2026 Annual Conference Presentations
2026 TASSCC Annual Conference Presentations
Big Tex, Bigger Tech; The Future of Texas IT
Thank you to our speakers and attendees for making the 2026 TASSCC Annual Conference a success. Available presentation materials may be downloaded below.
Monday, August 3
Keynote and General Sessions
Fear(less) Leadership: Leading with Awe
Rebecca Heiss – Stress Physiologist, Author, Keynote Speaker
Synthetic Intelligence: The Future of AI
Scott Klososky – Enterprise Social Technology Expert and Start-Up Pioneer
DIR Innovation Lab “Pop-Up”
David Tucker, PMP, CRM and ITIL – Director of Strategic Digital Services, Texas Department of Information Resources
Kieva Moore, MPA, CTCM, CTCD – Innovation Lab Manager, Texas Department of Information Resources
Education Sessions
Beyond Automated Scans: Creating an Evidence-Driven Accessibility Workflow
Santosh Kanumuri – Programmer Analyst III, Texas Tech University
Charles Squire – Section Manager, Texas Tech University
AI Resources in the Public Sector: Strategy, Tactics, and Implementation
David Tucker, PMP, CRM and ITIL – Director of Strategic Digital Services, Texas Department of Information Resources
Meredith Noel, CSM – Director of Applied AI, Texas Department of Information Resources
How to Stop Inflicting Graphs on Executives: Because Leadership Has 5 Minutes, Not 50
Sierra Fischer – Director, Department of Family and Protective Services
Kelsey Lammons, LMSW – Manager, Department of Family and Protective Services
Automating Invoice Processing at Texas Parks & Wildlife with the Microsoft Power Platform
Tien Brown – IT Programmer V, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Cassie Jordan – AI Business Process Specialist, Microsoft
When the Only Thing You Need to Change Is EVERYTHING
Aman Thukral – Managing Director, Deloitte
Ruth Anne Thornton – Director of Child Support, Texas Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Division
Tina McLeod – Chief Information Officer, Texas Office of the Attorney General
Synthetic Risks: Deepfakes, AI-Powered Phishing, and the Collapse of Trust
Bill Carter, CISSP – National Director of Cyber Security, State and Local Government, Fortinet
Modernizing Permit Transparency: TCEQ’s New Search Portal
Patrick McSorley – Assistant Deputy Director, Information Resources Division, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Transforming Child Welfare with Trustworthy AI: The DFPS AI Journey
Prarthana Basireddy – Chief Technology Officer, State of Texas/DFPS
Ashraf Ismail – IAM Enterprise Architect, State of Texas/DFPS
Swamy Patsa – Enterprise Architecture Manager, State of Texas/DFPS
Building a Statewide Data Science and Machine Learning User Community for Collaboration and Growth
Amberle Carter – Data Management Officer, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Sid Atkinson – Co-Founder and CEO, Applied Curiosity
From Procurement to Compliance: Embedding Digital Accessibility into Institutional Buying Decisions
Laura Hopkins, CPACC, CAPM, CTCD, CTCM – EIR Accessibility Coordinator, The University of Texas at Arlington
Joe White, CTCD & CTCM – Director, Procurement and Strategic Sourcing, The University of Texas at Arlington
Financial Accounting Management Information System Modernization Journey
Mark Schulz – Deputy Chief Information Officer and IT Enterprise Architect, Texas A&M University System
Chris Abernathy – Associate Director of Applications and Infrastructure, Accenture
Chi Hoang – Manager of Applications and Infrastructure, Accenture
Zach Baker – Software Enterprise Architect, Texas A&M University System
How Texas Ditched Paper Tags Without Losing Its Wheels
Wendy Barron – Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Jeffrey Armstrong – Applications Services Director, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Solution Showcases
The Art of Tokenomics: Rethinking How We Evaluate and Govern AI Investments
Rob Cohan – Managing Director, Accenture
Andy Lindsey – Managing Director, Accenture
Brian Stevenson – Accenture TSS Client Account Lead, Accenture
Frontier AI Readiness / AI Detection and Response
Tom Mrozovich – Senior Systems Engineer, CrowdStrike
USAS to CAPPS STARR: A Live Look at Texas’ Next Generation Financial Management Platform
George Schwartztrauber – Vice President, Consulting Expert, CGI
Sean Lowry – Director, Consulting Expert, CGI
Beyond Uptime: AI-Driven Observability for Texas State Government Platforms
Safia Gourani – Field CTO, Public Sector, Dynatrace
Tuesday, August 4
Keynote and General Sessions
Future Proofing You and Your Organization
Erik Qualman – Technology and Digital Leadership Expert, Author of Socialnomics
Exponential Commitment
Manley Feinberg – Author and Professional Speaker, Vertical Lessons, LLC
Education Sessions
Accessibility Triage: How to Tame Your Compliance Backlog
Dawn Watkins, CPACC, PMP – Digital Accessibility Officer, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
From Paper to Platform: How Harris County’s Award-Winning Solution Transformed Government Services
Keith Nelson, MBA, PMP – Senior Strategist for Public Sector, Global Public Sector at OpenText
Girish Ramachandran – Chief Technology Officer, Harris County Universal Services
Creating Budget Reports for PeopleSoft Using Oracle Analytics Server
Jamie Selander – BI Analyst, University of Texas System
Sailaja Akkaraju – ODI Developer II, University of Texas System
Modernizing Statewide Data Sharing Through Direct HR and Financial Data Access
Emily Faber – Information Management and Analytics Supervisor, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Chelsa Vinklarek – Assistant Director of Fiscal Management Division, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Leading, Laughing, and Logging In: Women CIOs in Government Tech
Jamie McClanahan – Chief Information Officer, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Wendy Barron – Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
Anh Selissen – Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Transportation
Beyond Technical Excellence: The Human Side of IT Leadership in Texas Public Sector
Prashanth Manukonda – Chief Information Officer, Texas Facilities Commission
Kat Rector – Strategic Alliances Manager, Zoho
George Rios – Chief Information Officer (Ret.), Texas Parks and Wildlife
Digital Accessibility: What Leaders Need to Know
Laura Hopkins, CPACC, CAPM, CTCD, CTCM – EIR Accessibility Coordinator, The University of Texas at Arlington
Modernizing Public Sector Contact Centers: How Texas DLD Transformed Citizen Services
John Kelley – Deputy Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Public Safety
Andrew Molacek – Senior CX Specialist, Amazon Web Services
Prasath Ramachandran – Managing Director, Deloitte
Big Data, Bigger Decisions: How Dallas County Used Analytics to Translate Fiscal Pressure into Actionable IT-Informed Strategy
Darryl Martin – Dallas County Administrator, Dallas County
Chris Newport – Principal Director, Accenture
Designing PMOs for Value Creation: Leadership, Governance, and Strategic Decision-Making
Greg Gomel, PMP, PMI PMO-CP, PMI-ACP, ASQ CMQ/OE, ASQ CSQE – PMO Director, University of Texas System
Storytelling to Dollars: Championing the Business Value of IT in the 90th Legislative Session
Mark Kenneth – VP, Executive Partner, Gartner Research & Advisory, State and Local Government
Bill Zielinski – Executive Partner, Gartner Research & Advisory, State and Local Government
Diana Woronuk – Managing Partner, Gartner Consulting
Building an End-to-End Identity Security Program for the Texas Public Sector
James Imanian – US Public Sector Technology Office, Palo Alto Networks
Solution Showcases
Your AI Is Already in Production. Who’s Watching It?
Kevin Stremsterfer – Senior Solution Sales Executive, SLED State of Texas, Everforth Apex Systems
Andrew Pyle – Full Stack Engineer, Everforth – ECS
Speed Dating with Agents: Meet Your Next Digital Coworkers
Thomas Beck – Senior Technical Leader and Principal, Deloitte
The Managed Services Model Is Broken. Here’s What Replaces It
Chad Vos – Managing Director, Agentic Managed Services, Slalom
Accelerating Application Modernization/Migration via GitHub Copilot
Derek Bruun – AI and Modernization Engineer, Microsoft
Anik Bindra – Azure Solutions Specialist, Microsoft
Wednesday, August 5
Securing Texas Together: How Texas Cyber Command and DIR Are Building the Future of Cybersecurity and Innovation
Moderator: Jonathan Joshua – Chief Information Security Officer, Office of the Governor
Timothy James “TJ” White – Chief, Texas Cyber Command
Tony Sauerhoff – Executive Director, State Chief Information Officer, and Chief AI and Innovation Officer, Texas Department of Information Resources