Speakers

Gil Herrera, Director of Research, National Security Agency

Samuel Navarro is the Director of the Customer Strategic Solutions Division (CSSD) within the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to Federal, State and Local governments for a broad range of items from office supplies to motor vehicles to information technology and telecommunications products and services. As an organization within FAS, ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services and solutions.

Mr. Navarro is responsible for planning and implementing customer development strategies for ITC including Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) and business lines in the ITC portfolio.

Previously, Mr. Navarro served as Program Manager for GSA’s Enterprise Mobility Services Program. Joining GSA in fall of 2014, he has held several positions in the agency as a Contract Modifications Manager, and Contracting Officer Representative for the third largest network and telecommunications contract in the agency. He also held the position of Federal Agency Manager assisting agencies in modernizing their network infrastructure across the United States.

Prior to joining GSA, he proudly served his country in the United States Army for seven years in the field of information technology. During his time in the military Samuel served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for exceptional action while in combat.

Samuel graduated from the University of Maryland University College with a bachelor degree
in Cyber Security and a Master’s Degree in Cyber Security Policy and Management. His passion is to invest in the future leaders of government via professional development programs, and be a catalyst for positive change within the federal government Information Technology space.

Shauna Martin, Visualization Branch Chief, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)

Dan Fallon is the Senior Director of Systems Engineering for the Nutanix U.S. Public Sector team, with over 20 years of experience serving the unique technical requirements of the U.S. Federal, State and Local government, and institutions of higher education. He leads a group of systems engineers that support the technical implementation and advisory requirements of all U.S. Public Sector organizations and the Systems Integrators that support them. Dan’s early experience includes serving as the lead VDI architect for some of the largest multi-level virtual desktop deployments in the DoD, and was also responsible for the design and architecture of multiple VDI deployments across various branches of DoD. He earned his Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and his Masters degree in IT from the University of Maryland University College. In addition, Dan holds industry certifications from CompTIA, VMware and Citrix, including VCP 4 and 5, multiple CCAs and the CCEE.

James A. St. Pierre is Deputy Director of the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL). ITL is one of six research Laboratories within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with an annual budget of $120 million, 367 employees, and about 160 guest researchers from industry, universities, and foreign laboratories.

Along with the ITL Director St. Pierre oversees a research program designed to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by developing and disseminating standards, measurements, and testing for interoperability, security, usability, and reliability of information systems, including cybersecurity standards and guidelines for Federal agencies and U.S. industry, supporting these and measurement science at NIST through fundamental and applied research in computer science, mathematics, and statistics. Through its efforts, ITL seeks to enhance productivity and public safety, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life.

Within NIST's traditional role as the overseer of the National Measurement System, ITL is addressing the hard problems in IT Measurement Research. ITL's research results in metrics, tests, and tools for a wide range of subjects such as complex systems, pervasive information technologies, and virtual measurements, as well as issues of information and software quality, integrity, and usability.

ITL has been charged with leading the nation in utilizing existing and emerging IT to meet national priorities that reflect the broad-based social, economic, and political values and goals of the country. Under the Federal Information Security Management Act, ITL is charged with developing cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and associated methods and techniques. Under other legislation, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ITL is addressing major challenges faced by the nation in the areas of homeland security, electronic voting, and health information technology. In addition, Mr. St.Pierre coordinates ITL's involvement in the NIST Smart Grid efforts – ITL's contributions to this effort are focused on cybersecurity and networking.

His work has been published in the NIST Journal of Research and in external publications. He has given dozens of presentations on both technical and management topics, to both national and international audiences. Before joining NIST, in 1994, he worked as a technical project leader within Loral Space Systems semiconductor design group and worked for IBM on the development of hardware and software for Los Angeles-class submarines. In addition, he worked with several universities to develop their semiconductor design curricula.

Lattrice Goldsby,  Robotic Process Automation Manager, USDA

Derrick Edwards is a DoD Chief Technologist for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s US Public Sector. Mr. Edwards serves as a technical expert and provides guidance and direction to all customers across the Department of Defense. In his previous role at HPE, he focused on edge compute solutions across the Public Sector.

Mr. Edwards joined HPE in Dec, 2019. Prior to joining HPE, he served as a Technical Director and Program Manager at General Dynamics Information Technology, primarily focused on leading personnel and delivering technology to Army and Defense programs around the world.

Prior to his service at GDIT, Mr. Edwards was the Army Chief Technology Officer, responsible for being the primary interface to IT and cybersecurity industry partners and identifying key technologies for future utilization to improve the Army enterprise. Currently, the Army utilizes four capabilities that were developed from key technologies that he identified. Mr. Edwards was a career active duty Army officer with over 25 years of unique military experience of 360-degree leadership and applying the latest technology solutions for Federal decision makers to access the right information at the point of need.

Mr. Edwards attended Grantham University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies, and then an MBA while serving on active duty in the Army. He has also received graduate certificates in data science and cybersecurity. Mr. Edwards currently resides with his wife Pamela in Tampa, FL and they have two adult children.