Greg Wass is the Chief Information Officer for the State of Illinois. He has more than 20 years experience in public sector management and technology consulting, including prior executive positions at the City of Chicago, Illinois State Treasurer and City of Alexandria, Virginia. In the past ten years he worked as vice president of government solutions for a Fortune 500 technology services company, and was co-owner of a mid-sized Chicago-based management and technology consulting firm. Previously, he served as research director for the Civic Federation, where he sponsored the Urban Innovations in Illinois awards program, analyzed the taxes, debt and spending of all major Chicago-area governments, and conducted research in government innovation that was recognized nationally. As State CIO, Greg is tasked with developing and managing the state's strategic technology plan, overseeing the state's Shared Services initiative, working with the Department of Central Management Services to coordinate application development for all agencies under the Governor, and serving as the Governor's principal advisor for technology. Greg is on the adjunct faculty at Northwestern University. Less   View all posts

Susan Cramm is an executive coach and president of Valuedance®, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. She is a recognized expert in her field due to her passions and gifts for developing others, as well as her keen, practical insights derived from extensive research and years of coaching and serving in executive level positions. Over the past 14 years, Susan has coached executives from a number of Fortune 500 clients, including Toyota, Sony, and Whole Foods Markets, and her clients describe her as "insightful", "motivational", "practical", "tough", "committed", and "invaluable". She is a frequent speaker, a blogger for the Harvard Business Review, and author of the Harvard Business Press book, “8 Things We Hate about I.T.: How to Move Beyond the Frustrations to form a New Partnership with I.T.” Cramm is the former CFO and executive vice president at Chevy's Mexican Restaurants, where she led the finance, business strategy, restaurant development, franchising, legal, and information technology functions. Prior to Chevy's, Cramm worked with the Taco Bell Corporation and held the positions of CIO and vice president of the Information Technology Group and Senior Director of Financial and Strategic Planning. Less   View all posts

Walter has been serving as First Chief Information Officer for the University of Nebraska since 1995. Currently serves as the Chief Information Officer for the University of Nebraska system, which has over 13,000 Staff and Faculty and over 51,000 Students located on four campuses. Reports directly to the President of the University and participates in all major councils such as Presidents Council; Academic; Business and Finance; Campus Computer Directors and Board of Regents. Appointed by the Governor and approved by the Legislature to be a Commissioner representing Higher Education on the Nebraska Information Technology Commission. The Commission promotes the use of information technology in education, health care, economic development and all levels of government service. Co-Prime contractor, in partnership with the State CIO, for the State of Nebraska’s statewide high-speed network known as “Network Nebraska”. This network is the result of strong collaboration between the State of Nebraska, the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska Educational Television network. Created a University wide Security Council to help guide the ongoing development and implementation of an effective information security program, which includes policy, risk management and compliance efforts in information security across the entire University. Developed the vision, strategy and budget necessary to completely replace the current Student Information System environment at the University with a PeopleSoft ERP system. This project also incorporated Nebraska’s three State Colleges into the PeopleSoft ERP solution as well as incorporated the State Colleges into the Universities SAP Finance and HR system. Obtained 30 Million dollars of one-time funding from the Governor and State Legislature to pay for the purchase and implementation of the environment. Project was completed on time and under budget. Prior to moving to Nebraska, Walter was Associate Vice President and CIO at Fordham University in New York from 1986-1995 and prior to that was Associate Professor of Computer Science at the US Military Academy, West Point, New York from 1980 – 1986. He is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and has master’s degrees in Military Arts and Science, Business Administration and Computer Science as well as a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Less   View all posts