Cloud Summit

Brian R. Gattoni is Chief Technology Officer for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where he is responsible for the technical vision and strategic alignment of CISA data and mission services to manage risk to federal networks and critical infrastructure. CISA serves as the Nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future.

Previously, Gattoni was the Chief of Mission Engineering and Technology, responsible for developing innovative analytic techniques and new approaches to technology insertion to increase the value of DHS cyber mission capabilities. In 2015, Gattoni was named DHS Systems Engineer of the Year.

Prior to joining DHS in 2010, Gattoni served in various positions at the Defense Information Systems Agency and the United States Army Test and Evaluation Command.

Gattoni holds a Master of Science in cyber systems and operations planning from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Jose M. Padin is Zscaler’s US Public Sector Director of Sales Engineering. Jose is a technology in government thought leader. He engages with government customers at a strategic level to identify solutions to their top IT challenges, including security and compliance, digital transformation, and cloud migration. Jose combines 20 years of IT leadership with more than a decade of experience in the public sector, including the Department of Defense, Federal Civilian agencies, Federal System Integrators and state and local governments.

As SE Director, Jose creates and communicates Zscaler technology vision for the US public sector. He and his team of engineers help government organizations understand how current and upcoming Zscaler technologies can help them fulfill their mission. He is a featured speaker and panel member at numerous industry events.

Jose joined Zscaler in 2020. During his 14-year career with Citrix, Jose has held a number of leadership positions. Earlier in his career, he gained hands-on experience in IT Manager and engineer.

Jose earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management information systems from Rochester Institute of Technology. He is based in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Ms. Sharon Woods is a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and currently serves as the Executive Director for the Cloud Computing Program Office (CCPO) in the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In this role, Ms. Woods is responsible for transforming cloud to enable the warfighter. As a part of this responsibility, Ms. Woods oversees the acquisition and execution of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI Cloud) program, as a critical piece of the overall DoD Digital Modernization Strategy. CCPO is also responsible for deploying the Commercial Virtual Remote environment, the largest Office 365 deployment in the world. CCPO continues to resolve enterprise cloud capability gaps that support the Joint Force.

Prior to this role, Ms. Woods served as the General Counsel for the Defense Digital Service (DDS) where she provided legal counsel and bureaucracy hacking expertise for a team of federal government technologists working on high impact challenges at the Pentagon. Prior to joining DoD, she was an attorney for the U.S. Department of the Navy, specializing in information technology acquisitions.

Ms. Woods holds a law degree from the Washington College of Law, American University and a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has received numerous awards from the Defense and Acquisition communities in recognition of her leadership and accomplishments including the Pinnacle Award for Cloud Government Executive of the Year (November 2020), Secretary of Defense Coin (January 2017), the Department of the Navy SPAWAR Exemplary Achievement Award (November 2015), and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award (December 2013).

Paul Horan is the Principal Sales Engineer for Snowflake Federal. Paul’s career in Information Technology has spanned nearly 35 years and, in that time, he’s gained experience with nearly every relational database platform on the market. Paul has covered the Federal territory as a Technical Sales Engineer since 2006 and joined Snowflake in November of 2017. Paul currently resides in Arlington, VA with his wife and son.

Chris Grimm is a Solutions Architect with Red Hat with over 15 years of experience in Information Systems Architecture, Engineering and Security, he has a breadth of knowledge across the IT sector. An advocate of implementing security during the design phase he has been driving IT systems toward innovative and upcoming technology in an effort to migrate away from ailing legacy systems.

Prior to joining Red Hat, Chris was a Cybersecurity Lead for CACI International, leading accreditation & security efforts for DHA, VA, and USAF systems along with extensive engineering & design support. Chris has spent a large portion of his career in the public sector supporting the defense industry as a civilian as a United States Marine. Chris graduated from Limestone College with a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science that included a focus on Information Systems Security.

Chris is an active member of the information security community regularly attending conferences and participating in local security events such as B-Sides Charleston where he helped develop the CTF (Capture the Flag) event and is also a Red Team member of the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition.

Mr. Hale is the chief of DISA’s cloud portfolio office, and is responsible for developing the strategic and functional approach to maximize cloud-based infrastructure and security solutions in Department of Defense environments. Key programs in his portfolio include milCloud 2.0 and the Secure Cloud Computing Architecture (SCCA).

A graduate of The University of Maryland, University College Hale served in the United States Air Force prior to beginning his civil service career in the office of the Director of National Intelligence. In 2009 Hale moved to the Defense Information Systems Agency within the Department of Defense.

As a Sr. Director in CyberArk’s Global Technology Office, Brandon Traffanstedt serves as an advisor and subject matter expert on privileged access, identity security, and protecting emerging technologies. With over 15 years in the combined spaces of information security, development, and systems engineering, Brandon has architected security solutions for some of CyberArk's largest global customers.

David A. Shive is the Chief Information Officer for the U.S. General Services Administration. Mr. Shive oversees the GSA IT organization, and is responsible for information technology operations and ensuring alignment with agency and administration strategic objectives and priorities. He joined the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of the Chief Information Officer in November 2012. Concurrent to his role as CIO, David served as the Acting Commissioner of the newly formed Technology Transformation Service from July - November 2016. Prior to being named CIO, he was the Director of the Office of Enterprise Infrastructure, responsible for the enterprise information technology infrastructure platforms and capability that support the GSA business enterprise. He was also the Acting Director of HR and FM Systems for the GSA CFO and CPO offices. Prior to joining GSA, he served in the District of Columbia government as a Chief Information Officer. In this role, Mr. Shive had executive responsibility for agency IT operations including financial systems, security and privacy programs, internal controls and compliance, strategic planning, enterprise architecture and performance management and measurement programs and directed the transformation of enterprise systems and processes, to public/private cloud hybrid. He holds an undergraduate degree in physics from California State University, Fresno; a master’s degree in research meteorology from the University of Maryland College Park; and a post-graduate management certificate from the Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Management.

David Wray is a Public Sector Chief Technology Officer for Micro Focus Government Solutions, Channel and Alliances. He serves as a key trusted technical advisor for DoD, Intel, Civilian and public sector customer.

In this role, David helps customers optimize value of Micro Focus Software offerings – from strategy through applications/operations and security. David has over 30 years of strategic and operational management consulting experience with the federal government and global corporate companies. Recognized as a specialist that understands how to adopt new technologies, reduce complex business processes and increase productivity, David has held CIO advisory roles within the Department of Homeland Security, Education, and USAID. Specifically, David is recognized problem solver that has helped with IT strategic planning, application rationalization, enterprise architecture, cloud, digital transformation and IT Governance.

David speaks widely on enabling technology to align with changing federal priorities. He has been recognized for many of his accomplishments.

David earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science for the University of Maryland, lives in Annapolis Maryland with his wife and twin daughters and enjoys golf, sailing and fishing.

Mr. Paul B. Puckett III was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and assumed his duties as the Director of the Enterprise Cloud Management Office at the Headquarters, Department of the Army, Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G-6 in November 2019.

As the Enterprise Cloud Management Office Director, Mr. Puckett serves as the principal advisor to the CIO/G-6 and other Senior Army Leaders on the Army's Cloud strategy. He is responsible for assisting in the development of strategy, use, and optimization of Cloud resources, including the areas of cybersecurity, data protection, commercial capabilities, and ensuring network support to the current and future Army force. He will also develop Armywide planning and assist with execution of Cloud planning, migration, operation, and incorporation of advanced services and capabilities across the Army’s four information mission areas of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, and Data Protection.

Just prior to joining the Senior Executive Service, Mr. Puckett was the Federal Chief Technology Officer at a cloud native services provider where he focused on advising Department of Defense and other Federal Agencies on how to enhance their mission effectiveness through the adoption of leading-edge open source technology and modern software automation capabilities.

Prior to that experience, Mr. Puckett performed in a number of roles as a civil servant with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). As the NGA’s cloud integration lead, he helped design, build and accredit the agency’s Unclassified Cloud environment. He was the advisor to senior leadership for technical enhancements and agency priorities related to infrastructure and application modernization, and led the agency in developing an enhanced ability to accept and deploy new applications and services, while simultaneously incorporating high levels of security.

Before his service with NGA, Mr. Puckett again was in a support role with private industry, providing lead engineering expertise for servers and network systems, and systems administrator training for the Joint IED Defeat Office, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Department of State.

Mr. Puckett holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Management Information Systems from Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia, and a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Eric Fullerton is the Lead Product Evangelist for Acquia's suite of open digital experience products. Eric’s passion solving for the future of digital comes from living it firsthand for the past 10 years.

Eric has been navigating the divide between people, process, and technology at small organizations and global tech giants alike as he continues his journey to excite employees and engage customers through the power of digital marketing.

Rob Leahy joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in February 2020 as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director, Information Technology and Communications Division (ITCD). In this role Rob provides safe and secure technology capabilities to GSFC for compute, storage and network operations. Rob supports the NASA mission by teaming with the NASA Office of the CIO to provide innovative, transformative technology solutions to the entire NASA population.

Before coming to NASA, Rob served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for Operations at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Treasury. In this role Rob led the day-to-day operations of the 7000+ person IRS Information Technology (IT) organization, which included over 600 systems and technology used daily by more than 80,000 IRS employees. Rob’s work at IRS included roles as Associate CIO for Strategy and Planning and Director of Enterprise Technology Implementation, as well as in IRS business functions such as Criminal Investigation, the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement office, and the Commissioner's Office.

Rob has also served as the DCIO at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where he was Digital and Information Technology Advisor to the OPM Chief Information Officer and OPM Director. There he defined and implemented a technology strategic vision and modernization plan that supported OPM’s mission, objectives, and goals.

Rob began his federal career in 1991 after several years in IT consulting and financial management. He has earned two Master's Certificates, Project Management from George Washington University and CIO Competencies from the National Defense University, and is a graduate of the 2006 IRS SES Candidate Development Program leading to joining the Senior Executive Service in 2006. He holds a Baccalaureate of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Juliana Vida is the GVP, Chief Strategy Advisor - Public Sector at Splunk. She and her team of business and cybersecurity advisors provide guidance, direction and thought leadership around Splunk’s Data to Everything platform. She leverages her 30 years of experience as an accomplished military and technology leader to partner with and inspire public sector leaders, customers and internal teams to harness the power of data to drive valuable outcomes.

Prior to joining Splunk, Juliana was a Vice President in Gartner Executive Programs, advising and coaching federal government Chief Information Officers (CIO) and IT senior leaders. Before entering commercial industry as an executive leader, she served honorably for 24 years as a US Naval Officer at sea and on shore as both a combatant ship driver and helicopter pilot. Her final role in government was as the Navy’s Deputy CIO in the Pentagon where she lead policy and governance over technology investments and implementation.

A 1994 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Juliana is a Special Advisor to the Washington Cyber Roundtable, Board Director for AFCEA International, AFCEA Cyber Committee member, Board Advisory for CalPoly’s Master of Business Analytics program, and an elected member of the US Naval Academy Alumni Association’s Board of Trustees. She is an active member and mentor in Women in Technology and Women in Defense.

Anne Armstrong is Chief Content and Alliance Officer of Public Sector 360.

In July 2018, Mrs. Pamela K. Isom was selected as Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for Architecture, Engineering, Technology, and Innovation (AET&I) for the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

Mrs. Isom directs digital strategy and implementation of innovative, safe, and mission-focused products and integration services, enabling DOE to fulfill its enterprise business and IT objectives. As principal corporate officer, she serves as an advisor to and partner with senior executive officials and staff to achieve effective outcomes. Mrs. Isom brings over 25 years of digital transformation, information management, and IT modernization expertise to the agency. Leveraging her strong track record of collaboration, leadership, foresight, and blending business with IT, Mrs. Isom is advancing OCIO’s shift toward a posture of operating as an IT service broker while maintaining exemplary cybersecurity and data stewardship. She is an excellent advisor to Chief Data Officers.

In 2015, Mrs. Isom joined the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from the private sector and served as the Director of the Office of Application Engineering and Development, where she led design, development, and implementation of high quality Patent, Trademark, and Corporate systems in support of federal IT modernization efforts. Her achievements have led to numerous recognitions, including being honored as a part of the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) Women of Innovation exhibition, and her selection as a panelist by the Department of Commerce for their “Hidden Figures” event honoring trailblazing women in labor and business.

Prior to joining the federal workforce, Mrs. Isom led business and IT transformation programs and operated as Principal Executive Consultant, Executive Enterprise Architect, and Software Engineer for various large organizations, with a specialization in cloud, data center transformation, and secured information management. She is an author of a book and numerous publications, has been awarded 5 patents, and brings a wealth of private industry knowledge and applied experiences to the federal government.

Mrs. Isom holds a Master’s degree in Information Systems Management from Walden University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Chaminade University of Honolulu. In her spare time, she likes to work out, garden, spend time with family, and be a positive role model.

Pritha Mehra was named chief information officer (CIO) and executive vice president in November 2020 after acting in the role since August. She oversees one of the world’s largest technology infrastructures with 5 national deployment and solution centers, 37,000 network locations, 20,000 servers, and more than 950 applications on more than 215,000 devices – processing more than 90 petabytes of data per year.

Reporting to Mehra is the vice president Technology Applications; vice president Network & Compute Technology; director IT Architecture & Strategy; manager Enterprise Access Infrastructure; director CIO Business Services; and manager of Integration & Support.

Mehra drives secure innovative capabilities and digital transformations to support the organization’s mission to be the nation’s preferred delivery service. Her key strategies are to modernize platforms, prioritize security, and harness technology innovations to enable insightful business solutions. Mehra will modernize the CIO organization and talent to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive market environment.

Mehra previously served as vice president of Information Technology, where she pivoted the 1,800-person IT group to operate at scale through a cloud-smart migration, to transition to an agile framework, and to secure the development pipeline for more than 900 applications. As vice president Mail Entry and Payment Technology, she led innovations for business customers that captured more than $40 billion in annual revenue and over $200 million in annual revenue shortage and savings.

Mehra is the recipient of several awards, including recognition for superior achievement and the Postmaster General Award. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration degree from Georgetown University. Mehra completed the Senior Executive Assessment and Development Center Program. She is a Lean Six Sigma Executive Green Belt.

CIO and Technical Director, Solutions Engineering | Cloudera, 2015 – Present

HENRY SOWELL is a multifaceted executive with more than 15 years of experience across information technology, consulting, and leadership, with specialization in data analytics, big data, and visualization. Analytical and strategic by nature, he is passionate about identifying and tackling problems—putting all the pieces together to find a solution. With a background in the public and private sector, Henry has been exposed to a variety of environments, people, and challenges.

Henry’s diverse career spans three phases. First, as a combat veteran in the US Marine Corps, he served in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with the “V” device, the fourth-highest U.S. military decoration for heroism in combat. During which time he acquired unparalleled leadership skills. Amid war, Henry witnessed genuine courage which has since shaped much of his professional and personal life.

Following the Marine Corps, Henry joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Leveraging deep technical knowledge, he provided big data industry and counterterrorism consultation, working on some of the world’s most challenging problems. Based on his contributions to critical federal government missions, Henry earned the FBI Director’s Award for Technical Excellence.

Finally, Henry transitioned into the private sector, specifically into the big data industry. At Cloudera, a leading data software provider, he helped establish one of the highest performing teams companywide. Under Henry’s guidance, the organization experienced a paradigm shift focused on resolving critical problems for customers. Among his peers and teams, Henry is recognized as a genuine relationship builder who fosters cross-functional partnerships and galvanizes people around a common goal. He builds coalitions that last and produce long-term results.

Brian Chidester is the Head of Worldwide Industry Strategy for Public Sector at OpenText and is also the host of "The Government Huddle with Brian Chidester" podcast. He is responsible for growing OpenText’s Public Sector practice while also ensuring the success of our public sector customers.

Prior to joining OpenText, Mr. Chidester served as the Industry Marketing Lead for Public Sector at Appian. He also has held product marketing roles with Monster Worldwide, Arrow ECS and IHS Markit, where he was awarded Best in Show - Lead Generation at the 2014 MarketingSherpa Email Awards.

Mr. Chidester holds a B.S. in Communications Studies from Liberty University, and currently serves on the Digital Transformation Committee for the Northern Virginia Technology Council.

Mr. Dovarius L. Peoples was selected for the Senior Executive Service in January of 2016. He assumed the position of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)/ G6 in April of 2019 with the US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE). In this role, he serves as the principal advisor to the Commanding General on information technology issues. He is responsible for all aspects of information resource management and information technology for USACE. Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Peoples served as the Deputy to the Commanding General, U.S. Army NETCOM. In this capacity, Mr. Peoples provided senior technical leadership to ensure Army Theater level networks were integrated into the Army's portion of the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) and enterprise constructs. The command employed over 14,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel located in every theater in 20 countries around the world and with an annual budget of in excess of $1.4 billion.

Previous Assignments include: September 2009 - April 2010: Information Systems Security Engineer, National Security Agency (NSA), Washington, D.C.; April 2010 - February 2013: Information Assurance Division Chief (IAM), USCYBERCOM J6, Fort Meade, Md.; February 2013 – November 2013: Lead Architecture Engineer, Mobility PMO, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Fort Meade, Md.; November 2013 – August 2015: Deputy Director Operations, US Army Information Technology Agency (ITA), Pentagon, Washington, D.C.; August 2015 – January 2016: Deputy Director Cyber Solutions, Joint Service Provider Pentagon (JSP), Washington, D.C.; January 2016 – July 2018: Associate Chief Information Officer, Office of Personnel Management, Washington, D.C.; July 2018 - April 2019: Deputy to the Commanding General, US Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM).

Mr. Peoples’ education includes a Master of Science in Information Technology, with an emphasis in Information Assurance, from the University of Maryland, University College, College Park, Md., awarded in 2012. Mr. Peoples’ also has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, from Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Va., awarded in 2009.

Significant Training taken by Mr. Peoples includes the Advanced Program Manager Course, Defense Acquisition University. His certifications include: Program Management, Acquisition Professional Development Program; ITIL Foundations V.3.

Awards and Honors include the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Mr. Peoples is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the Association for Computer Machinery (ACM).

Mark Rockwell is the senior editor for custom content with Public Sector 360. Prior to that, he was a senior staff writer at FCW, whose beat focuses on acquisition, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Energy.

Before joining FCW, Rockwell was Washington correspondent for Government Security News, where he covered all aspects of homeland security from IT to detection dogs and border security. Over the last 25 years in Washington as a reporter, editor and correspondent, he has covered an increasingly wide array of high-tech issues for publications like Communications Week, Internet Week, Fiber Optics News, tele.com magazine and Wireless Week.

Rockwell received a Jesse H. Neal Award for his work covering telecommunications issues, and is a graduate of James Madison University.

Click here for previous articles by Rockwell. Contact him at mrockwell@fcw.com or follow him on Twitter at @MRockwell4.