The Fox School of Business and Management

Speakers

Satish Ajmani 

Deputy County Executive Officer, Chief Information Officer, County of Orange, California

Satish Ajmani joined Orange County as Deputy County Executive Officer & Chief Information Officer, in February, 2006.   Twenty years of experience in executive management (Chief Information Officer, Vice President or Director).  Satish has substantial industry experience in financial services, digital publishing & printing, television audience measurement and product marketing research.  Also, in the public sector Satish Ajmani has contributed at the federal, state and local government levels.

In his current position, he provides executive leadership to the Information Technology function, responsible for the planning, development and operation of enterprise applications, and the information technology infrastructure. In addition, he provides policy direction to 25 distributed information services organizations in diverse business units, including public safety and law enforcement agencies, health and human services agencies and internal support departments, such as finance, human resources, facilities. 

Just prior to joining Orange County, he was the Chief Information Officer for the County of Santa Clara, for eight years.  With more than 38 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, Ajmani is a recognized leader in Information Technology.

In 2004, he was honored by Computerworld Magazine as a “Premier 100 IT Leader.”

Satish holds a Masters Degree in Engineering, from McMaster University in Canada.

Omar R. Benjamin 

Executive Director, Port of Oakland

Omar Benjamin was appointed by the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners as Executive Director of the Port of Oakland effective February of 2007.  Mr. Benjamin is responsible for the administration and operations of the Port organization and reports to the Board.  Mr. Benjamin was most recently the Deputy Executive Director of Operations for the Port of Oakland, where he had oversight of the Port's revenue divisions:  Maritime, Aviation, and Commercial Real Estate.  Mr. Benjamin was previously the Director of Commercial Real Estate for the Port of Oakland and has been with the Port since February of 1997.

Prior to joining the Port of Oakland, Mr. Benjamin was the Chief Operating Officer for Al Anwa USA Inc. (Los Angeles).  He directed investment, development, business operations and managed a $700 million diversified real estate investment portfolio.  Mr. Benjamin also served as Chief Operating Officer for Newfield Enterprises International and worked in Paris, France, for four years as an investment manager for The First Investment Capital Corporation.

Mr. Benjamin holds a B.S. degree in business administration from California State University, East Bay.  He is a member of the California Commission for Economic Development, Vice President of the California Association of Port Authorities (CAPA), and is a full member of the Urban Land Institute.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Council, Bay Area Economic Development Alliance and the Paramount Theatre of the Arts.

 

Timothy Bonno

AT&T Government, Education, & Medical Lead Marketing Manager – Local Government

Tim Bonno is responsible for AT&T’s Local Government marketing efforts for 21 states.  Under his leadership, AT&T’s industry strength and relevance to the Local Government sector is articulated via various Marketing tools and media.

Tim has been employed by AT&T for over 29 years and has worked through the many changes that have occurred in telecom industry during this time.  His career has included a variety of positions in organizations throughout the enterprise including National Security and Emergency Preparedness, IT-Business Continuity, and Sales and Marketing.

Tim’s expertise is in the area of business continuity, emergency management, and homeland security.  Specifically, Tim has over 16 years of experience developing and managing business continuity and emergency management programs for AT&T.

Understanding the positive effect that sound working relationships can have for both the private and public sectors in all phases of disaster management, Tim has been a leader in promoting the concept of private-public partnerships.  In the 1990’s, Tim served as AT&T’s business Liaison to the FEMA Regional Director in FEMA Region 7 for the agency’s Project Impact Initiative.  More recently, he’s helped communities across the country adopt the very successful Citizen Corps and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) initiatives and use those to form community partnerships, thereby making communities more resilient.  His work in this area includes adapting the CERT curriculum to the special needs populations including the deaf and hard of hearing as well as high school teenagers.

In 2004, Tim was named as a Co-Chair of the St. Louis Area Rapid Response System (STARRS) Advisory Council which is charged  with oversight for the region’s Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).  In this role, he went on to develop a community partnership that became the Gateway Citizen Corps Coalition that now assists communities in the St. Louis  region to develop and administer citizen preparedness initiatives.  Tim serves as the Coalition’s President.

Tim is a Governor appointed Commissioner of the Missouri Seismic Safety Commission.  He also produces the highly successful annual seminar “Earthquakes Mean Business” which educates the Midwest business community about the earthquake threat and how to be better prepared.

Tim is an Instructor for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and instructs a variety of emergency management related courses such as CERT, Leadership, and Decision Making.

Ed Burns  

President & National Practice Leader, State Government Solutions, CIBER

Under the leadership of Ed Burns, CIBER’s State Government Solutions group manages nationwide support services for human services engagements, transportation, integrated justice solutions and finance and administration. Mr. Burns is directly responsible for opening up 15 CIBER offices located in state capitals. His group is currently serving 48 states and 400+ state agencies.

Mr. Burns first started targeting business initiatives for state government in the 1989 for the State of Illinois. Having worked with States across the nation for over 20 years, Mr. Burns has a unique perspective and commitment to delivering each government service engagement. Two different and powerful forces are impacting government: A demand for leaner government operation that provides better services more efficiently and the rapid development of never-before-imagined information technologies. These forces pose a daunting challenge to government decision-makers. Mr. Burns’ experience allows him to first understand the goals of government and then use innovative information technologies to achieve the service goals of a more efficient government.

The public sector divisions reporting to Mr. Burns include CIBER’s vertical practices: health and human services focusing on State Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (SACWIS), Women Infants and Children (WIC), Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) and Child Support Enforcement; integrated justice solutions focusing on law enforcement with Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management Systems (RMS) and wireless solutions for emergency situations, prosecution with CIBER’s Case Records Information Management System (CRIMES) and integration with the courts systems and corrections systems including inmate and facility management; transportation focusing on Department of Motor Vehicles, intelligent transportation and electronic content management solutions; and finance and administration focusing on financial, HR, payroll and revenue systems.

CIBER’s State Government Solutions technical centers of excellence – homeland security, electronic content management, eGovernment and accessibility – also report to Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns has developed a winning philosophy for ensuring long-term, strategic relationships with state governments by focusing his group on establishing a local presence and offering high-value, repeatable solutions. CIBER boasts significant offices in many of the State capitals, with relationships that span over 25 years and a client retention rate that exceeds 93%.

Mr. Burns has been instrumental in empowering many CIBER state government clients to achieve their business goals through effective IT solutions. CIBER’s state government practice is one of the leading providers of SACWIS in the country and has worked with more than 25 health and human services agencies on initiatives during the past 22 years. CIBER’s case management solution, CRIMES, is the most widely used system for prosecuting attorneys with over 70 implementations nationwide.

Mr. Burns is a frequent speaker and panel expert at industry seminars, roundtables, vendor and client events and conferences, including the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and the American Public Social & Health Administration (APSHA). He is a graduate of Roosevelt University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He resides in Chicago with his wife, Tracy, and their three children.

Steve Carlson

President and Owner of Steve Carlson and Associates.

CTIA California Government Affairs Counsel and Member State of California Emergency Warning Task Force 

Since April, 1981 Carlson has been President and Founder of Steve Carlson and Associates, which provides legislative advocacy and government relations services to clients in California.  

In 1993 Carlson was selected as the Executive Director of the Cellular Carriers Association of California, at the time the only state trade association comprised of wireless carriers.   He acted as the chief spokesperson, lobbyist and strategist for legislative, regulatory and public affairs issues for the wireless industry, in the turbulent formative years of the industry.  Since 2002, Carlson has acted as California Government Affairs Counsel for CTIA-The Wireless Association, the national trade association for wireless carriers and equipment providers.

Except for a brief hiatus to serve as CEO of Velocity HSI, a provider of high speed Internet services to apartment communities from 2000 to late 2001, Carlson served from 1981 to 2007 as the executive director (until 2000) and lobbyist for the California Housing Council (CHC), a trade organization representing the largest owners, managers and developers of multifamily properties in California.   Carlson’s responsibilities included serving as the chief executive, chief lobbyist, strategist and spokesperson for CHC.  Since 1987 Carlson has also served as state legislative advocate for the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.   In these dual capacities Carlson has been engaged in all the key landlord-tenant issues at the local, state and national levels for over 25 years

A partial list of past and current lobbying clients include the California Housing Council, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, The Santa Barbara Rental Property Association, CTIA-The Wireless Association, the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the National Submetering and Utility Allocation Association. 

Prior to his lobbying career he practiced law with the San Diego firm Gray, Cary, Ames and Frye, now DLA Piper. Prior to that, he served for two years as the Assistant to the Commissioner of the American Basketball Association at league headquarters in New York City and for two years as an executive with the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors.

Carlson earned a juris doctor degree magna cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.  He is married to Donna, a personal trainer and fitness professional, and has two children.  His daughter is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon and his son is a sophomore at U. C. Davis. 
 

Commissioner Rachelle Chong

California Public Utilities Commission

Commissioner Rachelle Chong was appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) by Governor Schwarzenegger in January 2006. She has been a career communications regulatory attorney, practicing before both the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as well as the CPUC with the law firms of Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodard, Quinn & Rossi and Graham & James. In May 1994, President Clinton nominated Commissioner Chong to the FCC.  The FCC implemented the historic Telecommunications Act of 1996 and held the first ever spectrum auctions during her tenure.  She lead efforts on e-911, local number portability, and other major telecommunications initiatives by the FCC.  In November 1997, Commissioner Chong returned to private practice as a partner with Coudert Brothers, representing Internet and communications clients. In 2000, she became General Counsel and Vice President, Government Affairs for BroadBand Office, Inc. In August 2001, she became an entrepreneur, operating a retail shop and ecommerce website for five years. She is proud to be the first Asian American to serve as a Commissioner of the FCC and the CPUC. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law.

 

Hon. Ronald V. Dellums

Mayor, Oakland, CA

An Oakland native, Ron Dellums grew up on Wood St in West Oakland, attended Oakland schools and graduated from Oakland Tech, Merritt College (AA), SF State (BA), and UC Berkeley (MSW). Ron served two years active duty in the United States Marine Corps,

Following graduate school, Ron worked as a psychiatric social worker for the California Department of Mental Hygiene. He then directed various programs in Bayview/Hunters Point before becoming Director of the Hunters Point Youth Opportunity Center. Subsequently, he was Director of employment programs for the SF Poverty program and then Senior Consultant on manpower programs for Social Dynamics Inc, a leading Bay Area consulting firm.

In 1967, he was elected to the Berkeley City Council and in 1970 to the US House of Representatives. He represented Oakland, Berkeley, and surrounding areas, in the Congress for 28 years, rising to become Chair of the House DC Committee and then Chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

Initially elected in opposition to the Vietnam War, Ron became a recognized expert in military and foreign policy. He became the leading Congressional voice challenging the underlying assumptions of the military budget and brought forth annual alternative military and full U.S. (recognized by budget experts, including the Administration's budget director, as the most honest and accurate proposals under debate.)

As Chair of the DC Committee, Ron converted the committee into the only Congressional committee focused on the problems of cities. The Committee addressed issues facing many urban centers including the unfunded pension liability of city workers, affordable housing, homelessness and mental health, the problems of urban infant mortality, the negative impacts on local tax bases of public and non-profit development (hospitals, universities, etc.), and the financial inability of city governments to finance adequate and appropriate urban services for their residents.

On the Armed Services Committee, Ron used his leadership positions to question US policy and brought about the first real strategic debates on military policy in the post-Cold War world. He led successful fights to stop the misguided MX missile system, to limit the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") and B-2 bomber programs, as well as other expensive and unusable nuclear war-fighting weaponry. As important, his leadership resulted in substantially improvements in the working and living conditions of those serving in the military and their families. Despite opposition to US military policies, Ron continually fought to better the conditions of the men and women who were the instrument of these policies.

From his first days in Congress, he authored bills to withhold support from the Apartheid South African regime and it was the Dellums bill that passed the House and made divestment US national policy with Congress over-riding a Reagan presidential veto. This divestment pressure helped the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa to win the release of Nelson Mandela and his election as President of a democratic South Africa.

Ron was a leader on the environment, labor, consumer issues, and civil rights and was continually acknowledged by the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation voters, the AFL-CIO, the National Organization of Women, Public Citizen, among many others, as having a perfect voting record.

In addition to representing his district's views in the Congress, Ron was exceptionally effective in bringing home substantial federal funds for the benefit of Oakland. His achievements included: the dredging of Oakland’s harbors indispensable for maintaining the competitiveness of Oakland as a major port, while restoring wetlands; bringing jobs and anchoring downtown development with the new Federal Building and related development (despite aggressive lobbying to have it located in SF); the creation and development of the Chabot Space and Science Center; as well as monies for BART, AC Transit, health centers, HIV/AIDS programs, senior housing, and for the economic conversion of the Naval Air Station and Oakland Army Base.

Throughout his career, Ron used his office to bring parties together, to remove obstacles, to break down bureaucracies, and to get things done. When Port dredging seemed stalled, he brought the parties together and found solutions acceptable to the previously warring interests of the Port, the environmental community, labor, and the Corps of Engineers. Similarly, Ron was instrumental in resolving countless labor disputes and in working the various bureaucracies on behalf of the victims of the Oakland fire.

He is the author of several books, including a recent autobiography Lying Down With the Lions: A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power as well as Defense Sense: The Search for a Rational Military Policy.

Since leaving Congress, he has been President of an international management company and a leading spokesman on the tragedy of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout the world. He was Chair of President Clinton's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS.

Ron is married to Cynthia Dellums and has 4 children.

Brian F. Fontes, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer, National Emergency Number Association, Arlington, Virginia

Brian Fontes currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the National Emergency Number Association, a position he has held since June 2008.  As CEO, he is responsible for all aspects of the Association.  His primary objectives are to ensure that Americans have access to reliable 9-1-1 service, 9-1-1 centers have state-of the art technologies and well-trained professionals, and sufficient funding is available so that the 9-1-1 system can best serve those who call upon it as their first voice of hope.  Prior to joining the Association, Fontes was Vice President, Federal Relations for Cingular Wireless and served in that capacity after its acquisition by AT&T.  Prior to that, Fontes was Senior Vice President for Policy and Administration at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).  Before joining CTIA, Fontes served as the Senior Advisor to Commissioner James H. Quello, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and as the FCC’s Chief of Staff.  Fontes started his professional career as a Professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

In the Fall of 1995, President Clinton appointed Fontes as head of the United States Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union’s World Radio Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland, in the rank of Ambassador.  Fontes also served as Chairman of the Council of the Communication Regulatory Agency in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Fontes has served on numerous U.S. delegations.  He is currently on the Board of Directors of the 9-1-1 Institute and the Quello Center for Telecommunication Management, Policy and Law. 

Fontes received a Ph.D. in Mass Media/Telecommunications from Michigan State University’s Department of Telecommunications and a M.S./B.S. from Brigham Young University.

Simon Hakim, PhD

Professor of Economics, Temple University

Director of the Center for Competitive Government

Dr. Hakim earned a M.Sc. degree in City and Regional Planning from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in 1971. He received his M.A. degree in 1971 and PhD in 1976 in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hakim has been with Temple University since 1974, and is currently professor of economics, and the director of the Center for Competitive Government. He published over fifty scientific articles on crime and security in leading economic and criminology journals, and has edited six books, and over forty articles on security in the trade magazines of the security and insurance industries. Dr. Hakim with Professor Erwin Blackstone published in 1997 the text book on the electronic security industry Securing Home and Business: A Guide to the Electronic Security Industry, Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers, of Newton Massachusetts, 1997. In the privatization field, Dr. Hakim has edited with Drs. Bowman and Seidenstat five books and is an editor for two book series with Paeger Publishers. He has published several academic and professional articles in the field which received national and international attention.

Dr. Simon Hakim is the director of the Center for Competitive Government and professor of economics at Temple University.  He published fifteen books, over fifty academic articles in leading economic, criminology, public safety, and public policy journals and over sixty articles in professional security magazines.  His special areas are privatization of state and local services, crime and security, e-government, and evaluation of public programs. Dr. Hakim conducted funded research projects for the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, Israeli Ministries of Tourism, housing and Urban Development, Labor and Welfare, City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia International Airport, Coca Cola USA, The Commonwealth Foundation, ADT Security, the Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation and more. He graduated in 1976 from the University of Pennsylvania in Regional Science. 

Peter Hambuch

Solutions Architect, State and Local Government, Motorola

Mr. Hambuch is a Solutions Architect for Motorola's State and Local Government Division. He has been in the telecommunications industry for 22 years leveraging technologies that deliver true end-to-end solutions to the operational and business challenges within the Public Safety environment. 

His prior position was Director of Engineering for the Western Region in the U.S.  He has a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering.

Dana Hansen

Regional Sales Manager, Tyco Electronics

With over 20 years of law enforcement communications experience, Dana joined the Tyco Electronics Team in 2007. Her previous work experience includes the Lakewood Police Department, Denver Police Department and the City of Aurora, Colorado. She has instructed for the Department of Justice COPS More Interoperable Communications Program, evaluated interoperable communication plans from across the country, is Incident Command Certified and the former chair of the UASI Grant Communications Program. She holds BS degree from Regis University.

Hon. Samuel L. Jones

Mayor, Mobile, AL

Mayor Samuel L. Jones is serving his first term as Mayor of the great City of Mobile. Mayor Jones is a native of Mobile.

Before being elected as Mayor, He was a four-term commissioner from the state's second largest county. He helped pioneer the city/county partnerships evident in the construction of Metro Jail and Mobile Government Plaza.

He is a graduate of Central High School and attended Florida Junior College and Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended Alabama Interdenominational Seminary and was awarded an honorary doctorate. He spent nine years in the United States Navy during which He served as a Flight Deck Troubleshooter for A-7 aircraft aboard the USS Forrestal and as an Equal Opportunity Officer, Race Relations Education Specialist, and Community Services Coordinator. He served as executive director of Mobile Community Action, Inc., (MCA) from 1980 - 1987. As head of MCA, He supervised 240 employees and a $5 million annual budget.  He is a member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Prichard, Alabama.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

United States House of Representatives

Congresswoman Barbara Lee was first elected to represent California's ninth Congressional District in 1998, in a special election to fill the seat of retiring Congressman Ron Dellums. 

After serving on the International Relations and Financial Services Committees, in 2007 she joined the House Appropriations Committee, which controls the federal purse strings and is widely viewed as one of the most powerful committees in Congress.  On that committee, she serves on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Subcommittee, and the State Foreign Operations Subcommittee and is Vice-Chair of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.

She also serves as the Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-founder of the Out of Iraq and Out of Poverty Caucuses, a Senior Democratic Whip and is First Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), where she serves as Co-Chair of the CBC Outreach Task Force and Chair of the CBC Task Force on HIV/AIDS. 

Among her many legislative victories, Congresswoman Lee’s Darfur divestment bill was signed into law in 2008. She has been a leader in the bipartisan effort in Congress to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. She was arrested for protesting the genocide in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington in June 2006 and has traveled to the Darfur region several times.

Congresswoman Lee's accomplishments in promoting effective, bipartisan legislation to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and bring treatment to the infected have earned her international recognition as a leader in the fight against global HIV/AIDS.  Her bills to create the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, to protect AIDS orphans, and to create a $15 billion fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria were all signed into law.  She has also been a leader in the fight to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the U.S., particularly in the African American community.  In 1998, she helped declare a state of emergency in Alameda County to order to secure more funds to fight the disease, and the House has passed her resolution recognizing the goals of National Black AIDS Awareness Day every year since 2005. 

Congresswoman Lee's willingness to stand on principle earned her international acclaim when she was the only member of Congress to vote against giving President Bush a blank check to wage war after the horrific September 11th attacks.  In addition to being one of Congress' most vocal opponents to the war in Iraq, Congresswoman Lee has been a leader in promoting policies that foster international peace, security and human rights.  She successfully blocked funds from being used to establish permanent military bases in Iraq during the 109th Congress.  She sponsored legislation disavowing the doctrine of preemptive war. 

Congresswoman Lee is committed to eradicating poverty, fostering opportunity and protecting the most vulnerable in our society.  In the wake of hurricane Katrina, she authored the poverty section of the Congressional Black Caucus’ Gulf Coast reconstruction legislation and introduced a package of bills designed to make poverty eradication a priority for Congress. 

California's ninth Congressional District encompasses most of Alameda County, including the Cities of Albany, Ashland, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Emeryville, Fairview, Oakland and Piedmont. 

Born in El Paso Texas, Congresswoman Lee graduated from Mills College in Oakland and received her MSW from the University of California in Berkeley.  She began her political career as an intern in the office of her predecessor, then-Congressman Ron Dellums, current Mayor of Oakland, where she eventually became his Chief of Staff.  Before being elected to Congress, she served in the California State Assembly from 1990-1996 and in the California State Senate from 1996-1998.

Lewis Loeven 

President, Loeven and Associates, LLC.

Lewis Loeven is the founder of Loeven and Associates, LLC, a San Francisco based consulting firm formed to work with government officials, academic institutions and concerned corporations to create policies which promote the use of telecommunications and information technology in the interest of public and homeland security and safety.

Mr. Loeven served in the administrations of San Francisco Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom  as  Chief Information Officer and Executive Director of the City and County  of San Francisco's Department of Telecommunications and Information Services. There he was responsible for providing telecommunications and information technology services to city departments as well as guiding that city's  technology and cable television franchise policies.

Mr. Loeven began his career in telecommunications in 1985, as a project manager at the law firm of Lukas, McGowan, Nace and Gutierrez. There he was involved with FCC and other regulatory matters, including coordinating the licensing of cellular telephone systems throughout the country. While in Washington, D.C., he also worked as a research analyst and adviser at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, concentrating on regulatory and legislative activities.

From 1989 began his work at Cellular One (later AT&T Wireless Services) as Director of Systems Development, overseeing the deployment of Cellular One's Northern California wireless telecommunications infrastructure as well as managing the company's political and external affairs. While at Cellular One, he lead that company's response to the Loma Prieta Earthquake and the Mount Vision Firestorm at Point Reyes, California, providing communications and power services to first responders and government officials. In 1991 he was dispatched to South Korea to advise on the development of a nationwide cellular telephone system. Following the sale of Cellular One to AT&T, Mr. Loeven took on the role of National Director for Implementation Strategies for Wireless Network Services.

Mr. Loeven attended George Washington University's School of Public and International Affairs and has presented to foreign dignitaries on a variety of technology policy issues.

Hon. John Marks 

Mayor, Tallahassee, FL

John Marks, Mayor of the City of Tallahassee, is the Managing Partner of the Tallahassee Office of Adorno & Yoss. Prior to his association with Adorno & Yoss he was a shareholder and lead utility regulatory attorney for ten (10) years in the law firm of Katz, Kutter, et al., P.A. and thereafter for six (6) years with Knowles, Marks & Randolph, P.A. Appointed by Governor Bob Graham in 1979, he served eight (8) years on the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC); the last two as its Chairman. Before serving on the FPSC, he was employed as an Administrative Law Judge with the Commission. He has been an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law teaching utility regulatory law and a faculty member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' utility rate school.

He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida. A member of the American, National, Florida and Tallahassee Bar and the Tallahassee Barristers Associations, he is also a member of the American Law Institute, the ABA's Public Utilities Law Section and the Florida Bar's Local Government and Administrative Law Sections. He is past chairman of the Florida Bar's Public Utilities Law and the Equal Opportunities in the Profession Committees.

Apart from his professional affiliations, Mr. Marks was elected (February 25, 2003) to a four year term as Mayor of the City of Tallahassee and is on the Board of Directors of Fringe Benefits Management Company, a privately held financial services company. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida League of Cities, the Tallahassee Economic Development Council, the Tallahassee/Leon County Civic Center Authority, the Sunshine State Governmental Financing Commission, and the Economic Club of Florida. As a member of the U.S. Conference of Mayors he serves on the Energy and Arts & Culture Committees. He is a graduate of Class XX of Leadership Florida and was a political analyst/co-host on the local television show "The Usual Suspects". He has a life membership in the NAACP and has served on the Board of Directors of the Tallahassee Urban League.

He received his B.S. degree in 1969 from the Florida State University School of Business and his Juris Doctor degree in 1972 from the FSU College of Law. Mr. Marks served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a Judge Advocate. He is married to Jane Awkard Marks and has one son, John, IV, a graduate of Harvard University and the Columbia University Law School.

Greg Meffert

CEO-Logistix and Former CIO New Orleans, LA

Mr. Meffert founded and served concurrently as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for ITS and NetEx / Certia. The company currently provides encryption technology for large online transaction companies including JPMorgan / Chase Manhattan Bank, Ebay, Fannie Mae, and others. Mr. Meffert’s company also supplies encryption technology for the U.S. Army and related Department of Homeland Security initiatives.  The company Mr. Meffert founded was sold to Computer Associations for just under $50M, and Mr. Meffert left to join on the first day of Mayor C. Ray Nagin's administration.

Over a span of over 5 years, as the first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in the City of New Orleans' history, Mr. Meffert’s responsibilities included improving technology, reviewing department business practices and ridding inefficiencies within the departments of the City of New Orleans. Mr. Meffert was shortly elevated to a Deputy Mayor level and directly oversaw and managed closely a 1000+ personnel in various departments including Management Information Systems, Mayor’s Office of Technology, Safety and Permits, City Planning Commissions, Taxis and Ground Transportation.

Mr. Meffert has been awarded multiple patents in the area of Internet services and security technology. Mr. Meffert has also been cited and profiled repeatedly in hundreds of books, periodicals, newspapers, and magazines including CNN, USAToday (cover), Wall Street Journal (cover), Public CIO Magazine (cover), NY Times (cover), Network World (cover), LA Times, Boston Globe, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, MSNBC, Primetime Live, among many others.

David B. Mitchell

Secretary, Safety and Homeland Security, State of Delaware

The law enforcement career of Secretary David B. Mitchell spans more than three decades.  He began his career in 1971 as a Police Officer in Prince George’s County MD.  He worked his way through the ranks to be appointed Chief of Police in 1990.  For the next five years he led the 38th largest police department in the nation that served a population of over 700,000 people.  In 1995 Governor Parris Glendening appointed Secretary Mitchell to his Cabinet as the Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.  As Superintendent he led the seventh largest state police department in the nation for eight years, serving a population of over five million residents. 

Secretary Mitchell graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Technology and Management from the University of Maryland.  He also earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland School of Law.  He is licensed to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Secretary Mitchell was appointed as Secretary, Safety and Homeland Security by Governor Ruth Ann Minner on May 12, 2004.  He was confirmed by the Senate on June 2, 2004.  Secretary Mitchell and his wife Cece have three children. 

Major General James M. (‘Mike’) Myatt 

United States Marine Corps (Ret)

Major General Myatt retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in 1995 to work for Bechtel Corporation.  In September 2001, General Myatt was selected to be President and CEO of the Marines’ Memorial Association.  He assumed that posting on 10 September, 2001.

General Myatt was born in San Francisco, California.  He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1960 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in May 1963, after graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Early in his Marine Corps career, General Myatt served in various command and staff positions in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade and in both the 2nd and 3rd Marine Divisions.  He served two combat tours (30 months) in the Republic of Vietnam. 

On 8 August 1990, General Myatt was assigned as the Commanding General, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California.  A few days later, in mid-August, and in reaction to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, he deployed his Division of 22,000 Marines to Saudi Arabia as part of  I Marine Expeditionary Force for Operation Desert Shield.  During the 4-day ground war in February 1991, his Division defeated seven Iraqi Army divisions in zone, seized Kuwait International Airport and liberated Kuwait City.

He returned the 1st Marine Division to Southern California in April 1991. General Myatt remained in command of the Division until July 8, 1992, when he was transferred to Seoul, Korea to serve as the C/J-5 (Strategy, Plans and Negotiations) for the Combined Forces Command/U.S. Forces Korea.  On 1 September 1994, General Myatt returned to the United States and was assigned to the Pentagon as the Director of Expeditionary warfare, serving in that billet until his retirement in the summer of  1995.

General Myatt’s academic background includes studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California where he earned a Masters of Science Degree in Engineering Electronics. He attended the Command and Staff College of the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, graduating with distinction.  In1980, he was assigned to the Norwegian National Defense College as the first Marine Officer to attend the 12-month top-level school in Oslo, Norway. 

His personal medals and decorations include: two Distinguished Service Medals; the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action; the Defense Superior Service Medal with Gold Star; the Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V” for heroism, and the Republic of Korea Distinguished Service Medal and the Vietnamese Honor Medal, 1st Class.

Hon. Ray Nagin

Mayor, New Orleans, LA

Mayor Nagin's progressive policies resolved to erase the image of New Orleans as place where graft is part of the old world charm. He launched several high profile investigations that resulted in a paradigm shift that unleashed unprecedented economic development in his first term. Mayor Nagin built his administration using progressive, business oriented individuals who are making a difference for New Orleans. They immediately eliminated back to back budget deficits, launched a new city web site that currently ranks as the nations best, streamlined bureaucratic processes, making City government a viable and accessible force in local life.

With economic development and equity at the crux of his policies, Mayor Nagin set out to jumpstart the local economy, attract new businesses, retain jobs and stamp out poverty in New Orleans. Mayor Nagin's team committed to building capacity for local companies and attracting joint venture partners from outside the City. Creative tax incentive packages, one on one business support teams, streamlined permitting, and employee training assistance led to billions of dollars of construction related activity and job growth for the first time in many years. He also re-launched and overhauled the Disadvantage Business Enterprise program to give local companies equal footing and significant opportunities for growth. "The world is seeing us with different eyes these days," says Mayor Nagin. "We are no longer considered just a great place to party. People are starting to realize New Orleans is a great place to do business."

Under Mayor Nagin's Leadership, Hollywood South was created and New Orleans became the second city behind Hollywood for film production, bringing in nearly a half billion dollars in the last few years. During Mayor Nagin's first term, New Orleans enjoyed billions in construction activity, a red hot real estate market, and boom in large scale real estate commitments such as the highly anticipated Trump Tower, a 68 story five-star condo/hotel.

Mayor Nagin also developed a multi- million dollar housing plan to help City employees, single mothers, and low and moderate income citizens become homeowners. The city pioneered with HUD an innovative program where first time homebuyers could utilize Section 8 certificate that qualified as mortgage payments. These tactics were so successful that 37,000 people were removed from the poverty rolls during the first three years of Mayor Nagin's first term in office.

In August 2005, Mayor Nagin ordered the first ever mandatory evacuation hours before Hurricane Katrina, a powerful category five storm that directly hit New Orleans. He led and managed the largest mass evacuation and largest natural disaster in the nation's history. In the aftermath of Katrina and again after Hurricane Rita, Mayor Nagin answered the call of duty to save the future of New Orleans by successfully lobbying Congress and President George W. Bush, securing $6 Billion in federal dollars to rebuild and improve the city's levee protection system. Mayor Nagin also worked to secure $10.4 Billion in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) dedicated to the region for housing and infrastructure development. He was also instrumental in securing $8.8 Billion in tax incentives, credits, and relief through the GO Zone legislation.

Within 30 days of the disaster, Mayor Nagin developed the Bring New Orleans Back Commission to develop a master plan for rebuilding and repopulating New Orleans. Each committee within the commission was tasked with formulating and designing ways to improve infrastructure and economic development, urban and city planning, education, healthcare, government effectiveness, culture and tourism. After months of widespread community input and deliberations the commission issued a final report that has provided a blueprint for bringing our great city back. That report is today being supplemented by individual neighborhood planning through the joint effort of the Commission, Louisiana Recovery Authority and the New Orleans City Council. The City is well on its way to full recovery and has beaten all the experts re-population projections by more than 100,000 residents.

The political environment in post Katrina New Orleans had citizens dispersed to 44 different states. In 2006 Mayor Nagin ran a successful local race that had a state wide and national scope that defied the odds by garnering diverse citizen support from republican and democratic voters to win re-election to a second term to lead one of America’s greatest cities.  

Prior to holding public office, Mayor Nagin transformed Cox Communications' local operations from one of its poorest performing markets, to one of its most profitable assets. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Tuskegee University and a Masters of Business Administration from Tulane University. He is married to Seletha Smith Nagin. They have three children, Jeremy, Jarin and Tianna, and live near Bayou St. John in New Orleans.

Hon. Gavin Newsom

Mayor, San Francisco, CA

Gavin Newsom, 41, is the youngest San Francisco mayor in over a century. Newsom, the son of William and Tessa Newsom, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a B.A. in political science.

After college, Newsom sold orthotics and worked as an assistant at a real estate firm. In 1991, Newsom recruited investors and founded PlumpJack, a wine shop, which he grew into a thriving enterprise of 15 businesses including wineries, restaurants, and hotels.

In 1996, Newsom was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to the city’s parking and traffic commission. Soon he was elected president of the commission. In 1997, Brown appointed him to the city’s board of supervisors. Voters elected Newsom to the board in 1998 and re-elected him in 2000 and 2002.

As a supervisor, Newsom focused on combating homelessness. His initiative, Care Not Cash, provided homeless individuals services instead of welfare. Although the city’s political establishment opposed Care Not Cash, the voters approved it in November, 2002. One year later, after a fiercely-contested race, Newsom was elected mayor.

After only 36 days as mayor, Newsom gained worldwide attention when he granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This bold move set the tone for Newsom’s first term. Under his energetic leadership, the economy grew and jobs were created. The city became a center for biotech and clean tech. He initiated a plan to bring universal health care to all of the city’s uninsured residents. And Newsom aggressively pursued local solutions to global climate change.

In 2007, Newsom was re-elected with over 73% of the vote. Since then he has built upon the successes of his first term, launching new environmental initiatives and a comprehensive strategy to transform one of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods into a life sciences, digital media, and clean tech center.

Newsom’s commitment to combating homelessness has never waned. As mayor, he has moved 7,000 homeless individuals off the street, and his volunteer initiative, Project Homeless Connect – now imitated in over 130 cities – has attracted over 20,000 San Franciscans who give their time to help the homeless.

Newsom is married to Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Sotiris Pagdadis

Managing Director, Managing Director Transportation Infrastructure Practice, McKenna Long and Aldridge

New York, Washington DC

Dr. Sotiris Pagdadis comes to McKenna Long and Aldridge with over 20 years of consultative experience in public sector infrastructure management.

He brings with him considerable expertise in the areas of airport and seaport privatization, public private partnerships, transportation infrastructure assessment, project finance, project lifecycle management, as well as transportation technology assessment primarily in the areas of command and control, airport and seaport security.

Prior to joining McKenna Long and Aldridge, Sotiris advised numerous government agencies and private sector clients throughout North America, Mexico, Spain, France, the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, China and Malaysia. In the 1990’s he created a novel risk-based management review and project appraisal methodology. Coining this methodology Integrated Project Risk Managementä, he has facilitated risk management, and value management workshops in technology assessment, infrastructure planning, and privatization.

Sotiris began his career as an aerospace engineer and then went on to become a university professor at the Polytechnic University, followed by advisory roles at Columbia University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

He also served as president of the Lambousa Infrastructures Group where he ran a risk management practice in public sector infrastructure planning, international finance, and privatization. Sotiris was awarded The Order of Alec for outstanding leadership from The University of Texas at Austin in 1984. He is extensively published and regularly appears as a guest speaker at conferences.

Laura Phillips

General Manager, Bay Area  Super Urban Area Security Initiative (SUASI) Program

Laura Phillips has been appointed by the Bay Area SUASI Approval Authority as General Manager of the Bay Area SUASI Program. As General Manager, Ms. Phillips is responsible for the implementation of Approval Authority policies and goals; determines and develops operational activities including directing the administration and management of all projects; evaluates administrative reports and related documents; and prepares and administers the grants and associated budgetary functions, including analysis and justification to the Approval Authority.  She is also responsible for grant compliance activities.  She briefs the Approval Authority on special matters and events; liaisons and coordinates with other entities toward project completion; defines and manages the Approval Authority outreach efforts related to public information to accomplish the mission and purpose; and confers with legal counsel, securing legal assistance as needed.

 
Ms. Phillips has almost thirty years of experience in Public Safety and served as Director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management prior to her selection as General Manager of the SUASI Program. She was the Technical Services Manager for the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety for ten years, and has an additional 17 years of combined experience with the City of San Jose and Santa Clara County. Ms. Phillips formerly served as Project Co-Director for the Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Project and as Chair of its Technical Subcommittee for Radio Interoperability. She has served in leadership roles for various professional organizations, such as the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), the Computerized CLETS Users Group (CCUG), and others.

 

Henry Renteria

Director, Governor's Office of Emergency Services, California
In May 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Henry Renteria the Director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES).

Mr. Renteria began his career in emergency management in 1984 after a successful career in social services in Texas, where he was a trainer for the Crisis Hotline of Houston and spent 10 years as the Executive Director for Crisis Intervention of Houston.  After relocating to California and briefly working as the Emergency Services Coordinator for Contra Costa County, Renteria became the first director of the Oakland Office of Emergency Services in 1985. In this role, he participated in the Bay Area Regional Earthquake Preparedness Project.  Following the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, Renteria traveled to the region to conduct research in order to help prepare the Bay Area for a similar disaster. As a result of his research, the Oakland Office of Emergency Services expanded; adding additional emergency services coordinators and further developing its preparedness plans.

Under Mr. Renteria’s leadership, the Oakland  Office of Emergency Services responded to numerous federally declared disasters that hit the region including the winter storms of 1986-87, the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, the freeze in 1990, the Oakland Fire Storm in 1991 and flooding in 1996, 1998 and 1999.

During his tenure in Oakland, Mr. Renteria helped design and implement the original Emergency Managers Mutual Aid Program deployed for use following the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and was involved in the original design and implementation of the Standardized Emergency Management System  (SEMS). He was also responsible for citywide disaster planning, response, recovery, and mitigation programs and management of the homeland security and hazardous material regulatory programs.

In 1995, on the one-year anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake while Mr. Renteria was attending an earthquake conference in Kobe, Japan, a powerful temblor hit. The quake devastated much of the city, killing nearly 6,000 people. Mr. Renteria and those in his delegation were  unharmed and remained in Kobe for 10 days, advising the Japanese government and further gathering information on earthquake preparedness and response.

Since his appointment as OES Director, Mr. Renteria has directed response and recovery operations to 35 emergencies, including seven presidentially-declared disasters. The disasters included the 2007 Southern California Fires and the Angora Fire in Lake Tahoe, the 2007 Severe Freeze, numerous winter storm emergencies in 2005 and 2006, and the 2004 Jones Tract Levee break in San Joaquin County. Additionally, Mr. Renteria has sought and received FEMA Fire Management Assistance Grants for 50 California wildfires.

Under Renteria’s leadership, OES launched the State’s first-ever Public/Private Partnership Initiative to support emergency planning, response and recovery operations. Mr. Renteria also oversaw the State’s integration of its landmark SEMS system into the National Incident Management System, serves as Chair of Governor  Schwarzenegger’s Governor’s Emergency Operations Executive Council, and represents the Governor as Chair of the State Emergency Council.

Mr. Renteria is a member of the National Emergency Management Association. He is past president of the California Emergency Services Association, a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers and on the board of directors of the American Red Cross.

 

Hon. Graham Richard

Mayor, Fort Wayne, Indiana

Graham Richard concluded his second term as mayor of Fort Wayne (Indiana’s 2nd largest city) on January 1, 2008.

Richard helped lead the city to national recognition for high performance city services. Results included: lowest crime rate in over 25 years, saving taxpayers more than $25 million using business practices including Lean Six Sigma, record breaking investments in downtown development, neighborhoods, and infrastructure while keeping property tax rates at one of the lowest levels since the 1960’s.  Potholes are filled in less than 4 hours instead of 4 days, permitting time has been slashed from 48 days to less than 10.  The city has been awarded the #1 Fleet Operation and Best Public Works and Utilities Department in the country.

Richard was selected Government Leader of the year for 2007 by the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce.  National awards for his technology leadership include recognition by Government Technology magazine as one of the top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers, the Fiber-to-the-Home Council’s 2005 Star Award, the Public Technology Institute’s 2006 Tech Leader Award and the 2006 KillerApp Trailblazer Award. Mayor Richard recently completed his first book, Performance is the Best Politics, which features the story of Fort Wayne’s transformation to high performance government. Mayor Richard has been asked to make many keynote presentations to share his experience as a mayor, business owner and entrepreneur.

He served as an Indiana State Senator and he is a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Patti Ringo

Director of Municipal Relations, West Region ,ExteNet Systems, Inc.

Patti Ringo is the director of municipal relations, west region.  ExteNet Systems designs, builds and operates distributed antenna system (DAS) networks for wireless service providers.  Patti is widely acknowledged as an expert in managing municipal relationships and development functions for DAS network builds. Patti's success at developing and maintaining carrier business and has a thorough understanding of DAS, community relations and the wireless industry throughout the western United States.  

Prior to joining ExteNet Systems, Patti worked for PB Telecom, an integrated services firm serving the wireless telecommunications industry, where she was director of business development.  Ringo was planning manager for BMS Communications, where she managed the company's DAS projects.  Before that, she served as a project manager for Crown Castle Solutions' DAS division.  She began her nearly 15-year career in the wireless industry with Verizon Wireless, where she honed her project management expertise. 

Patti Ringo is a regional leader with the Wireless Women’s Leadership Forum and serves on several industry boards including the California State Wireless Association.  She attended California State University, Fresno.

 

Hon. Julio Robaina

Mayor, Hialeah, Florida

Mayor Julio Robaina has a vision for Hialeah, and the strength, as well as commitment to achieve it. As an active real estate and mortgage broker for over 20 years and president of the Northwestern Dade Association of Realtors, he has managed to be successful without ever losing focus or his passion for the community as a public servant.

In 1997, Mayor Robaina was elected Councilman for the City of Hialeah for a four year term. Subsequently, he was unanimously elected President of the Council by his peers in 2000. During his term as Councilman, he was named Chairman of the City of Hialeah Charter Review Board and served as the Council’s Representative on the City of Hialeah Elected Officials Retirement Board. As a result of his deep commitment to his people and love for the City of Hialeah, he was re-elected without opposition in 2001 for another four year term. After thirty years of residing in Hialeah, Julio Robaina was elected Mayor of the City of Hialeah with overwhelming support from the community in 2005.

Mayor Robaina’s community based focus stretches from a local to a regional scope in an effort to improve the lives of all Floridians. Moreover, his leadership continued to flourish in 2003 when he was elected President of the Miami-Dade League of Cities and in 2004 as President of the Gold Coast League of Cities. His highest honor as a municipal leader was attained in 2005 when elected officials from over 400 municipalities across the state of Florida unanimously confirmed their support for his presidency of the Florida League of Cities, an organization that is recognized as one of the largest municipal leagues in the nation. Through the Florida League of Cities, Mayor Robaina accomplished numerous achievements through his involvement in several boards within the league.  For instance, he serves as Chair of the Florida Municipal Investment Trust, International Relations Committee, and Nominating Committee consisting of seven largest cities in the state of Florida to share ideas on how to improve their respective cities.  Recently, he also had the honor of being appointed by the current President of the Florida League of Cities, Mayor Frank Ortis, as “President’s Appointee” to the Florida Municipal Investment Trust.

In 2005, he was appointed to the State of Florida Century Commission by former Florida House of Representatives Speaker, Allan Bense to review and establish a sustainable growth pattern for the State of Florida.  Additionally, Mayor Robaina is a graduate of the Leadership Florida Class XXV.

During his first few months in office, Mayor Robaina fulfilled numerous aspirations. He secured more than $6.025 million in state funding, the highest ever appropriated in the state budget to the City of Hialeah. He placed himself at the forefront of educational programming by establishing the Mayor’s Education Advisory Board. Additionally, he successfully led the effort along with the Florida Legislature and the Florida Board of Education to obtain the authority to grant Municipal School Charters. Also, he initiated the Partnership to Advance School Success program (PASS), the after school tutoring program “Tutoring in the Parks”, and Reading Corners at various Hialeah recreational facilities in order to instill academic values for life long educational success. 

Mayor Robaina has been leading the south Florida movement of Generation Engage, a local civic-engagement which recently hosted an interactive iChat video conference with former Secretary of the State, Colin Powell at a local college.  Mayor Robaina took the opportunity to address participants on the significance of becoming more involved with our community.  Furthermore, he created the City of Hialeah Scholarship Fund for students who choose to continue their education in a post-secondary school. 

Mayor Robaina is diligently integrating the community’s elderly population by expanding existing adult and special populations programs, as well as amenities and building new facilities throughout Hialeah.

Mayor Robaina, as a member of the Board of Directors of Hands in Action (Manos en Accion, Inc.), an organization that focuses on helping to break the horrific cycle of child abuse, is diligently working  and committed to assist this community-based organization succeed in reaching their goals.  Additionally, Mayor Robaina is an actively involved executive member of the Hialeah Hospital Governing Board.

His enthusiasm and support for the arts is also evident as he implemented several new cultural initiatives. Mayor Robaina inaugurated the city’s first art in public spaces sculpture “The Beat” and he collaborated with Perez Celis, a renowned artist to create a masterpiece painting on the façade of a four story building.  Additionally, he hosted “Art on Palm,” an event that exposed thousands to culturally enriching art exhibits. 

While revitalizing and encouraging new business development and growth potential in the area, Mayor Robaina is working closely with the Beacon Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and Hialeah-Dade Development on various new projects including the development of the new annexation area and the reconstruction of Hialeah’s in-fill areas.  Furthermore, Mayor Robaina is an acting board member of the Beacon Council where the Mayor engages in discussions of economic development for the purpose of attracting new businesses to our community.

On November 2nd, 2007, Mayor Robaina had the honor of being named “Public Official of the Year” by the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recognized as one of the largest Hispanic Chambers in the State of Florida.

As Mayor Julio Robaina heads into the future, he remains steadfast in his commitment to the people of Hialeah and will continue to build on the foundation that his dedication has established over the first part of his term.

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez

United States House of Representatives

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez represents the California 47th Congressional District of California, which encompasses the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and some of Fullerton in Orange County. She began her congressional career in November 1996, and is serving her sixth term in the House of Representatives. 

Loretta is known for two things: accessibility and collaboration. Those traits have served her well, both in Washington and in Orange County. 

She travels to her home district from Washington each week to do work in the community and meet with constituents. Loretta has focused much of her time on issues such as education, public safety & crime reduction, economic development, and protections for our senior citizens.  Born and raised in the district she serves, she is acutely aware of the issues facing her constituency. 

Since entering Congress in 1996, Loretta Sanchez has brought millions of dollars in federal funding back home to Orange County for local projects including: transportation improvements, crime prevention, community centers, flood prevention, environmental preservation and much more. She has worked hard to improve the infrastructure and quality of life for this fast-growing suburban county through various transportation, education, environmental, and crime reduction projects. 

She has hosted hundreds of community events for her constituency.  She has personally visited every school in her district, often with dignitaries such as former Vice President Al Gore, cabinet secretaries, astronauts and other Members of Congress.  She regularly hosts "Community Office Hours," a grassroots approach to generating community interest in and accessibility to their Congressional representative.  

Loretta is a businesswoman.  Prior to her work in Congress, she was a financial manager at the Orange County Transportation Authority.  She was an assistant vice president at Fieldman Rollap and Associates, specializing in advising clients of the firm in the area of municipal finance—a skill that serves her well in her role as Congresswoman.  Loretta was an associate at Booz, Allen and Hamilton, putting financial plans together for municipalities as well as private companies.  She eventually started her own consulting business in Santa Ana, assisting public agencies and private firms with financial matters, including cost-benefit analysis, strategic planning and capital acquisition.  She received industry recognition when the State of California selected her to independently review the financial status of Orange County's first toll road to save about $300 million in financing costs.

Loretta attended Chapman University, in Orange, California, where she was selected in January 2002 to serve as the university’s first Latina member of the Board of Trustees. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics in 1982 (voted "Business Student of the Year"), and then entered American University in Washington, D.C. to obtain her master’s in business administration with an emphasis on finance, which she received in 1984.   During the second year of her MBA program at American, Loretta spent a year in Rome, Italy, attending European Community's Market Management School. 

Congresswoman Sanchez is the ranking woman of the House Armed Services Committee and sits on the Oversight and Investigations, Readiness, and Military Personnel Subcommittees. She has fought for pay raises, improved healthcare and a myriad of benefits for military families including: educational benefits; quality child care; military housing and support services.  

Her seat on this panel helps bring jobs to Orange County's growing high-tech industrial base.  Loretta was instrumental in requiring the Department of Defense to include the City of Palmdale, California when it investigates cost alternatives for Joint Strike Fighter production. She has served on the Terrorism Panel of this Committee, where she joined other Members to investigate intelligence progress and terrorist threats to the United States.

Congresswoman Sanchez was selected by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve as Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism were she works to improve the nation’s homeland security policy by strengthening and allocating federal funding to protect against potential terrorist plots. The Committee provides oversight to the Department of Homeland Security to assure it is working effectively and quickly. The Committee has legislative jurisdiction over matters relating to the Homeland Security Act and plays a central role in fighting the war on terrorism. 

While serving on the Homeland Security Committee, Congresswoman Sanchez took a leave of absence from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which oversees education and labor issues.  During her tenure on the Committee, she has protected parental involvement initiatives and successfully saved national gender equity in education program.  She spearheaded efforts to promote school safety, including the well-being of children walking and bicycling to and from local schools in Orange County.  She is also the author of legislation to facilitate tax-free bonds to encourage school construction across the country. 

Congresswoman Sanchez is a member of the Blue Dog Democrats, the New Democratic Coalition, and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.  She also is a member of the Women's Congressional Caucus, the Older Americans Caucus, the Law Enforcement Caucus, and the Congressional Sportsman's Caucus.  She serves on various boards.  She is past president of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, a member of the Los Amigos of Orange County, the Rotary Club of Anaheim, and the Anaheim Assistance League.

Joseph Sanders

Chief Information Officer, Memphis, TN

Joe Sanders has over 25 years of experience in the Information Technology field.  Joe is currently the CIO for the City of Memphis and has been with the City since Nov. 2007.  In this position Joe is responsible for all technology initiatives for all divisions within the City. Before joining the City of Memphis Joe was with First Horizon/1st Tennessee Bank for over nine years in which he held several key management positions. Joe started with them in 1998 as Senior Vice President over the Operations area for the Mortgage Division in Dallas, TX where he managed over 150 people throughout the U.S. He moved to Memphis in 2002 to become the CIO over their Capital Markets Division. His last position before joining the City of Memphis was Executive Vice President of Infrastructure Services for First Horizon National Corporation the parent company of 1st Tennessee Bank. 

Joe has worked for the U.S. Dept of Treasury, Sprint, Southwestern Bell, First USA Bank (Now J.P. Morgan Chase), American Airlines, and U.S. Dept of Justice where he received an award from U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese for superior service during the 1984 Summer Olympics. 

Joe attended Ark. State University where he majored in Business Data Processing.

Randy R. Smith

U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)

Mr. Randy R. Smith is a GS-15 and heads the Mission Assurance Branch of the Marine Corps’ Security Division within the Plans, Policy and Operations Department of Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps.

A retired Marine Officer with 26 years on active service, he has served in a variety of command and staff and security and law enforcement positions throughout his career.

These have included numerous tours throughout the United States and overseas, a deployment to the Persian Gulf during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, a tour as the Head of Security for the President’s Helicopter Squadron (HMX-1) and attendance at both the FBI’s National Academy (159th) and their Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar. After graduating with a Masters Degree from the Naval War College, Mr. Smith reported to HQMC where he held the position as the Marine Corps’ Senior Law Enforcement Officer, and was also responsible for the Marine Corps’ Antiterrorism programs.  Post Sept 11th he was tasked with the requirement to establish a new Critical Infrastructure Protection program, and subsequently incorporated those existing programs, along with a new CBRNE/First Responder Program and an existing Physical and Electronic Security program, into the current Mission Assurance Branch.

In addition to meeting the existing requirements for protecting Marines and their families on our installations - along with their mission critical assets - his Branch is currently developing an enterprise solution to installation access control issues, pandemic influenza response plans for Marine Corps Bases and Installations throughout the world, and is charged with policy and program management for the Marines’ biometrics and forensics programs.

Torri Bennke-Spiegelhalter

AT&T Government, Education & Medical Homeland Security, Director

Spiegelhalter is responsible for AT&T’s Government Advocate team and Homeland Security Director for 22 states. Torri assists state and local agencies with day-to-day operational needs, and matters related to homeland security and public safety.

An industry veteran, Spiegelhalter has worked in the telecommunications field for over a decade. Prior to joining the AT&T Government, Education & Medical organization, she was the video communications specialist for AT&T’s federal organization.

Torri has a background in tactical and emergency response communications, continuity of operations planning, video surveillance and emergency operations center design and support. She has worked with numerous state, local and DOD agencies, the FBI, Secret Service, NASA, Treasury Department, GSA and the department of Homeland Security.

Spiegelhalter supports federal, state and local, public safety and homeland security related exercises including: 2003 Federal Reserve System Disaster Recovery Exercise – Philadelphia, PA; 2003 Ft. Hood Iraq Mission Readiness Exercise – Killeen, TX; 2004 Spill Of National Significance  (SONS) Exercise – San Diego, CA; 2005 FEMA National Operations Center – Washington, DC; 2007 State of Missouri Earthquake Response Exercise – Jefferson City, MO.

In 2006 Torri created AT&T’s Safe Schools Working Group to address targeted school violence and improving school safety. Spiegelhalter has law enforcement sensitive clearance and provides ongoing education and training to state and local first responders through a variety of public speaking engagements and volunteer activities.

Torri’s dedication to homeland security is demonstrated by her commitment to public – private partnerships. She is a member of InfraGard Chapter of Kansas City; State of Kansas Homeland Security Working Group; and State of Kansas Business Industry Committee.

Torri is also the telecommunications industry co-chair for the State of Missouri’s Public Private Partnership to establish homeland security partnerships within the public and private sector.

AT&T is proud to offer one of the world’s most advanced and powerful global backbone networks, carrying 16.0 petabytes of data traffic on an average business day to nearly every continent and country, with up to 99.999 percent reliability.  

Dana Taylor

Director, National Operations Planning, Engineering and Operations, T-Mobile

Dana Taylor is Director of National Operations Planning at T-Mobile responsible for nationwide network disaster recovery and business continuity.  Prior to assuming his current role, Dana was responsible for T-Mobile’s national network operations centers where he oversaw the company’s engineering response to a wide variety of events, including Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.

Dana earned his bachelors degree and masters of business administration from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1994 and 2003 respectively.

After completing his undergraduate studies, Dana began his career in the telecommunications industry as a design engineer with U S WEST Communications, Inc.  While at U S WEST (which merged with Qwest in 2000), Dana rose through the ranks and held a variety of director level leadership roles in the company’s Operations and Engineering department where he helped lead departmental responses to the Seattle WTO riots and the largest earthquake to strike the Pacific Northwest in 30 years.. 

An accomplished operational leader with a full understanding of network disaster recovery and business continuity, Dana resides in Redmond, Washington with his wife, May.

Thomas Patrick "Pat" Thetford

Regional Vice President, AT&T Public Safety Solutions

Mr. Thetford is the Regional Vice President AT&T Public Safety Solutions, Responsible for the Sales Activity of AT&T’s National Public Safety Solutions organization. He also represents AT&T in the following organizations: SBC Chairperson, 2003 Kansas City United Way Campaign; Member, National Emergency Number Association (NENA).  He is a member of theAssociation of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) June 2002-Present and the AT&T Representative in each of the State Public Safety Chapter Organizations. Since 2004, he served as the Vice Chairman of Kansas 9-1-1 Advisory Board.  Pat is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime.

Hon. Bob Whalen

Mayor, Clovis, CA

Bob Whalen is a fourth generation Clovis resident.  He was first elected to the Clovis City Council in March of 2003.  He believes firmly that the community’s rich heritage of quality schools, responsive public safety and a strong sense of community forms a foundation from which a knowledge-based revenue producing economy can develop. 

In 2007, Mayor Whalen was recognized as Clovis’ Citizen of the Year for his efforts with TC3 – a citizen-driven economic development committee whose vision is to make the City of Clovis and the surrounding region a Technopolis.  As a member of TC3, he co-authored a paper presented at the annual International Association of Science Parks Conference in Barcelona, Spain, discussing the unique nature of Clovis’ approach to encouraging economic growth.

Mr. Whalen has a B.S. in Finance from California State University, Fresno, and a Juris Doctorate from Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA.   While at CSU, Fresno, Bob Whalen was selected as the Student Body President.  In addition, he was selected by the other Student Body Presidents in the CSU System to serve as the Chairman for the California State Student Association.

Before he became an attorney, Mr. Whalen worked six years as an Investment Executive with PaineWebber. 

In addition to being the Mayor of Clovis, Mr. Whalen is in his 10th year as a prosecutor for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. He has been married to Nancy for 16 years and they have two lovely daughters: Octavia and Jackie Mae.  

Xavier D. Williams

Senior Vice President, GEM Client Group, AT&T Operations, Inc.

Xavier Williams, Senior Vice President- GEM (Government, Education and Medical) Client Group, is responsible for all State and Local Government, Education and Medical sales as well as the technical resources for Customer Premise Equipment within AT&T’s traditional 22 state footprint. He was appointed to his current position in March 2008.

Previously, he served as Senior Vice President-Business Communications Services for AT&T Southwest, where he was responsible for all business market sales and customer service in the states of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Prior to this appointment, Williams served as Federal Sales Vice President within AT&T Government Solutions business unit and also as HR Training Vice President where he led the company’s Global Learning strategy.

Williams began his career with AT&T in 1990, where held a variety of positions in Finance, Product Management, Business Planning, Corporate Staff, Sales and Human Resources.

Williams was the recipient of the first annual AT&T Corporation Chairman’s Diversity Award and has been personally recognized by President George W. Bush and USA Freedom Corps for his dedication to volunteerism in the community.

A native of Washington, DC, Williams graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, and earned an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

He and his wife, Tina, have a daughter and a son.

THOMAS J. WOOD

Assistant City Manager, Anaheim, CA

In explaining the business of public management, Tom Wood has said that excellent public corporations are those whose clients seldom know they exist; they simply get the job done quietly and effectively.  This understanding has come from serving in 11 positions in three distinctive cities over the past 30 years, resulting in a management philosophy committed to “making things happen.”

Wood grew up in Southern California and did his undergraduate work at Whittier College, earning a B.A. in Political Science in 1974.  One year later, he received his Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. 

While at USC, he explored public sector employment opportunities and settled with the City of Long Beach.  Always assuming he would pursue the traditional city management track and move from smaller to progressively larger cities, his Long Beach engagement changed the plan. 

Working for a city manager who believed in moving his people to tackle critical challenges, Wood found himself solving public safety, financial, community development, public works, and community service problems in nine positions over a 13 year period. 

Pursuing an interest in all those things that keep cities running, Wood accepted a position with the City of Pasadena as Public Works Director in 1988.  A city of traditions and quality services, it was not uncommon to attend a neighborhood meeting where the person who “wrote the book” was in the audience. An energized management team focused on facilitating rail transit, automating traffic management, beautifying neighborhoods, implementing new work methods, and replacing antiquated facilities.

Moving back to the city management track, in 1990 Wood was appointed Anaheim’s Deputy City Manager, and in 1999 Assistant City Manager/Chief Operating Officer.  His role could be characterized as doing “everything and anything” in the public sphere, from negotiating billion dollar economic development agreements (he was the lead public negotiator for the Disneyland Resort expansion) to resolving responsibility for tree roots in sewer lines.  His overall focus on unparalleled service in public delivery is consistent with the expectations of Anaheim based organizations. 

Through it all, Wood has enjoyed passing on his experiences as a public speaker and past instructor at the graduate level, teaching courses in productivity, finance and administration.  Telling the public’s story to concerned citizens and future leaders has been a way to give back some of the great satisfaction that has come from making people’s lives better. 

Asked why he chose the challenging profession of public management, he responded, “In what other business can you fight crime, put out fires, build houses, unplug sewers, and still have the evening free to take your family to Disneyland?”

 

Linda H. Vasta

Director, West Coast Operations Interagency Coordination DHS/Science and Technology Directorate

Linda is the Director, West Coast Operations/Interagency Coordination of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate. She collaborates with public - federal, state and local agencies - and private sector entities to identify technology research that may potentially bridge high priority technology gaps ultimately contributing to increased homeland security.

Prior to this, she served as the Principal DHS/S&T Liaison, an innovative pilot project of Directorate designed to enhance homeland security technology public/private sector partnering opportunities. She was co-located with the California Governor’s Office of Homeland Security in Sacramento, CA which provided unique perspectives and greatly enhanced partnerships. Also during her tenure with DHS/S&T, Linda served as the Acting Director of the Office of Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act (SAFETY Act) Implementation from February – October 2006. She managed the operational aspects pertaining to the promulgation of the Act’s Final Rule; the subsequent major revision and publication of the companion Application Kit; and an unprecedented increase in the number of designated and certified qualified anti-terrorism technologies. Her management and direction of all aspects of this departmental program, ranged from the supervision of a highly trained technical staff to frequent interfaces with private industry representatives ultimately increasing and enhancing the deployment of technologies to improve the Nation’s security.

An experienced manager and administrator, Linda has over 18 years of service in the public sector. Building partnerships to serve the needs of the American public has been the major focus of her career. She directed a technical and administrative staff of over 500 at a Federal Processing Center, including the helpline that supported the delivery of over $2 billion in assistance to disaster victims throughout the country. She also managed a myriad of high-profile, multi-million dollar grants to provide assistance to state and local jurisdictional partners in emergency management. In this capacity, she developed and implemented major national environmental policies that impacted state and local government, private industry, and hospitals. During her career, she has routinely interfaced with the Office of Management and Budget, Congress, and White House staff which included the development of briefing materials for the President.

Linda holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Science and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Science. She has received numerous commendations and performance awards that recognize her business acumen, commitment to customer service, ability to create and educate, and exemplary interpersonal skills. Her passion for helping others is exemplified by her involvement in community activities and epitomized by accomplishments such as the establishment of an arts education program at a women’s shelter utilizing partnerships with numerous businesses. Further recognized are her volunteer efforts in teaching art to children of low income schools.

Randel L. Zeller

Director for Interagency Coordination, Science and Technology Directorate 

Department of Homeland SecurityRandel Zeller is a native of Virginia. He was commissioned in 1975 as an Ensign upon graduation from the United States Naval Academy.  At the Academy he earned a degree in Marine Engineering. He holds a Master of Science in Management from Salve Regina University and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

His early Navy assignments included service on nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. From 1992 to 1994 Zeller commanded the USS GATO (SSN 615).  Following command, he served on the staff of the Chief of Navy Legislative Affairs as the submarine portfolio manager, responsible for representing the Navy on Capitol Hill.

From 1997 to 1999, he commanded the navy shipyard in Kings Bay, Georgia.  He was responsible for 2000 maintenance and support personnel, a $110 million budget, and the upkeep, overhaul, and repair of 10 Trident Class nuclear submarines.

He then reported to the Secretary of the Navy as Deputy Chief of Navy Legislative Affairs. During this assignment Zeller was responsible for supervising all Navy-Congressional liaison.

In June 2000, he assumed duties as Special Assistant and Legislative Director for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  He served in the Office of the Chairman under General Hugh Shelton, USA and General Richard Myers, USAF.  

In January 2004, Zeller retired from the United States Navy and joined the office of U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel as Senior Policy Advisor for national security.  His responsibilities included the Senator’s Defense, Intelligence, and Veterans Affairs portfolios.

He left Senator Hagel’s office in August 2006 to join BAE Systems as a senior executive.

Zeller was sworn in to the Senior Executive Service on 3 January 2007 and assumed his current duties at the Department of Homeland Security.

Rear Admiral Paul F. Zukunft 

United States Coast Guard

Rear Admiral Zukunft reported for his current duty as Commander, Eleventh Coast Guard District after serving as Director, Joint Interagency Task Force West. In that capacity, he served as U.S. Pacific Command’s executive agent for strategic planning and tactical execution of counter drug related activities throughout 41 countries and across more than 105 million square miles.

His staff assignments include Chief of Staff, Fourteenth Coast Guard District, Chief of Operations, Coast Guard Pacific Area, Chief of Operations, Fourteenth Coast Guard District, and Chief of Operations Oversight, Coast Guard Atlantic Area. In these capacities, Rear Admiral Zukunft directly supervised the operations of the Atlantic and Pacific major cutter fleets while executing the Coast Guard’s STEEL WEB counter drug strategy culminating in the seizure of more than 240 tons of cocaine.

Rear Admiral Zukunft has served extensively in the cutter fleet and commanded three cutters while patrolling throughout the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He commanded the USCGC CAPE UPRIGHT where he confiscated over 40 tons of marijuana and rescued more than 1000 Cuban migrants in the Straits of Florida during the Mariel boatlift; USCGC HARRIET LANE where he interdicted more than 3000 Haitian, Cuban, Dominican Republic and Chinese migrants and 3 tons of marijuana; and USCGC RUSH where he deployed to China, the Bering Sea, and the Eastern Pacific to forge international search and rescue agreements, protect living marine resources in the Bering Sea and confiscate over 5 tons of cocaine while interdicting a mother ship off the coast of Central America.

Rear Admiral Zukunft’s shore assignments include Operations Officer, Vessel Traffic Service New

Orleans; Chief of Port Operations, Marine Safety Office Corpus Christi where he supervised a $100M Superfund clean-up; and Commanding Officer of the Training Quota Management Center where he supervised the execution of advanced training programs for all officer and enlisted personnel.

Rear Admiral Zukunft graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government; from Webster University in 1988 with a Master of Arts degree in Management; and from the United States Naval War College in 1997 with a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Studies and International Affairs.

Rear Admiral Zukunft is a native of North Branford, Connecticut. He wears the permanent Coast

Guard Cutterman pin and his personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal with “O” device (five awards), Coast Guard Commendation Medal (two awards) and Coast Guard Achievement medal with “O” device (two awards).