Day 1

STEVEN POSNACK | Director, Office of Standards and Technology, HHS Office of the National Coordinator   

Steven Posnack joined the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in July 2005. Steve current serves as the Director of the Office of Standards and Technology and prior to that position he led ONC’s Federal Policy Division within the Office of Policy and Planning from 2010 to 2014. In that capacity, Steve led ONC’s regulatory affairs, legislative analysis, and several federal policy development and coordination activities.

Day 2

JOHN SNYDER | Director of the Standards, Implementation and Testing division, HHS Office of the National Coordinator 

John Snyder began his career as an industrial engineer in manufacturing, writing automation programs for industrial machinery. After earning additional Information Systems degrees and then a Masters in Software Engineering, he led several software development teams--building the first Java handset apps at Nextel, and then the group that deployed the .BIZ and .US internet registries. As a government contractor, Snyder implemented Web sites for the Department of State, and at Raytheon developed software for the DoD and Federal Agencies. John Snyder joined the service to Veterans as a Perot Systems consultant in 2007--he was the application architect for VA's Blind Rehabilitation clinical registry. In 2009 John became a VA employee, managing the Identity and Access portfolio, VA's conversion to ICD-10, and VA's mobile projects.

John Snyder joined ONC in 2015 as the Director of the Standards, Implementation and Testing division. At ONC, John leads a group of amazing professionals that design-develop-maintain the software tools for the ONC Health IT Certification program. This portfolio of 15+ software services and Web sites includes "software to test software" for transport protocols such as Direct & FHIR, clinical content validators, and application programming interfaces. John Snyder's division also manages pilots, challenges, and cooperative agreements to move health IT standards from concept through implementation. 

TIM POLK | Assistant Director of Cybersecurity, Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House  

Tim Polk is currently the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he is member of the policy teams for cybersecurity, high performance computing, and quantum information science.  He joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1982. After exploring computer networks and developing electronic publishing standards, he joined the computer security division in 1989. Initially, he performed research in integrity models, security tools for system administrators, and computer viruses. From 1995 through 2003, he focused exclusively on public-key infrastructure issues. Tim contributed to the development of numerous Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) public key infrastructure (PKI) standards as an author, reviewer, and as co-chair of the IETF's Public Key Infrastructure using X.509 (PKIX) working group. In particular, he was co-author of the RFCs which form the baseline for application-level interoperability for Internet PKI applications. Tim was a key contributor in the design and deployment of the Federal PKI, and helped establish the Bridge CA concept to implement what is now known as a federated trust model. As one of the authors of FIPS 201, Personal Identity Verification, Tim helped realize the government-wide identity credentials envisioned by HSPD-12. Tim also served four years on the IETF's Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) as one of two Area Directors for Security. As Security AD, he was responsible for the operations of seven working groups and reviewed the security aspects of every candidate RFC submitted for official publication. He became the NIST Cryptographic Technology Group Leader in January 2011, initiating new efforts in post quantum cryptography and privacy enhancing cryptography. He joined the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2012. Tim is also co-author of the book “Planning for PKI”. He has degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland.

JOHN KELSEY, NIST  

John Kelsey is a cryptographer who works at NIST. His research interests include cryptanalysis and design of symmetric cryptography primitives (block ciphers, stream ciphers,cryptographic hash functions, MACs), analysis and design of cryptographic protocols, cryptographic random number generation, electronic voting, side-channel attacks on cryptography implementations, and anonymizing communications systems. He previously worked at Certicom and Counterpane Internet Security.

LILY CHEN | Mathematician/Manager, NIST 

Dr. Lily (Lidong) Chen is a mathematician and the manager of Cryptographic Technology Group of Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology.  Dr. Chen received her Ph.D degree from Aarhus University, Denmark in Applied Mathematics. Her research areas include cryptographic protocols and their applications in communication security.

MANCE HARMON | Sr. Director of Architecture & Labs, Ping Identity

Mance Harmon is currently the Head of Architecture and Labs for Ping Identity, where he manages a team of 11 architects, and directs both short-term research and development projects. Previously, Mance was the founder and CEO of two identity-related startups, the senior executive for product security at Symbol Technologies (Motorola) and an Instructor of Computer Science at the Air Force Academy where he served as the Course Director for Cybersecurity. Mance started his career as a research scientist in Machine Learning, working for the Air Force Senior Scientist for Machine Intelligence.

STEPHEN WILSON | Principal Analyst, Constellation Research  

Steve has worked in digital identity and data privacy for over 20 years.  He leads Digital Safety and Privacy at San Francisco-based Constellation Research.  Steve’s research agenda includes authentication technologies, blockchain, and the ecology of identity. See http://constellationr.com/users/swilson. 

DRUMMOND REED | CEO, Respect Network  

Drummond has spent over two decades in Internet identity, security, privacy, and trust frameworks. He is co-author of the Respect Trust Framework, which was honored with the Privacy Award at the 2011 European Identity Conference, and co-chair of the OASIS XDI Technical Committee since 2004, the new semantic data interchange protocol that implements Privacy by Design. Prior to starting Respect Network, Drummond was Executive Director of two industry foundations: the Information Card Foundation and the Open Identity Exchange. He has also served as a founding board member of the OpenID Foundation, ISTPA, XDI.org, and Identity Commons.

MANU SPORNY | Founder/CEO, Digital Bazaar, Inc.

Manu has founded or helped start six software technology start ups. He spends most of his time creating open standards and open technology that will integrate payments, identity, and blockchain into the core architecture of the Web. His vision is to democratize finance, making the financial tools that are only available to large corporations and Wall Street today, available to everyone on the Web.

TIANA LAURENCE | Co-founder and CMO, Factom

A serial entrepreneur, Tiana started her first business at 16. Most recently, Tiana co-founded Digital Aptitude, a marketing agency. After selling her company, Tiana joined the Factom Inc. team. Tiana loves helping young aspiring entrepreneurs learn about business. She has spent time volunteering with Rotary, Young Entrepreneurs Business Week, and The Portland State Entrepreneurs Club.  Tiana has a BA in Business and Leadership from Portland State University.

ANDREW YASHCHUK

DRUMMOND REED | CEO, Respect Network  (click to jump to bio above)

ADAM MIGUS | Lead Architect, Xcelerate Solutions

Adam is an IT architect with experience in network, software and systems security who specilizes in digital identity. His work with Xcelerate is focused on bockchain-based digital identity. Prior ro that, he was the Principal Security Architect at E*TRADE Financial for identity and access management in addition to serving as an enterprise architect for the firm. He also played a key role in instituting the company's software security program. Adam gained expertise in threat intelligence as a thirdtier security analyst as Symantec's Security Operations Center and devoted several years to network and operating system security research for DARPA. He earned his B. Sc. in Computer Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he also started his career in earnest as a network administrator.

SRINIVAS ATTILI | V.P. & Partner – IBM Global Services Public Sector

Srinivas Attili is the V.P. And Partner for IBM’s Public Sector Application Services business including Health Plans, Providers, State and Local Governments and Higher Education institutions.

He has have over 15 years of Technology Consulting and System Integration experience leading capture and delivery of several mission critical programs. He has several patents in the Analytics space and have expertise in Healthcare, and Federal (Homeland Security, Immigration, and Defense) industries with a strong track record of growing market share, revenue, profitability and delivery of complex systems integration, cloud solutions, Information Management, Big Data and Analytics programs.

He has an M.B.A., University of Maryland, College Park and an M.S., Computer Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Jersey. He is also a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI) and Certified Professional Academy of Healthcare Management (PAHM).

Dr. SHAHRAM EBADOLLAHI | V.P. of Innovations (R&D) and Chief Science Officer of IBM Watson Health

Dr. Shahram Ebadollahi is the Vice President of Innovations (R&D) and Chief Science Officer of IBM Watson Health. He co-founded Watson Health, IBM's first vertical industry business unit in 2015, building on his previous role as the global head of Health Informatics Research for IBM. He oversees all product engineering, innovation and incubation of novel ideas, intellectual property and strategic partnerships for Watson Health. 

Prior to his current role, Dr. Ebadollahi was the global head and founder of Health Informatics Research for IBM, which spanned IBM's global research labs in Asia, Europe, Africa and the US. He has pioneered novel technologies in the area of health analytics and computational health, has published many scientific publications, and has led scientific projects funded by national agencies.
He is a frequent speaker and panelist at various healthcare and health IT related events.

Dr. Ebadollahi received his masters and doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, where he worked on the analysis of multi-modal medical documents. He also has a MBA degree from Columbia University.

BRIAN P. KALIS | Managing Director, Accenture Digital – Healthcare

Brian Kalis is a managing director of digital in Accenture’s Health business. Mr. Kalis has over 12 years of experience helping health providers, payers and governments with digital business and product strategy, consumer experience, engagement and innovation.

Mr. Kalis is a thought leader within Accenture and the industry and a frequent speaker on healthcare innovation, digital health and health information technology at leading graduate business schools, industry workshops and conference events.

Mr. Kalis earned a master of business administration from The Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Kalis currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

HANIF DHARAMSI | Senior Manager, Financial Services & Connected Commerce, Accenture

Hanif is a Senior Manager in Accenture’s Digital Financial Services and Connected Commerce practice. He focuses primarily on financial services and payments in support of advancing clients Omni-channel services. 

Prior to joining Accenture Digital in January 2016, Hanif was the Head of Global Strategic Partnerships and Emerging Payments Channels at MoneyGram International, the world’s second largest remittance company.  He has over 12 years experience in International Payments with an in-depth expertise in go-to-market strategy, account management, business development and executive level stakeholder selling.  He has led projects focusing on block-chain, executing Omni-channel strategies across a diverse portfolio of clients in banking, mobile network operators, card payment networks, processors, and alternative financial service providers.  Hanif holds a B.Sc. degree in Actuarial Science from the University of British Columbia based in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

KYLE CULVER | MEng, MBA, Humana Solution Architect 

Kyle Culver is a thought leader in technology for Consumer Innovation. Mr. Culver holds Bachelor of Science and Masters of Engineering degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, as well as an MBA in Entrepreneurship, all from the University of Louisville. For the past 15 years, he has demonstrated his passion for software engineering across a wide variety of IT roles concentrating on development, integration, architecture and quality assurance. In his current role at Humana, Inc., Mr. Culver is a key member of the firm’s Business Technology Leadership team, and most recently, the founder and chair of Humana’s Blockchain Gang.

ALESSANDRO VOTO | Co-Lead of Blockchain's Future Lab, IFTF

Alessandro Voto is co-lead of IFTF's Blockchain Futures Lab. As such, he connects industry leaders with practical visionaries and domain experts to identify long-term opportunities and design considerations for blockchain technology. He advocates for human-centered platform design, using the full potential of decentralized structures to support a more efficient, transparent, and equitable world.

In addition to his leadership work with the Blockchain Futures Lab, Alessandro forecasts technological and economic shifts set to impact global business and society over the coming decade. His work with IFTF’s Ten-Year Forecast program lies at the intersection of institutional re-invention, peer-to-peer coordination tools, and immersive media. With a degree in economics, he develops industry-specific research and facilitates strategy workshops for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and non-profits. His work prepares executives and change-makers for fundamental disruptions to their operating environment. He has explored the future of retail, manufacturing, augmented and virtual reality, food security, logistics, and financial technology. 

Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD | Associate Dean of Informatics and Technology, UCSD

Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, MBA, PhD received her medical degree from the University of São Paulo and her doctoral degree in medical information sciences and computer science from Stanford. She is Associate Dean for Informatics and Technology, and the founding chair of the Health System Department of Biomedical Informatics at UCSD, where she leads a group of faculty with diverse backgrounds in medicine, nursing, informatics, and computer science. Prior to her current position, she was faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and at the MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Dr. Ohno-Machado is an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She serves as editor-in-chief for the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association since 2011. She directs the patient-centered Scalable National Network for Effectiveness Research funded by PCORI (and previously AHRQ), a clinical data research network with over 24 million patients and 14 health systems, as well as the NIH/BD2K-funded Data Discovery Index Consortium. She was one of the founders of UC-Research eXchange, a clinical data research network that connected the data warehouses of the five University of California medical centers. She was the director of the NIH-funded National Center for Biomedical Computing iDASH (integrating Data for Analysis, ‘anonymization,’ and Sharing) based at UCSD with collaborators in multiple institutions. iDASH funded collaborations involving study of consent for data and biospecimen sharing in underserved and under-represented populations.

Tsung-Ting Kuo, PHD | UCSD 

Dr. Tsung-Ting Kuo is a Postdoctoral Fellow in DBMI, School of Medicine, UCSD. He earned his Ph.D. in National Taiwan University (NTU), M.S. in National Chiao-Tung University (NCTU), and B.S. in National Cheng-Kung University (NCKU), all in Computer Science. He was a runner-up for the Best Dissertation Award from Association of Computational Linguistic in Taiwan (ACLCLP) and Taiwan Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (TIEEE) in 2014. He is also a winner of NTU Outstanding Performance Scholarship in 2011, and many other awards. He was a major contributor in the NTU team, a five-time champion of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) Cup from 2008 to 2013. His current research interests include machine learning, natural language processing, and Blockchain technology in biomedical and healthcare domain.

JASON GOLDWATER | Sr. Director, National Quality Forum 

Jason C. Goldwater is a Senior Director at the National Quality Forum, overseeing activities related to the evaluation of electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) as well as projects focused on the use of electronic health to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care.  Mr. Goldwater has been in the health IT field for 16 years and has led a number of projects on the utilization of health IT for improved health care delivery.  Prior to working at the NQF, he was a Senior Vice President for Clinovations Government Solutions, where he led projects in developing a health IT strategic plan for DC Government, and governance and business models for a public health data platform for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO).  Mr. Goldwater has also served as a Health IT Project Manager for NORC at the University of Chicago, as the Principal Investigator for a number of projects, including an evaluation of the Strategic Health Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) program and a Study and Report on the Use of Open-Source Health information Technologies for Safety-Net Populations. Mr. Goldwater also worked for SRA International, a systems integrator based in Fairfax, VA, where he led a project examining the use of clinical decision support systems within the Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VisTA) EHR system.  Mr. Goldwater spent a decade with the Federal Government, design software applications to assess the quality of care for older adults in nursing homes and hospitals; examining how State Medicaid data could be used for public health; and how to incorporate public health initiatives, such as immunizations, into State Medicaid programs.  Mr. Goldwater has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Emerson College and a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Suffolk University.

ARIEL EKBLAW | Student, MIT Media Lab

Ariel Ekblaw is a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, in Andy Lippman’s Viral Communications group, where she prototypes and deploys projects in the Bitcoin and blockchain space. She brings an interdisciplinary approach to her research at the Media Lab, with degrees in Physics, Mathematics and Philosophy and past experience in data analytics at Microsoft Azure and the CERN Particle Physics Laboratory. MedRec, her latest project, leverages the blockchain’s immutable log to empower patients with improved medical record access, auditability and data sharing functionality across treatment sites. Ariel also contributes to emerging trends in Internet policy and municipal open data projects, with frequent collaborations at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. 

KEVIN PETERSON | Senior Analyst/Programmer, Mayo Clinic

Kevin Peterson is a Senior Analyst/Programmer for the Division of Information Management and Analytic Systems at the Mayo Clinic. Since 2005, Kevin has been involved the design and implementation of several terminology services including the National Cancer Institute’s LexEVS. Kevin has participated in several standards organizations including Health Level Seven (HL7®) and the Object Management Group (OMG®). Through this involvement Kevin assisted in the development of the Common Terminology Services 2 (CTS2) industry standard for terminology services. Other past projects have focused on data interoperability and standardization, as well as expert systems, knowledge management, and automated business process execution.