Laura Baker is known for her innovative thinking, problem solving, mentorship, unwavering commitment to securing critical digital assets and her exceptional leadership as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Schenectady County. With a career spanning over 30 years, Laura's journey is a testament to her dedication to the field.
Born and raised in Syracuse, NY, Laura's fascination with technology began at an early age. She completed her undergraduate studies in Business Administration and Accounting at SUNY Plattsburgh, where she famously was told by her accounting professor that she was a pleasure to have in class, but to please never pursue a career in accounting. She then moved on to New York City where she took a position in a movie production studio and fell into the task of preparing their computing systems for Y2K. From there she took a position as head Microsoft Trainer for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and through that journey became a skilled administrator and database engineer.
In 2006 Laura received a Master of Science in Information Science from SUNY Albany while developing applications for use in library consortia and working on her second large data conversion project. Working in the world of libraries provided a unique insight into data privacy regulations and innovation in the technology field.
In 2012, Laura joined Schenectady County as its Deputy Director for Information Services. Initially the role was focused on application development, but quickly became security focused as she found more and more systems that were woefully outdated and easily compromised. In the next 10 years she and her team tirelessly implemented innovative technology and cyber security policies and procedures. Each one bringing Schenectady County closer to a level of security that met or surpassed standards required for those systems.
In 2022 she became the first female Chief Information Office and acting Chief Information Security Officer for Schenectady County.

Paul Baltzell has over 26 years’ experience working in various areas of IT consulting and management. After serving in the US Navy, Paul began his career with EDS as a systems engineer later moving on to work with various consulting firms. In 2005, Paul led the State of Indiana IT consolidation efforts. This effort achieved a 14-million-dollar yearly savings for the State through shared systems. For his cost savings efforts, Paul was awarded a Governor’s Meritorious Service Award. In 2013 Paul was appointed CIO for the State of Indiana by Governor Mike Pence. During his tenure as State CIO he implemented the Management and Performance Hub working to turn Indiana into the first Data Driven State. After achieving his goals as State CIO, Paul left for the healthcare sector to focus his talents to bring technology to bear in senior care. In 2018, he returned to serve the public sector as part of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Where he worked daily on efforts to grow Indiana’s job opportunities. Most recently, Paul joined the Salesforce team in a role that allows him to leverage its industry leading platform to bear in solving problems for State & Local Government.

Jennifer Barber began her career as a technician for a large national healthcare company and has over 20 years’ experience supporting and managing staff of various levels. At the height of Y2K, Jennifer began her career working for the NYS Comptroller’s office as a consultant. After approximately one year, Jennifer became a permanent NYS employee and is now Assistant Director of Security and Workstation Management managing OSC’s IT Service Desk, Workstation Support, Workstation Management, Workstation Delivery, Information Security Management, and IT Business Alignment Groups. Jennifer often participates in large agency IT projects to assist with aligning resources to support the Comptroller’s agency mission. Jennifer works with the CIO Executive Team, Directors and Assistant Directors to coordinate equipment, software and hardware budgetary needs for the agency. Jennifer has participated on Hudson Valley College’s IT Advisory board and works with OSC’s internal recruitment office to onboard student interns. Jennifer also received the 2018 NYS IT Leadership Academy Outstanding IT Leader Award.

Ronald M. Bergmann most recently served as Vice President for Information Technology and CIO at Lehman College/CUNY. At Lehman, Ron and his team pioneered the use of analytics, automated major business processes, enhanced classroom technology, and opened the first virtual reality lab in the region. Lehman was cited as an exemplar in the 2018 Horizon Report for its innovative Lehman 360 digital platform. Ron is a fellow of the EDUCAUSE/CLIR Frye (now Leading Change) Institute and was named in 2017 as one of the nation’s top technologists, transformers, and trailblazers by the Center for Digital Education.
Ron previously served as first deputy commissioner of New York City's information technology agency where he was selected by Government Technology Magazine as one of the nation's leading individuals redefining and advancing technology's role in government. 

Dorianne Blanchard is an accomplished IT leader with over 25 years of experience working in the public sector for the state of New York. She holds a Master's Degree in Public Health and has spent a large part of her career in information technology for health and human services.
Currently, Dori serves as the Deputy CIO for Performance and Portfolio Management at the NYS Attorney General's Office, where she oversees the development and implementation of IT strategies and solutions that support the office's mission. Prior to this role, Dori spent 10 years as the Director of Operations at New York State of Health, where she was a leader in the development and implementation of the state's health insurance marketplace.
Dori is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has a proven track record of successfully managing complex IT projects from conception to delivery. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society, where she advocates for the advancement of women in leadership positions. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the New York IT Leadership Forum.
Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong commitment to leveraging technology to improve the lives of New Yorkers. Dori is passionate about using her expertise to drive innovation and transformation in the public sector and is excited to share her insights and experiences with the IT Leadership forum for NYS.

Marlowe Cochran has been working in the IT field for over three decades, with over two of those decades in information security roles. He has worked in a multitude of sectors from government to health care. In his current role at the New York State Department of Education, he is the Chief Information Security Officer. Marlowe currently collaborates with internal and external stakeholders in regard to modernizing technology and data sharing; he oversees data risk assessment/management, incident response, the development of policies/procedures, and manages the overall risk posture of the agency.

Bob is an information technology executive with over thirty-five years of cross-industry leadership experience and a proven record of successful delivery.  His project leadership focuses on agile transformation, application and infrastructure modernization, operations management, process automation, and end-to-end security.  Bob has been with IBM for nearly 25 years and has had a number of leadership roles supporting clients across the financial, manufacturing, and technology industries.  His current assignment is leading a team of 200 individuals that make up the Infrastructure Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Automation Operations (AO) practices in the Office of IBM’s CIO.  Bob holds an MS degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University and an MBA from the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business.

Michael Haber currently serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the New York State Board of Elections, where he oversees strategic cybersecurity and technology initiatives. Studying physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, his professional experience has spanned both the public and private sectors. Michael came to the Board of Elections as a project management consultant with NYSTEC, after working as Implementation Director for Bespoke Software. Previously, he served as a technology project manager for critical infrastructure projects with the NYS Office of Homeland Security. His previous experience includes technology oversight and management with Lockheed Martin and ACS, also serving as Operations Director and Director of Processing for New York State Child Support. Michael has also been a long-time volunteer with numerous charitable organizations, providing leadership development training for college students, and having served twelve years on the Board of Directors for Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity.

Lynn Hansen has worked for New York State for over 22 years in multiple roles on information technology projects. She has extensive experience across project management, business analysis, systems design, procurement, and managing teams. Lynn’s career started as developer/analyst at the Human Services Application Center on the BRIA BIN application.  She then transitioned to working on multiple projects including NYS e-Grants project, the State Comptroller’s Office Contract Management System, VendRep System, Contract Submission System, implementation of Contract Audit Module in SFS, and served as the lead on several other projects at NYS Office of State Comptroller. In 2014, Lynn moved into OSC’s CIO Division where she steadily moved up into management positions on the Lotus Notes and IT Business Management teams. In Lynn’s current role, she oversees all application development on over 100 applications, including the NYS Payroll System and NYS Retirement System.

Jesse is a Senior Manager in Accenture's Public Sector Strategy & Consulting practice where he leads efforts across Transportation & Infrastructure in New York City and State. Before joining Accenture, Jesse was a leader at New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he led key initiatives as part of an agency wide transformation plan to improve the customer experience across New York City Transit. Jesse focuses on the intersection of business process, people and technology, leveraging improvements across all three areas to drive organizational change and improve outcomes. He has experience building extended leadership teams, engaging employees across all levels of the organization and shifting culture to continuous improvement. He is a lifelong New Yorker and is proud to live in the same neighborhood where he grew up. 

Mike Hussey is an industry executive director for state and local strategy for Oracle Government and Education. Mike has 25 years of senior leadership experience with the State of Utah where he most recently served as CIO for the State of Utah and the executive director for the Department of Technology Services.  While serving in this cabinet-level position, Mike was known as a collaborative and transformative leader who enjoys applying technological advances available in the market.  Among some of his accomplishments while the state CIO, Mike led the state’s cloud journey and digital transformation efforts, created the state’s first cyber center, and formed the state’s first innovation fund.
Mike has been recognized as a “Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver” in the public sector.

Matt Jebaraj leads NYS ITS Program and Project Management Office (PPMO) and Integrated Eligibility System (IES) Program, as Executive Director. Prior to that, Matt was the Deputy Executive Director for ITS Workforce, Public Safety and Housing portfolios. Matt was the Deputy CIO reporting to NYS Education Department (NYSED) CIO, leading IT Business Solutions, and launched NYSED's PMO and BA Services units. Before that, he has led multiple teams at NYS ITS, and has successfully managed various large, complex programs and technical deliveries. Matt has 25+ years of public and private sector IT management experience, including at GE Energy and Ford Motor Company. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Matt has received various recognitions, including the 'IT Leader of the Year' Award as part of eRepublic / GovTech NY IT Leadership Forum. Matt has implemented multiple organizational effectiveness programs, in various organizations. He also formed and led local interest groups for the Project Management Institute (PMI) to mentor outstanding leaders, and served as PMI Upstate NY Chapter's Strategic Planning Director. Matt has been a panelist and moderator in previous NY IT Leadership Forums, and is passionate about bringing experts together to share ideas, and helping new and experienced IT leaders grow, and develop professionally.

Dan Johnson heads State and Local Government customer engineering for Google, a position he has held since January of 2020. Dan and his team are responsible for working with a range of government customers to apply advances in big data and machine learning to their business problems. Prior to his current role, Dan led Financial Services customer engineering for Google working in Global Banking and Financial Markets.
Dan started his career 19 years ago at NLV Financial Corporation as a Systems Programmer. His path leading to Google in 2013 includes leadership and engineering roles at Cisco Systems, ATT and the University of Oregon.
"Through ML and AI, cloud computing will provide both the data storage and the processing power necessary to train new models tackling new problems that were previously incalculable."
Mr. Johnson holds a BA in Economics from the University of Washington and a MS in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University.

Josh S. Klemm was appointed as the Chief Information Officer of the New York State Thruway Authority in October 2021. Prior to joining the Authority, Mr. Klemm served in a variety of positions in his 20 year Information Technology career, including 14 years of service in the State of New York. While with the State of New York, Mr. Klemm served as Chief Information Security Officer and Director of the Bureau of Systems and Informatics at the New York State Department of Health. Mr. Klemm received his Bachelor of Arts and his Masters of Science from the University at Albany, where he serves as an Adjunct Lecturer in Informatics with the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity.

Suzanne Lazar leads teams of Business Analysts who support projects for the ITS Chief Portfolio Office/PPMO/ Business Analysis Shared Services/Health and Human Services Portfolio (OMH/OASAS/OPWDD). 
Suzanne has been part of building and implementing new systems and applications, developing and managing teams of Business Analysts across agencies, overseeing Modernization and Optimization efforts for OMH and OASAS, and is currently acting as an advisor for business analysis on the Integrated Eligibility System (IES) Program.
Prior to that she acted as an Analyst for the Office of the Attorney General as part of the NY Matters Case Management development and as an Analyst for the NYMMIS (Medicaid Management Information System) project for NYS Department of Health.  Suzanne has 25+ years of public and private sector IT Analysis experience including LexisNexis.
Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Economics and she is currently working on completing a M.A. in Learning with Emerging Technologies.
Suzanne is also an active member of the NYS Forum and has been a co-chair for the Business Analysis and Architecture Workgroup since 2019.
Suzanne has been a panelist in previous NY IT Leadership Forums and NY Digital Summit Forums and is dedicated to supporting and learning from fellow leaders and up and coming leaders.  Suzanne also has a vested interest in knowledge sharing and collaborating for process improvement.

Glenn R. Marchi, Ph.D., excels as a chief information officer (CIO), army colonel, and adjunct professor. He is recognized for his ability to inspire and empower teams, leading them to achieve remarkable results with high customer satisfaction.
Since December 2023, Glenn has been the commissioner/CIO for Orange County Government, with the mission to provide premier technology services to support 400,000 citizens. Prior to this, Glenn served as the commissioner/CIO for Dutchess County Government for over 7 years.
Glenn was honored with Government Technology’s Top-25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers Award (2020), StateScoop’s County-Level Executive of the Year Award (2021), and the University at Albany’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2022).

Mr. Charles (Charlie) O’Shea is the Eastern Regional Executive for State Government Strategy at T-Mobile. Before joining T-Mobile, Mr. O’Shea had a long and distinguished career in public service, beginning as a New York State Assemblyman. While in the Assembly, Mr. O’Shea served on several powerful committees, none more important than the Committee on Ways and Means, which gave him deep insight into the financial operations of all state departments. After twelve years in the Assembly, Mr. O’Shea ran for and was elected as the Chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors and Nassau County Real Property Tax Director. In this capacity, Mr. O’Shea pushed for and secured a hard-fought modernization of the county’s tax assessment and collection system. After leaving elected office, Mr. O’Shea continued his public service career as the Director of Government Affairs & External Relations for the New York State Department of Transportation. His long and dedicated career in public service has earned Mr. O’Shea respect and accolades across the political spectrum in New York City and State Government Circles. After leaving government service, Mr. O’Shea joined the highly respected law and policy firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein as a government relations attorney. Mr. O’Shea was motivated to join the T-Mobile brand because of his longstanding efforts to improve and modernize government.
Mr. O’Shea, a graduate of Duke University and the Fordham University School of Law, resides on Long Island, New York, with his wife, Carole.

Following an early career in theater and film production and a 15-year career as a marketing executive in the television industry, Fran Reiter served as NYC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Community Relations and, subsequently, for Economic Development and Planning during Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s first term. Her many accomplishments include authoring and overseeing the implementation of the Lower Manhattan Revitalization Plan, negotiating the citywide Adult Use Rezoning and the community agreement that led to the first Williamsburg rezoning, and leading the restructuring of the NYC Division of AIDS Services.
Fran left government service to run Mayor Giuliani’s successful 1997 re-election campaign then returned to the private sector, serving as President and CEO of the NYC Convention and Visitors Bureau (now NYC & Company) and Executive Director of the Joseph Papp Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival. In 2003, she was a founding partner of lobbying firm Reiter/Begun Associates which merged with J. Adams Consulting in 2011, creating the Reiter Giuliani Group, LLC, now RG Group. With 40 years of private and public sector expertise, Fran provides government relations, strategic advisement, and lobbying services to a diverse array of businesses and non-profit organizations.
At the request of Governor Andrew Cuomo, Fran returned to public service in November 2012 to serve as Executive Deputy Director of State Operations, overseeing all state agency operations and the realization of the Governor’s major enterprise-wide initiatives, including the implementation of the Office of Information Technology Services, the Business Service Center, and the eLicensing program.
Fran returned to RG Group in September 2014 to head the firm’s Albany office. In early 2021, she retired from RG Group and established Reiter Consulting, LLC, providing strategic advisement to businesses and organizations doing or seeking to do business with New York City and State government. In April 2023, Fran became the Executive Director of The NYS Forum.
Fran has been an adjunct professor at New York University and the Baruch College School of Public Affairs. Additionally, she has been a guest lecturer at NYU, the New School for Social Research, and Columbia University.
Fran is a native New Yorker and holds a B.S. in Public Affairs from the City University of New York.

Michael St John serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the New York State Education Department (NYSED), spearheading digital initiatives since 2003. A Siena College alumnus, he holds degrees in computer science and philosophy, and an MBA from the University at Albany. With over two decades of IT experience, Michael offers a blend of tactical and strategic insights in implementing and managing IT solutions.

Ben Straub is the Head of Public Sector for Atlassian. He leverages over 25 years of experience in enterprise software to lead the go to market efforts for government, federal systems integrators, defense contractors and education. Prior to joining Atlassian Ben held various go to market leadership roles at organizations such as Pendo, ServiceNow and Cornerstone both in the public and private sector. His unique perspective of seeing the many differences in the markets helps him become a trusted advisor to public sector organizations looking to drive significant digital transformation.

Florence has played a pivotal role in leading and shaping several specialist teams within Cisco. She established and continues to lead the Global Renewals Specialists who concentrate on the Cloud Infrastructure & Software Group consisting of Compute and Data Center Networking software. More recently, she has been instrumental in creating the global Mass Infrastructure Scale Software Renewals Specialist team. Florence's ability to lead effectively during periods of change has been demonstrated once again by her successful launch and management of the global AppDynamics Renewals Specialist organization in its first year resulting in the highest software renewal rate within Cisco. This has further reinforced her reputation as a leader who excels in transitional phases, while consistently receiving positive feedback on her leadership style from employee surveys.
Florence has been instrumental in directing the transition towards software-centric solutions within the Cisco Sales and Partner Sales teams for the Americas Cloud Infrastructure & Software, covering both North and South America. She was the driver across Cisco in creating the Cisco Data Center Software Enterprise Agreement while simultaneously being a Salesforce (SFDC) Ambassador and consultant, leveraging data for strategic action. In her previous role, she effectively led the sales specialist team responsible for Compute, Data Center, Cloud, and Analytics for Commercial East accounts, ranging from Maine to Virginia. Her leadership skills are evident in her ability to recruit, train, and guide a team of sales specialists. She is known for her ability to motivate customers, business partners, and sales teams with comprehensive Data Center solutions that encompass enterprise, cloud, and scale-out applications.
Florence spearheaded the U.S. Commercial and SLED sales specialist team at Cisco during the company's foray into the x86 Server market with the Unified Computing System. While taking on a national role, she served as consultant and speaker on Cloud Computing, addressing large audiences across the country. Under her leadership, her division excelled to the top in its first year, and, this product rapidly achieved a leading position, becoming the top-selling x86 blade server in both the U.S. and the Americas in under four years.
Florence has been successfully engaged in the sales of information technology products, solutions, and infrastructure in the Upstate New York region, including Albany and Rochester for Cisco, Silicon Graphics and IBM. Throughout her career, Florence has consistently achieved high levels of customer satisfaction and surpassed her sales targets. She is committed to ensuring corporate engagement with her local accounts and contributes to the broader goals of her clients by actively supporting their overall missions. She possesses broad industry knowledge, with a successful track-record of selling to executives across multiple sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, retail, financial services, education, and government agencies within the State of New York and at the federal level.
Florence has participated in diversity panels, advocating for women in technology on behalf of the companies she has worked for, and has been a guest speaker at STEM events for women and girls at the elementary, high school and college level. Her commitment to community and education is evident from her previous roles as New York State Mentoring Program, board member to The Children's Museum of Science and Technology in Troy, NY, board Member for the Marist College Center for School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Corporate Advisory Board at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Parish Council and President of Saint Basil Greek Orthodox Church, Troy, NY.
Florence holds a Chemical Engineering Bachelor of Science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Florence is married with two sons who have established careers in Investment Banking and Cloud Information Technology.