Jim Sheaffer’s career spans more than 40 years providing business and information technology solutions and services to clients in the public and private sectors both in the U.S. and international markets. His experience includes working for mid-sized as well as large scale companies and covers both diverse complex project management and the incubation of new technology solution component businesses. Sheaffer currently provides business and IT advisory services. Prior to his retirement in 2012, he served as President of CSC's largest operating unit, the North American Public Sector. Before joining CSC in 2002, Sheaffer spent 27 years with American Management Systems Inc. Sheaffer earned a BS degree in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA degree from the University of Chicago. He has also served as an officer in the United States Navy.

Laura Kennedy is the Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics, Compliance and Risk Officer for Emergent BioSolutions. In this role, she leads global compliance, enterprise risk management and corporate governance for multinational biopharmaceutical company in the business of developing vaccines, antibody therapeutics and other countermeasures for emerging public threats. She is a key member of the executive leadership team reporting to the Board of Directors. She previously was the Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for SAIC. Kennedy is a recognized expert and thought leader in Compliance, Enterprise Risk Management and Corporate Governance. She has 20 years of experience in private law practice and 17 years as a corporate executive reporting to the CEO and Board of Directors. She has participated in over 60 Board of Director meetings and has a deep understanding of the operation of the boardroom and the interaction between board members and the executive team. She has managed corporate crises involving complex fraud investigations in which she has led teams to resolve issues facing various stakeholders including government prosecutors, enforcement officials, board members, corporate leadership, employees, customers, suppliers, analysts, shareholders, press and others. She integrates risk management into compliance strategies to build effective programs that prevent and detect wrongdoing. She is a leader in designing programs under Justice Department guidance and Federal Sentencing Guidelines, and in using technology, innovative strategies, and integrated approaches to protect the company against internal and external threats. She has extensive experience in leadership positions in global companies, particularly in the defense and biopharmaceutical industries. She is a respected leader and twice-appointed Chair of the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII), where she spearheaded programs to share best practices of leading compliance programs and collaborated with the government enforcement community to strengthen the partnership between industry and government leaders.

Brian Pickerall was a leader in Booz Allen’s civil market, working with clients in the Infrastructure domain. His team supports clients such as Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and Department of the Interior. He is a recognized leader in transportation systems and program management.

Prior to joining Booz Allen, Brian spent 21 years as a leader at ARINC Inc. His work there included systems integration, network management systems, customer relationship management systems, and software development in a variety of domains.

Brian also served as a surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A from Pepperdine University.

John Walsh has led teams in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia at a scale of $2B in P&L, teams of more than 12,000 in over 100 countries, closed over $15B in sales, and improved profitability by over $600M annually.  He has had the opportunity to live overseas in Europe and Asia for 9 years – bridging cultural boundaries, opening up siloed businesses, and leveraging next generation technology to differentiate in the market. John’s combination of technical depth, honed leadership skills coached by a great network personal mentors, and a highly refined skill in building great leadership and technology services & product teams has matured while leading his teams to solve some of the most difficult problems companies face.

John is currently on the Board of Directors, Chair of the Blood Services Committee, and a member of the Disaster Preparedness Committee at the American Red Cross.  John is on the Board of Business Advisors of Bender Consulting, a company specializing in the placement of people with disabilities into first time technology jobs, and is a board member or advisor for several technology start-ups and technology services companies around the world.

John previously was elected Chairman of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom of Denmark, a member of the benefits committee at Fortune 500 technology integrator SAIC, a member of the Investment Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, and elected Chairman of 13 companies across Europe and Asia. Trained in Board Governance in 5 countries, John brings a foundation of strong best practices, experience, and insight to any board.

John is the Founder & CEO of Red Summit Global, a board and board services advisory firm helping companies modernize governance, optimize delivery of products and offerings, and digitize their organization to differentiate. From Fortune 500 companies to venture capital / private equity / angel investor technology start-ups, John has helped transform companies enabling sales growth, profitability improvement, and technology enablement.

John holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership program at Cornell University and the Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy program at MIT Sloan School of Management & MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

As former Vice President of the Americas Field Marketing Organization, Patrice D’Eramo led Field Marketing for Cisco’s largest geographic region, which includes the United States, Canada and Latin America. Her organization was responsible for developing and executing the strategic marketing plan for more than $20 billion in annual sales, and driving the customer experience for all customer segments and channel partners. Before joining Cisco, D’Eramo was director of U.S. Federal and public sector marketing at HP. She was part of the top-ranked U.S. sales team for two consecutive years, and was consistently in the HP “Achievers Club.” D’Eramo has won several industry awards, including the Women in Technology Corporate Leadership Award, Ingram Micro’s “Women in Technology Giving Back” Award, YWCA’s “Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN)” Award and the Federal Computer Week’s “Federal 100 Award.” D’Eramo holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

Doug joined Enquizit as the Chief Executive Officer in 2019. He has over 25 years of IT experience in the commercial, public, and nonprofit sectors. He was most recently one of the founders and early leaders for the Public Sector business at Amazon Web Services. He was hired into AWS in 2012 to build the teams focused on the Federal and Nonprofit market segments. He is also the General Manager of the US GovCloud Regions. Prior to AWS, Doug spent eight years in sales and sales leadership positions at Microsoft in the U.S. Federal Government business. In his final role at Microsoft, Doug was a Senior Director in Microsoft’s Department of Defense segment.  His other responsibilities at Microsoft included serving as Microsoft’s Account Manager for the White House, both Houses of Congress, and other Civilian Agencies including the State Department, US Courts, and the National Archives. Prior to joining Microsoft, Doug was a Director and Account Manager at three internet start-ups, including one he co-founded, RitePage. He started his career as a software programmer in the airline industry for Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, where he helped design and deploy the first electronic ticketing systems for Air Canada, Delta, and US Airways.

Paul J. Kiernan is a trial lawyer and appellate advocate who represents clients in administrative agency litigation, real estate disputes, and corporate governance litigation. He represents businesses, developers, institutions, lenders, hotels, landlords and tenants on land-use, condemnation, development, and property-management disputes and matters involving distressed real estate. Mr. Kiernan has substantial experience in commercial litigation, commercial and international arbitration, and government-contract litigation. He handles complex contract and business litigation. Mr. Kiernan has handled all types of injunctions, emergency hearings, and other requests for immediate judicial action in the face of business or other crises – including matters involving trade secrets, disloyal employees, corporate governance, destruction of property, and threatened government interference. Since 2008, Mr. Kiernan has served as executive partner for Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C. office. He previously served as practice group leader for the firm's Mid-Atlantic Litigation Group and on the advisory board for Holland & Knight's Women's Initiative. Mr. Kiernan served as a law clerk to the Honorable Daniel J. O’Hern of the New Jersey Supreme Court during the 1983-1984 term. He was previously associated with the firms of Dunnells, Duvall, Bennett & Porter, and Wilkes, Artis, Hedrick & Lane.

John is a partner at Guidehouse working in the areas of organizational transformation, operations redesign, claims analysis and financial management. At Guidehouse he leads our National Security Sector, which encompasses our work across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community. 

Prior to joining Guidehouse, John was a patner at PwC where he worked on complex claims analysis including numerous post-disaster claims funds and compensation programs such as the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Qatar Katrina Fund and the TSA Airline Security Infrastructure Fee over his 20 year tenure. 

John holds a Master of Business Administration in Strategy and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is program management professional and he serves on the board of directors for the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council. John is an adjunct professor of business administration at George Washington University. John lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife Claudia and their four daughters, where he is actively involved in the community.

Dana K. Chipman currently serves as Director of Education at the Federal Judicial Center.

In 2013, Dana retired from active duty with the rank of Lieutenant General after a 33-year Army career that culminated with a four-year term as The Judge Advocate General, the highest-ranking Army lawyer. He served earlier as the Commanding General of the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School, the Army’s post-graduate legal institution for lawyers, and in a variety of other leadership and legal positions in the Army.

Before arriving at the FJC, Dana served as Chief Counsel to the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Dana is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, earned his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School, and holds a Master of Laws degree from the Judge Advocate General’s School.

Ms. Breaux has over 15 years of experience working on environmental and energy programs as a consultant and directly for industry and government. Her professional experience culminated at ICF where she was a Vice President in the Environmental Systems Group. Her previous employers include Technology Applications Inc. (TAI), MITRE, Metropolitan Edison, VA State Water Control Board, and EPA.

Most recently, Ms. Breaux co-founded, owned, and operated a large vineyard and winery in Northern Virginia. She was responsible for strategy, marketing, and business development including creating and overseeing numerous events. 

Alexis received a BS in Biology and an MS in Zoology with a concentration in aquatic ecology from VA Tech, Center for Environmental Studies. As an undergraduate, she participated in the US Antarctic Research Program on an NSF grant and was one of the first female undergraduates to do research in Antarctica. Recently Ms. Breaux was awarded, also by VA Tech, a Certificate in International Sustainability Consulting for completing field studies in Bali. 

Currently, Alexis is serving as the Co-Chair of the Leadership Committee for the Tiffany Circle in the National Capital & Greater Chesapeake Region. She is a member of VA Tech’s Women in Leadership and Philanthropy (WLP) Committee, and she completed a 10-year stint as a volunteer for Travelers Aid International at Dulles Airport. 

Alexis has one child, a grown daughter who is an Associate Partner at IBM, who lives nearby in DC. Alexis enjoys traveling, visiting beaches, playing tennis, learning French and skiing.

Cat Wrede Braden is a Partner in McKinsey’s Washington, DC office and a leader of our defense and security work.  She heads McKinsey’s North American Public Sector Strategy and Risk group, which encompasses strategy, enterprise risk management, and crisis preparedness, recovery, and response.  Cat serves public, social, and private sector institutions on a broad range of topics, including strategy, risk management, operational performance improvement, and long-term change programs.  She has particular expertise in national security, where she works with clients to link strategy, risk, and resourcing in rapidly changing environments, by aligning on strategic priorities, assessing capabilities against needs, and creating budgetary headroom in support of emerging missions.  Cat received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.A. and Ph.D from Harvard University. She lives in Maryland with her husband Nick Braden, the President of CustomInk, and their two teenage children.

Sean Breslin is AvalonBay’s Chief Operating Officer and is currently responsible for the Company’s operating platform, including Property Operations, Asset Management, Engineering, Redevelopment and Brand Strategy/Marketing. In addition, he is a member of the Company’s Management Investment Committee. Prior to assuming his current role, Breslin held various leadership positions at AvalonBay, including responsibility for the Company’s Investment platform, where he directed the Company’s portfolio allocation and trading strategies. In addition, he led the development of the Company’s Market Research and Redevelopment functions. Prior to joining AvalonBay in 2002, he was the Chief Operating Officer of CWS Capital Partners, where he was responsible for that company’s operations and investment activity. Breslin received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and his BS from California State University, Long Beach.

Courtney S. Bromley has been with IBM for 30 years serving federal, state and local government agencies. In her current role, she manages the business units in IBM dedicated to serving the US Federal Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and FBI, the State Department, USAID, the US Court system and the Department of Treasury and IRS. Her business units are responsible for IBM’s cross brand execution with all these Federal agencies, including all IBM lines of business – hardware, software and services. In addition to her other duties, in April 2017 she was selected as the IBM Senior Location Executive for the Washington Metro Area, in charge of all IBM corporate communication and community service for all IBM employees residing in the Maryland, Virginia, DC region. One of Ms. Bromley’s prior IBM positions was the Client Executive for the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Agriculture.  In this capacity, she was IBM’s lead executive for the Department of Transportation during and after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Ms. Bromley is a graduate of James Madison University, with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance. Since 2011, she has been on the Board of Advisors, and was on the three-person Executive Committee, for the College of Business at JMU.  She is also the Vice Chair of JMU’s R&D, Inc.  She is on the Board of the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council, serving as the Treasurer on the Executive Committee from 2014 to 2016 and is currently the Co-Chair of the HSDBC Board’s Finance committee.  She is active in community activities, including work with the National Kidney Foundation, the NFL Players Association, the DC College Access Program and spent ten years on the Board of Directors of Special Olympics DC. In 2015, she was a recipient of Federal Computer Week’s Fed100 Award, awarded each year to the top Federal and private sector executives.

Karen Britton, former White House Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Special Assistant to President Barack Obama, leads strategy development and execution of LMI's corporate communications as the Vice President of Communications, Marketing and Chief Digital Officer. She oversees a team responsible for online platforms, marketing and branding, external relations, and corporate citizenship.

Previously serving as LMI’s Vice President of digital services, Karen directed the delivery of enterprise-wide IT solutions to federal customers. Before joining LMI, she served as Chief Operating Officer of a woman-owned IT solutions provider e Management and helped expand its federal market practice.

Karen joined the Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President, as Deputy CIO in July 2009; she served as CIO from December 2012 to December 2014. During her White House tenure, she spearheaded innovative ways to deliver the president’s message to the American people. She also supported his cybersecurity agenda, protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of unclassified information systems.

Beginning her career as a general engineer with the Submarine Maintenance Engineering, Planning, and Procurement Activity at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Karen subsequently joined the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters. She held positions of increasing responsibility, culminating as Deputy CIO directing command-wide IT planning, policy, and budget. She left the Department of the Navy in 2007 to support capital planning implementation and enterprise architecture plan development for the Department of Energy.

Karen received her bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her Master’s in Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College and the Excellence in Government Fellows Program. Karen has received distinguished honors, including the Partnership for Public Service Leadership in Action Awards, the National Women of Color in Technology Awards, and the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Erik Buice is Vice President for the Information Solutions and Servicesdivision of Northrop Grumman’s Defense Systems sector. The divisionprovides agile, user-centered information technology, engineering andprogram support across DoD, civilian, commercial, international, federal,state and local clients.

Mr. Buice studied mechanical engineering at the University of Virginia,graduating in 1994. He worked as a mechanical engineer and programmanager for a small defense contractor for six years, where he focused onhumanitarian landmine clearance — designing, developing, testing anddeploying several innovative mine clearance tools to third-world nationsaround the globe. While working full time, Buice went back to school and earned a master’s degree inbusiness administration from George Mason University, graduating in 2000. Following completion of his MBA, he shifted from mechanical engineering to IT consulting, joining American Management Systems (AMS). Buice has spent the past 20 years working for small, medium and large firms in the business and IT consulting arena, including CGI (which acquired AMS), Patriot Technologies, ICF International and Vangent (now General Dynamics). Throughout his career, Buice has managed progressively larger and more complex programs and organizations.

Erik’s interests and expertise include STEM, humanitarian landmine clearance, measurement andsignal intelligence (MASINT), acoustics, cyber, fraud prevention and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). He lives in Fairfax, VA with his wife, two daughters (19 and 12) and a rescued hound/labmix.

Rick Calder is an experienced public company CEO and Board Member.  Most recently, Mr. Calder was president, CEO and Board Member of GTT Communications from 2007 through 2020. Mr. Calder has served in various leadership roles in the telecommunications industry over the last 30 years. Prior to GTT, Mr. Calder served as the president and chief operating officer of InPhonic, a provider of wireless services and products. Prior to InPhonic, Mr. Calder was president of the Business Enterprise & Carrier Markets division at Broadwing. He also held senior management positions at Winstar and was co-founder of GO Communications, a wireless company. In his early career, Mr. Calder held various marketing, business development and engineering positions at MCI and Tellabs. Mr. Calder received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Yale University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Lynne Doherty is executive vice president of global sales and marketing at McAfee. Lynne is responsible for the team that ensures that McAfee delivers a premium experience and strong security outcomes for our customers. Her customer-first team includes all sales, pre-sales, channel and marketing groups that support our Enterprise business.

Lynne has been leading sales organizations and driving positive business outcomes for customers for more than 20 years. Lynne joined McAfee from Cisco, where she most recently served as Senior Vice President of U.S. Commercial Sales — Cisco’s largest, single-market sales organization. In this role, she oversaw a team of more than 2,000 employees, drove $8B in revenue annually, serving 400,000+ accounts. Prior to this position, Lynne led Cisco’s Security Sales for the Americas, overseeing a $2B portfolio of products across the U.S., Canada and Latin America. With her extensive security and industry expertise, Lynne played a key role in the integration and go-to-market strategy efforts following Cisco’s acquisitions of Duo Security, Umbrella and Cloudlock.

Throughout her more than 15 years in various sales and leadership roles at Cisco, Lynne built a reputation for leading high-performing, international organizations that capitalized on competitive opportunities and cultivated innovative initiatives that disrupted markets and drove technology adoption.

Lynne holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and started her career as a programmer at Bell Atlantic before joining Sun Microsystems as a Regional Executive in Sales and Engineering.

Lynda Ellis is an entrepreneur who recognizes that the individual service experience is paramount to success. Last year, she successfully launched three companies—The Rowe Agency, Capitol Concierge England, LTD and Capitol Concierge Ireland, LTD. In addition, through a partnership with Generali Global Assistance, she expanded Capitol Concierge’s business base in the international market. Today, Capitol Concierge serves well over one million people in some of the world’s most prestigious properties and companies.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ellis developed her entrepreneurial spirit at an early age. While a student at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, she started her first business, a customized gift company, which she eventually sold to Neiman Marcus. Prior to purchasing Capitol Concierge, she spent more than 25 years in the computer-based education and training industry and was the co-owner of a successful instructional technology company.

Her passion for giving back goes back to the early age of 12, visiting hospitals wherever she has lived and continues to this day.  Ellis is an active member of the community and leads corporate efforts with her civic involvement in organizations such as The American Red Cross Tiffany Circle, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, St. James’ Episcopal Church, the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association and more.

Ellis’ recent accomplishments include joining the board of trustees for St. Mary’s University, San Antonio; being named chair of the American Red Cross Tiffany Leadership Committee; being named to The Daily Record’s 2018 Maryland Top 100 Women List; receiving the 2017 Moxie Award for boldness in business; and the 2016 Profiles in Success Award. In addition, Capitol Concierge was named to the Washington Business Journal’s 2018 Class of Family-Owned Businesses.

After 25 years in senior legal and policy positions at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including HHS Deputy General Counsel and FDA Director of Drug Compliance, David Horowitz achieves results for clients by helping them anticipate, communicate, and work effectively with regulators and policy makers.

He represents life sciences clients on FDA compliance and regulatory policy issues, including responding to FDA warnings and compliance actions, import and export issues, current good manufacturing practice (GMP) requirements, drug shortages, registration/listing, pharmacy/compounding issues, repackaging, Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs, and user fees.  His insight into FDA’s requirements, statements, and actions allows him to identify solutions that satisfy the clients’ business needs within FDA’s regulatory framework.

Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, he served as Deputy General Counsel at HHS, advising the Secretary of HHS on FDA issues and overseeing the lawyers at FDA, CDC and NIH.  Before this role, he worked for over 17 years in senior legal and compliance positions at FDA, including as Director of Compliance for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Assistant Commissioner for Policy, and Associate Chief Counsel for Drugs.  David obtained his bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Brown University and his law degree from University of Virginia School of Law.

Sherry Hwang is the President & Co-Founder of Pyramid Systems. Her dedication and commitment to providing the highest quality innovative solutions, starting with the very first client and project, set the tone for what has become the standard for operating as Pyramid Systems. Today, in addition to her management role, Sherry primarily focuses on business development, client relationships, oversight of program performance, and extending the Pyramid presence in the federal government. Prior to founding Pyramid Systems, Sherry was an integral player in the IT services industry and was frequently recognized by clients and peers as going “above and beyond” to help clients achieve their missions. Sherry is heavily involved in community service.  She is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross in the National Capital Area and a respected commissioner and volunteer of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation which works to relieve suffering in the local community, as well as to provide aid for worldwide disaster relief.

Ki Ho Kang founded KIHOMAC in 2003 and is the President and CEO. He focused the company’s competency towards sustainment of complex aerospace systems, encompassing the entire spectrum of sustainment functions – analysis, design, build, test, field, and service aerospace capabilities. Previously, Kang served as an Air Force officer, where he participated in a variety of complex aerospace weapon system acquisition programs as a systems engineer, flight test engineer, and program manager. After 11 years of active duty service in the Air Force, he joined the Air Force Reserve in 2000 and served as a Reserve Air Attaché then as a Military Assistant to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board until his retirement in 2010. He received his Master’s in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. Kang was born in Seoul, Korea and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1978. His family settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he completed his primary education.  He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for his undergraduate education, through an Air Force ROTC scholarship.

Emily Killam leads Sales Strategy, Operations, and Enablement for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Worldwide Public Sector business, which includes state, local, central and regional governments; educational institutions and Ed Techs; non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGO).

Killam’s global role includes all facets of business operations, sales strategy, field sales enablement, global sales lead development, customer executive programs, global grants and sales systems. Prior to joining Amazon Web Services in 2013, Killam worked as a Program Financial Manager at Raytheon for 8 years on a number of classified government contracts for the US intelligence community. Her early career was in account management and field sales roles after graduating from college. Killam holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the Pennsylvania State University.

Melissa Lavinson is senior vice president, governmental and external affairs, Pepco Holdings. Lavinson is responsible for the design and implementation of Pepco Holdings’ stakeholder relations and issues management programs, involving, state and local officials, community leaders, business, consumer, and nonprofit groups in each jurisdiction (New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia). Lavinson previously served as the Vice President of Federal Affairs and Policy and Chief Sustainability Officer for PG&E Corporation, where she held a career of more than 20 years. In her dual role, she led a team responsible for the company’s sustainability efforts, engagement, and strategy. She was also responsible for directing PG&E’s public policies on federal issues, including energy, tax, and environmental policy. Lavinson was responsible for building relationships at the national level with NGOs, trade associations, advocacy organizations, and other key stakeholders.

Prior to joining PG&E, Lavinson was a Senior Associate at MRW and Associates, a consulting firm providing financial, economic, environmental and market analysis to competitive energy suppliers, independent power producers, large energy consumers, financial institutions and utilities. Lavinson began her career with ICF Consulting, where she worked in the company's climate change practice for clients such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, World Bank, and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Lavinson is on the boards of the Climate Action Reserve and She Should Run, which promotes women's representation in public office. Lavinson received her bachelor's degree in economics from Hamilton College.

Ms. Ledvina is a senior executive in the financial services industry with extensive experience at Wall Street investment firms in research, investment banking and asset management. Best known for her market knowledge and corporate transactions, she has gained notoriety for her keen insights and research on private and public companies, as well as for security selection and investment expertise. As a respected speaker and writer, she has garnered interviews with publications including CBS Market Watch and TheStreet.com, with nationally syndicated radio shows, and has made numerous television appearances on CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg.

Currently, Ms. Ledvina is Vice President, Financial Advisor, and Senior Portfolio Manager, for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management where she works with high net worth clients. By addressing financial issues involving retirement and estate planning, core spending, philanthropic gifting, real estate ownership, and more complex matters associated with the IPO or M&A of a business, she empowers successful individuals to take control of their financial future. Previously, Ms. Ledvina worked with high net worth clients at Alliance Bernstein.

Before this, Ms. Ledvina was a Director at Saggio Capital Advisors, LLC, a financial services advisory firm, where she worked with private companies, venture capital firms and high net worth individuals to conduct private placements for technology-based financial services, digital and interactive TV, and laboratory services companies.

Ms. Ledvina was also a Principal at RBC Dain Rauscher where she was responsible for a research and banking franchise with $20M+ annualized revenue. In the investment banking division, she was responsible for venture capital relationships. Before this, she was the firm’s lead internet research analyst during the technology public market boom of 1998 thru 2000. In both roles, Ms. Ledvina was known for her insights into promising private companies and public market superstars including AOL, Yahoo!, InfoSpace, Multex, and others. She was also recognized for her highly successful IPO, secondary, private placement and merger and acquisition transactions.

Prior to her career in financial services, Ms. Ledvina served as Vice President of Research for the Meta Group, a thriving technology research house where her practice grew to over $10M in revenue over five years. As a recognized research authority in the Internet/WWW, data warehousing, applications packages, systems integrators, object-oriented tools, and middleware technology, Ms. Ledvina presented both domestically and internationally and was frequently quoted in trade publications. During this time, she was also actively involved with Wall Street institutional investors, where she provided unique insight and market moving information.

Ms. Ledvina has a solid technology background, having held a variety of positions in the software industry. As Senior Product Manager for Intersolv, she was responsible for product delivery and successful marketing of the company’s four major product lines encompassing application generation, design analysis, design recovery, and software configuration management. Previously, she was Third Party Marketing Manager for XA Systems where she developed and managed strategic reseller agreements with Honeywell/Groupe Bull and JCA/Unisys. She also spent several years with KPMG Peat Marwick in both a consulting and audit capacity.

In addition to her career, Ms. Ledvina is actively involved in charity, political, and business organizations. On the charitable front, she has served as an advisory board member for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), for Second Chance Employment Services (SCES), for Victory Youth Centers, and for Mercy Health Clinic. She also served as an executive committee member for the Boys & Girls Club’s Women’s ICON Group. Ms. Ledvina has also run political campaign fundraisers for presidential candidates and has been active in the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) connecting CEOs with the venture community.

Ms. Ledvina graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, with a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems and an emphasis in Accounting. She also completed credit hours toward her M.B.A. in Finance at the University of Minnesota, and obtained her certification in the Mergers & Acquisitions Program from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. She has served as an early advisory board member to Internet Capital Group (ICGE) as well as other leading investment companies. In addition to holding insurance and mortgage licenses, Ms. Ledvina also holds Series 7, 31, 63 and 65 brokerage licenses.

As Vice President, Ethics and Business Conduct, Blair Marks is responsible for ensuring the application of Lockheed Martin’s values in all aspects of operations. She leads a team of ethics professionals providing education and guidance; promoting open communication; assisting in the prevention, identification and resolution of issues; and investigating allegations of misconduct. Marks represents the company on the Defense Industry Initiative’s Working Group and the Steering Committee of the International Forum on Business Ethical Conduct.

Marks graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor of engineering in ceramic engineering. She earned her master of science in materials engineering from the University of Michigan and completed an MBA from Georgia State University. Marks has served on Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering and Women in Engineering advisory boards and is a graduate of Leadership Cobb.  She is the immediate past president of Women of Reform Judaism, and she serves on the boards of the Union for Reform Judaism and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She previously served on the board of the Georgia Youth Science and Technology Centers. She has received the Women in Aerospace Outstanding Leadership Award and holds both the CCEP and LPEC certifications.

Carl A. Mayfield serves as Executive Vice President of Design & Construction at Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. since September 17, 2018. He was Senior Vice President of Design and Construction at RLJ Lodging Trust. During his time at RLJ, Mr. Mayfield was responsible for providing enterprise leadership to RLJ’s project management team and overseeing all phases of capital projects. His responsibilities included disaster remediation, energy management and conservation strategies, physical due diligence, budgeting, scheduling, brand coordination, contracting and capital execution. He also provided leadership on all aspects of development projects which included programming, planning, entitlements, budgeting, and public-private partnerships. Prior to joining RLJ, Mr. Mayfield served as the Project Executive for Georgetown University’s “Southwest Quadrangle Project”, a $200 million mixed-use housing, parking, and dining and demonstration fuel cell facility. Prior to that, he managed the MCI Center and The World Bank’s Space Efficiency Project on behalf of CarrAmerica. His 21 years of experience in design, construction, and real estate development projects span the spectrum from residential, commercial, sports, and entertainment to hospitality. Mr. Mayfield holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware and a M.S. in Real Estate Development from Johns Hopkins University. He serves on the board of directors of the American Red Cross of the National Capital Region and the Montgomery County Boys and Girls Club. He is also an executive mentor to graduate students at the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Nick Michaelides is the Senior Vice President of the U.S. Public Sector Organization. He and his team are responsible for the development and deployment of technology solutions that enable the public sector to better protect our country, serve our communities, and educate our children.

Nick’s deep understanding of his customers and their mission critical challenges have been the key to his success. He leads with a customer first mentality and his team consistently delivers results by ensuring that they build strong relationships and serve as a trusted advisor to their customers and partners.

Prior to leading Cisco’s U.S. Public Sector business, Nick held several leadership roles withinCisco. Most recently he led U.S. Federal Sales at Cisco. Nick’s was responsible for the U.S.Federal market, including Defense, Civilian and National Security Operations. U.S. Federal isthe second largest market in the Americas and one that Cisco has supported for over 25years. Prior to Federal, he was Senior Director for Defense Operations, where he wasresponsible for delivering innovative solutions, products, and services to one of the largestemployers in the world, the United States Department of Defense (DoD).

Nick is a proven leader with 32 years of Federal and technology industry experience. Heprovides strategic vision and operational management to consistently achieve sales goalsand develop his workforce. Nick led Cisco’s Transformational Leadership Initiative, and has apassion for mentorship. He completed Cisco’s Momentum Leadership Program that developsthe next generation of Cisco executives.

Nick holds an Active Top Secret SCI clearance. He enjoys spending time at the lake with hiswife, Rita, and their three children

Tony joined 2nd Ave/GreenDrop, LLC in 2013 as Chief Administrative Officer, and helped pioneer the establishment of the organization’s convenient drop-off donation centers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. In February of 2016, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of 2nd Ave/GreenDrop. GreenDrop has been a professional fundraiser for the American Red Cross since 2016, raising over $3M. Prior to joining 2nd Ave/GreenDrop, Tony was the Director at Trademark Capital Services, an M Financial Group Member firm in Portland, OR. Tony played division 1 golf for University of Illinois and University of Portland where he earned his Bachelors degree. Currently resides in Doylestown, a suburb of Philadelphia with his wife, Christa and two children, Jack and Alexandra.

Elizabeth (Liz) Porter is President (Acting) of the Health Group where she leads an organization of several thousand employees providing services and solutions in health information technology, population health risk management and case management, health analytics, life sciences, and public health.

Previously, Porter served as Senior Vice President and Operation Manager for Leidos’ Federal Energy & Environment business, an organization that provides world-class environmental science, energy, and engineering solutions/services to federal, state, and local customers including the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Prior to that role, she served as the Department of Defense Information Networks & Mission Partner Program Director where she was responsible for the oversight of the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) Global Services Management-Operations task orders in support of the Joint Information Environment. These task orders included efforts focused on new Joint Force Headquarters, Joint Regional Security Stacks, Mission Partner Support, and multiple other DISA Enterprise Services.

Before joining Leidos, Porter served as the Director of Energy Initiatives, Corporate Engineering & Technology (CE&T) at Lockheed Martin. In that role, she was responsible for developing and executing the strategy for the energy campaign, working closely with business areas, corporate strategy, and business development to leverage capabilities and grow the business. In 2012, she was selected by the Department of Energy and MIT as the first-ever recipient of the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative Award for Corporate Implementation.

Throughout her career, Porter has led several critical initiatives, including advanced programs (proposal execution) management, engineering, and operations management for the Defense Messaging System, database design, and software development for the Global Transportation Network all for Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems. She started her career with Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Company (previously General Electric Astro) as a solar array design and electrical power subsystem engineer.

Porter graduated from Villanova University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and from the University of Colorado with a master’s degree in business administration. Porter serves on the Industrial Advisory Board to the Engineering Department at Villanova University in addition to the Energy Facility Contractors Operating Group Board.

Matthew leads an integrated team responsible for employee communications channels; communications strategy for seven business functions; a $45 million social impact strategy and giving program; and the corporate operations of the Communications function. In this role he also facilitates the development of a multi-year strategic plan for communications.

Previously, he directed the Lockheed Martin enterprise risk management and corporate sustainability program strategy, implementation and stakeholder engagement. This involved leading business risk assessments and facilitating multiple corporate governance councils chartered to provide assurance to the CEO and Board of Directors on matters related to compliance, risk management and environmental, social and governance topics. Matt developed award-winning sustainability program, reporting and stakeholder engagement initiatives. During his tenure Lockheed Martin became a top sector performer according to institutional investor rankings and created two generations of sustainability goals.

Matt joined Lockheed Martin as director of enterprise communications, and led a team supporting several corporate functions including the CIO, CFO and the Executive Office of the Chairman. In this role, he oversaw multiple aspects of communications including employee and supplier engagement, speechwriting, environmental, safety and health affairs, advertising and outreach to investors and media.  

Until that time, Matt spent almost a decade as a business journalist, most recently as Associate Editor of Forbes, where he was recognized by the Overseas Press Club for his business reporting from abroad; co-edited the World Billionaires issue; and traveled with the U.S. Secretary of State.

Matt graduated cum laude from American University (DC) with degrees in Communications and Sociology and earned an MBA from the University of Maryland. He taught as an adjunct professional lecturer at the American University School of Communication from 2005 to 2008.

Matt is a member of the board of the National Capital chapter of the American Red Cross. He is a former director of Cornerstone Capital Inc. (acquired by Pathstone in 2021) and a former advisory board member of the University of Cambridge (UK) Centre for Risk Studies.

He resides in Montgomery County, Maryland with his wife, two sons and four-legged daughter, a Havanese named Annie.