Sunday, April 19, 2009
7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Opening Keynote
Craig Newmark
Founder, Craig’s List
Craig Newmark’s Bio
photo credit: Gene X Hwang
Craig Alexander Newmark was born December 6, 1952, in Morristown, New Jersey. He is an Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder and an active customer service rep of the San Francisco based group of community websites known as craigslist (www.craigslist.org).

Newmark coded an e-mail list as a way to share information with his friends in San Francisco. He launched craigslist as a subscriber-based community in the later part of 1995, with the first community site for San Francisco as craigslist.org. As of August 2008, craigslist has grown to more than 570 city community sites in over 50 countries and is experiencing more than 12 billion page views per month. There are more than 50 million unique community members worldwide.  

craigslist is a platform where people can help one another with basic needs, like housing and jobs. The site has a culture of trust, based on shared values like “treat people like you want to be treated.” craigslist’s philosophy is to let the on-line community participants play an active role in policing the information that is shared on the list, and to make classifieds and personal ads free to its community members.   

Newmark attended Morristown High School. Upon graduation, he attended college at Case Western Reserve University where he originally wanted to be a physicist. He later determined that the future was in computers — actually just wanted a job someday — and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in 1975. Newmark continued his education at Case Western, receiving his Masters of Science in Computer Science in 1977.His thesis was entitled "Fundamental Models of Computer Systems and Their Relationship to Information Security."

In 1976, Newmark started his business career with IBM and spent nearly 17 years with Big Blue until moving on to working in programming for companies such as IBM, Sun Micro Systems and  various consulting firms.  In those days he was fluent in Java, Perl, MySQL, and HTML.

Newmark is a vocal advocate of net neutrality — principle of fairness, of a level playing field on the Internet, and no more special privileges for the already privileged. Newmark is also a vocal champion of citizen journalism and participatory democracy and is involved with groups that advocate using the Internet to build online communities of global citizens to help solve social issues worldwide. Newmark supports and advises presidential candidate Barack Obama’s team on technology issues.

With his modest demeanor and subtle humor, he has become a popular speaker at conferences throughout the world.

Newmark resides in San Francisco's Cole Valley. Between bird watching and testing out new technology, he remains a critical part of Craigslist’s customer service, mostly dealing with spammers and scammers. He is an avid fan of science fiction and obscure BBC television series. He playfully surmises that “he needs to get out more.”

Newmark continues to share his thoughts via his blog www.cnemark.com and is active in sharing his “Tweets” on www.twitter.com/craignewmark. Also Craig continues to share his support for personal democracy and President Obama on his Facebook page under “Craig Newmark

Monday, April 20, 2009
1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.

Knight Kiplinger
Editor in Chief
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
Knight Kiplinger is editor in chief of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, Kiplinger.com and the Kiplinger Letter, America's leading business-forecasting publication.

Knight has covered business, economic and political trends for nearly three decades, as a newspaper reporter, Washington bureau chief and editor. He is the author of several books, most recently World Boom Ahead, and is a frequent guest on major television and radio programs.

Knight is a graduate of Cornell University, and he studied international affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.

 

Monday, April 20, 2009
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Beth Noveck
Open Government, White House 0ffice of Science and Technology Policy
Beth Simone Noveck works for Open Government, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  An expert on the impact of technology on legal and political institutions, Beth Simone Noveck directed the Institute for Information Law & Policy (http://www.nyls.edu/infolaw), New York Law School's center for the study of intellectual property, technology and information law. Prof. Noveck teaches in the areas of intellectual property, innovation and constitutional law as well as courses on electronic democracy and electronic government.

Vivek Kundra
Federal Chief Information Officer and Director
E-Government and Information Technology

Vivek Kundra formerly served in Mayor Fenty's cabinet as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the District of Columbia, responsible for technology operations and strategy for 86 agencies.  He has been recognized among the top 25 CTO's in the country and as the 2008 IT Executive of the Year for his pioneering work to drive transparency, engage citizens and lower the cost of government operations.  Kundra is also recognized for his leadership in public safety communications, cyber security and IT portfolio management. Before Kundra came to the District, Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed him Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the first dual cabinet role in the state's history.  Kundra's diverse record also includes technology and public policy experience in private industry and academia. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and holds a MS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland.

 

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Gene L. Dodaro
Acting Comptroller
General Accountability Office
Gene L. Dodaro became Acting Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office on March 13, 2008, succeeding David M. Walker, who appointed him upon resigning. Mr. Dodaro will serve in this position until the President nominates and the Senate confirms a successor from a list of candidates proposed by the Congress. 

Founded in 1921, GAO’s mission is to help improve the performance of the federal government and ensure its accountability to the Congress and, ultimately, the American people. Over the years, GAO has earned a reputation for fact-based, nonpartisan reviews of government activities.

In a GAO career dating back more than 30 years, Mr. Dodaro has held a number of key positions at GAO. For the last 9 years, Mr. Dodaro has served as the Chief Operating Officer, the number two leadership position in the agency, assisting the Comptroller General in providing leadership and vision for GAO’s diverse, multidisciplinary workforce. His day-to-day management efforts ensured that GAO met the Congress’s need for reliable, timely, and relevant information on government operations. Mr. Dodaro oversaw the development and issuance of hundreds of reports and testimonies to the Congress annually. These and other GAO products provided critical information for decision making, saved the taxpayers billions of dollars, and improved a wide range of government programs and services.

As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Dodaro led the development of GAO’s strategic plans for serving the Congress and improving government in the 21st century. He also directed GAO’s high-risk program, which focuses attention on and proposes solutions to major management challenges and risks across the federal government. Mr. Dodaro likewise also played a key role in guiding the agency’s efforts to highlight current and emerging issues that warrant attention from policymakers. 

Until 1999, Mr. Dodaro headed GAO’s Accounting and Information Management Division. His significant accomplishments included providing leadership to help government confront the Year 2000 computing challenge by working with the Congress and the President’s Y2K Conversion Council to provide a smooth transition in government operations and services. He also directed the first-ever audit of comprehensive financial statements covering all federal departments and agencies for fiscal year 1997—one of the largest and most complex audits in history. Additionally, he helped conceive GAO’s strategy for improving computer security throughout government and led the updating of standards for internal control in the federal government.

Mr. Dodaro has testified many times before the Congress. He has worked closely with the Congress and various administrations on major management reform initiatives, including the 1994 Government Management Reform Act, which expanded the Chief Financial Officers Act; the revised 1995 Paperwork Reduction Act and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, which require agencies to implement modern management practices for information technology management; and the 1996 refinements to the Single Audit Act, which outlines requirements for audits of federal assistance to state and local governments.

Mr. Dodaro also led management reviews of the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Personnel Management and has extensive experience working with state and local government officials.

Mr. Dodaro received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow and a member of the Association of Government Accountants. Mr. Dodaro has received many of GAO’s top honors as well as recognition from outside organizations, including the American Society for Public Administration, the Institute of Internal Auditors, and Federal Computer Week. These include:

• The 2006 Association of Government Accountants’ Elmer B. Staats Award for improving government performance and government accountability.
• The 2003 American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration National Public Service Award recognizing outstanding practitioners in public service.
• The 2001 Association of Government Accountants’ Frank Greathouse Distinguished Leadership Award for sustained outstanding leadership in financial management.
• The 2000 Institute of Internal Auditor’s (D.C. Chapter) Person of the Year for leadership in addressing the Year 2000 computing challenge.
• The 1999 Federal Computer Week Information Technology Top 100 Award.
• The 1989 Arthur S. Flemming Award for outstanding individual performance in government.

Mr. Dodaro is married to the former Joan McCabe.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Driving Change in Government - the Need for Citizen Involvement

John Suffolk
CIO
United Kingdom
Although not a CIO in the traditional sense - each government department has its own CIO - John Suffolk is the public face of UK government IT and leads the work of the CIO Council to deliver the IT strategy behind the 'Transformational Government' agenda.

Key to this is sharing best practice to improve the success rate of big government IT projects and to drive better value deals for the public sector on hardware, software and services.

The ongoing efficiency drive means there is also a big emphasis on shared services across government departments and, under Suffolk's guidance, the Cabinet Office has recently embraced shared back-office services.

Suffolk's remit also includes leading the IT Professionalism programme to create a genuine and attractive IT profession and career ladder in the public sector.

Suffolk has been government CIO since June 2006 and prior to this he was director general of the government's £2bn Criminal Justice IT programme. His route to the top is via 25 years in both public and private sectors, including roles as a business troubleshooter and MD of Britannia.

At the weekends Suffolk escapes back to the Peak District where he runs a farm protecting rare breeds of sheep and pigs. In true Animal Farm style some of the pigs are named after chief executives and royalty.

Laurence Millar
CIO
New Zealand
Twenty five years after immigrating to New Zealand from the U.K., Laurence Millar formally became the first New Zealand Government CIO in 2008, capping years of working to improve the national systems from inside the government and without.

In his first stint in New Zealand’s government, 1990-1993, he served as the General Manager of Information Technology at the Department of Social Welfare.  He left to join Azimuth Consulting, Ltd., an information management company, where he led information systems projects, including development of the New Zealand government’s first web portal.

Millar spent the next four years in supply chain and telecommunications consulting for companies in China, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. In 2004, he returned to government work as appointed head of the E-Government unit of the State Services Commission, and went on to lead the Information and Communication Technology branch as Deputy Commissioner in 2005.

Laurence Millar received his Master of Arts in Mathematics from Cambridge University and a Master of Science in Cybernetics (the study of systems) from London University.

 

Peter Bruce
Deputy CIO
Canada
Peter Bruce is Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Chief Information Officer Branch, at Treasury Board Canada.  Prior to this, he was the Chief Technology Officer, Library and Archives of Canada and LAC’s lead for the Canada Project.  He worked for the Government of Ontario from July 2000 to July 2002. While there, he worked with the Ministries of Education and Training, Colleges and Universities as well as at Management Board Secretariat.  He has extensive experience with the Federal Public Service having worked in 7 departments over 25 years.  This included positions as the CIO for the Federal Department of Justice from 1977 to 2000.  His public service career has been focused on improving government programs, services and operations through effective use of information technology.  Peter has a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa and an MBA from Queen’s University.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Linda J. Bilmes
Professor
Harvard Kennedy School

Professor Linda J. Bilmes is a full-time faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she teaches budgeting, applied budgeting and public finance. She is a faculty affiliate of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Center for Greater Boston.

Bilmes has held senior positions in government, including Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the US Department of Commerce, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Administration, and US Representative to several high-ranking commissions, including a Treasury Department commission to examine the viability of the Inter-American Investment Corporation. She currently serves on the National Parks Second Century Commission. 

Bilmes is co-author (with Joseph Stiglitz) of the New York Times bestseller The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (Norton 2008) and co-author (with W. Scott Gould) of The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service (Brookings 2009). Bilmes previously spent 10 years as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.  She holds a BA and MBA from Harvard University.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Lee Rainie
Director
Pew Internet & American Life Project
Lee Rainie is the Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a non-profit, non–partisan “fact tank” that studies the social impact of the internet. The Project has issued more than 175 reports based on its surveys that examine people’s online activities and the internet’s role in their lives.

Lee is a co-author of Up for Grabs and Hopes and Fears and the forthcoming Ubiquity, Mobility, Security, a series about the future of the internet published by Cambria Press.

He is also co-authoring a book for MIT Press about the social impact of technology with sociologist Barry Wellman that will be published in 2010. The working title is Connected Lives: The New Social Network Operating System.

Prior to launching the Pew Internet Project, Lee was managing editor of the newsweekly magazine U.S. News & World Report. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has a master’s degree in political science from Long Island University.