking hills, running trails, sitting on the dock and walking amazing golf holes.

Mark Wittenburg is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Raleigh. Mark has extensive public sector experience working with city and regional leaders in Arizona and now North Carolina to develop strategic direction and manage IT operations. His knowledge helped advance initiatives such as deploying smart water meters to conserve water, advancing regional digital equity by accelerating 5G and fiber installation, and building a culture that embraces innovation. Mark brings that same passion for public service to Raleigh, leveraging thoughtful and appropriate technology to advance the priorities of the community.