Demystifying Blockchain: What Executives, Managers and Staff Need to Know About Blockchain, Use Cases and How it May be Used in Government to Securely Meet Business Needs
Keynote Speaker:
Jose Arrieta
Chief Information Officer
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
(invited)
Speakers:
Jim St. Clair
Chief Technology Officer
Dinocrates
Jeremy Wood
Director of Enterprise Architecture
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Kyle Douglas
Electronic Records Policy Analyst
National Archives and Records Administration
Sharmila Bhatia
Electronic Records Format Specialist
National Archives and Records Administration
Sherri Sokol
DISA Information Technology Specialist
Director's Initiatives Group
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
Chezian Sivagnanam
Chief Enterprise Architect
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Bo Shevchik
Co-Chair
Association of Government Accountants (AGA)
Blockchain Working Group
Todd Hager
Vice President Strategy, Innovation & Quality,
Macro Solutions
(Co Chair of the ACT/IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest and the 2018 ACT-IAC Education Award for significant contributions in educating, sharing knowledge, and bringing awareness towards a more effective and efficient government)
Frederic de Vaulx, PMP
VP Prometheus Computing LLC
ACT IAC Emerging Technology Blockchain Working Group Co-Chair
Paul Grassi
Senior Vice President of Security
Easy Dynamics Corp
(Former Lead for Digital Identity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Metro Center (Red, Orange, Blue Lines). Use the exit marked “12th & F Sts” to exit onto F St., then continue straight two blocks and cross 14th St.
Blockchain growth and adoption has only continued to increase in the public sector. The first three Potomac Forum Blockchain Workshops were a great success. Students requested a follow up Workshop in a Blockchain series and this fourth Workshop will offer the most detail in putting your chain together!
Commonly described as part of the "fourth industrial revolution," Blockchain technology is being considered “Web 3.0”. While there are challenges associated with widespread use, its potential is drawing heavy interest and investment from both commercial and government leaders around the world. Primarily known as the technology underlying Bitcoin, the strengths of Blockchain's "distributed ledger" include increased transparency, speed, and increased security.
Federal agencies are currently funding and building use cases to explore the potential of Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Potential applications of the technology continue to expand as government moves toward adoption of the technology to increase efficiencies, trim costs, and increase transparency, and improve security in their operations.
Driven by the advantages of Blockchain and efforts for government transparency and the DATA Act, there are numerous Blockchain use cases that agencies are considering that touch many parts and processes of an organization, including:
- Financial management and services
- Procurement
- IT asset and supply chain management
- Smart contracts
- Patents, Trademarks Copyrights, Royalties
- Identity management and government-issued credentials like visas, passports, SSN and birth certificates
- Federal personnel workforce data
- Appropriated funds
- Federal assistance and foreign aid delivery
- Health IT including medical technology, healthcare records and healthcare delivery
This Potomac Forum Training Workshop will provide you with practical explanations, “real world” examples and technical resources to help you understand the development of Blockchain.
- Fundamentals of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology
- Beyond the Basics – Steps in the Implementation
- How Blockchain works, and how it applies to government processes
- Key Blockchain use cases and proof of concepts within government
- A government-focused Blockchain Playbook providing use case assessment, organizational readiness, selection options, implementation, integration and security
- Examples of Blockchain use “outside the beltway” (including other Governments)
- Blockchain and Government Records Management
- Understand Blockchain and how it can be used in government
- Improve your knowledge of an exploding technology that is currently in use today within government
- Be better equipped to support acquisition decisions including pilots and proof of concepts
- Build communities of interest in your agency and across agencies, and where to join
- Craft new strategies for improving business processes and government operations
- Federal Government Executives, Managers and staff who are interested in learning about Blockchain and how it can be used in government (and where it is being used today)
- Government Executives, Managers and staff responsible for implementing Agency restructuring plans, and how to get to learning fast with effective pilots and small proof of concepts
- Federal employees or members of employee affinity groups
- Technology leaders and technology implementers
- CXOs
- IGs and Staff
- State and local Government Executives, Managers and staff i
- Industry Partners who support the government
Agenda Subject to Change
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7:30-8:30am |
Registration and Continental Breakfast |
|
8:30am |
Welcome Art Chantker, President, Potomac Forum, Ltd. |
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8:45am |
Government Executive Keynote
-Jose Arietta, Chief Information Officer, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (invited) |
|
9:30am |
Blockchain 101: What is Blockchain?
- Jim St. Clair, Chief Technology Officer, Dinocrates |
|
10:15am |
Refreshment Break |
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10:30am |
Concepts of Blockchain in Grants Management -Chezian Sivagnanam, Chief Enterprise Architect, National Science Foundation (NSF) |
|
11:00am |
Blockchain Playbook: Do I Need a Blockchain?
- Todd Hager, Vice President Strategic Initiatives Macro Solutions, (Co-Chair of the ACT/IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest and the 2018 ACT-IAC Education Award for significant contributions in educating, sharing knowledge, and bringing awareness towards a more effective and efficient government)
- Frederic de Vaulx, PMP, VP Prometheus Computing LLC, ACT IAC Emerging Technology Blockchain Working Group Co-Chair |
| 12:00pm |
Hosted Working Lunch |
|
1:00pm
|
Government Panel - Experiences in Blockchain in Government Government Panel Members will discuss their experience in Implementing Blockchain and their Future Activities
- Sherri Sokol, DISA Information Technology Specialist, Director's Initiatives Group, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) - Jeremy Wood, Director of Enterprise Architecture, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Millenium Challenge Corporation (invited)
(additional panel members awaiting confirmation)
Blockchain and Government Records Management - View from NARA
-Kyle Douglas, Senior Electronic Records Policy Analyst, Office of the Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government, National Archives and Records Administration
-Sharmila Bhatia, Electronic Records Format Specialist, Office of the Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government, National Archives and Records Administration
(additional panel members awaiting confirmation) |
|
2:30pm |
Refreshment Break |
|
2:45pm |
Blockchain and Security and Privacy
-Paul Grassi, Senior Vice President of Security, Easy Dynamics Corp (former Lead for Digital Identity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology) |
|
3:15pm |
Blockchain in Government Financial Management: A Perspective from the Association of Government Accounts (AGA) -Bo Shevchik, Co-CHair, Association of Government Accountants (AGA), Emerging Technology Working Group |
| 3:45pm |
Blockchain 200: Steps and Considerations for Adoption
-Jim St. CLair, Chief Technology Officer, Dinocrates |
| 4:45 - 5:00pm | Wrap Up Conclusion |
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EARLY BIRD RATE BY SEPTEMBER 7, 2019 |
RATE AFTER SEPTEMBER 7, 2019 |
|
Government Employees: (Federal, State or Local) Government Issued ID |
$795.00 |
$895.00 |
Team Rate for Government: Send a government team to learn together. Register two government employees from the same office at the same time and the third person registers at $200.00 off of the current government rate.
|
Industry and Contractors: (Including contractors on-site and in direct support of government agencies) |
$895.00 |
$995.00 |
Registration includes: Presentations, Workshop Notebook, Continental Breakfast, All Day Refreshments and Hosted Luncheon
Chief Information Officer
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
In May 2018 José Arrieta was appointed as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Department.
As the CIO, José provides leadership and oversight of the Department’s $6.3B IT portfolio in support of the Department’s expansive mission to enhance the health and well-being of Americans by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in science underlying medicine, public health, and social services. He is responsible for providing assistance and guidance on the use of technology-supported business process reengineering; investment analysis; performance measurement; strategic development and application of information systems and infrastructure; policies to provide improved management of information resources and technology; and better, more efficient service to our HHS clients and employees. José leads the development of HHS-wide IT strategy with an immediate focus on cybersecurity, cloud computing, and emerging technology. In addition, José provides advice and counsel to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on how to advance the Department’s mission through the use of transformative information technology approaches.
José brings over 15 years expertise in policy, procurement and technology solutions to HHS. He has deep experience in all phases of the acquisition life cycle and has served in a broad range of roles including contracting officer, budget manager, financial manager, small business executive, ombudsman, and program manager. He is a respected leader in applying emerging technologies, especially blockchain, artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, to the Federal acquisition process and mission critical program challenges.
He is actively engaged in the academic community, and currently serves at the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University as an Adjunct Professor focused on Blockchain, Business Management, and Public Procurement. He also serves as an advisor to the Dean of the Kogod Business School at American University and provides guidance on the creation of a data science lab that is exploring the use of blockchain.
Prior to becoming the CIO, from January 2018 to May 2018, Jose served as the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Grants and Acquisition Policy and Accountability, the Senior Procurement Official and the Small Business Executive. José successfully built and began to implement the first fully functioning blockchain coupled with artificial intelligence and machine learning for public procurement, in the world. The core of the acquisition program, HHS Accelerate, was built in 7 weeks and achieved Authority to Operate in December 2018.
As the Former Director of Schedule 70 Operations with the General Services Administration (GSA), José led the largest IT contract in the world. It averaged $15B /year in business volume, providing IT products and services to federal, state, and local customers. In 2017, José successfully delivered a proof of concept that automated contract awards and reduced cycle time for contract awards and modification by 90%, by introducing the blockchain and machine learning into GSA’s IT Schedule 70’s business process.
Before that José was the first Senior Executive Director of the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization for the Department of the Treasury. Treasury spent ~$1.2B with small business in FY14. José was Treasury’s representative to the National Security Council and focused on the impact of blockchain on the U.S. national security posture.
From 2012—2014, José served as the first Procurement Ombudsman for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He managed vendor relationships with 15K DHS industry partners and developed an innovative model to train 10K members of the DHS acquisition workforce on how industry does business.
From 2010—2012 José served in two roles for the Transportation Security Administration as a Program Manager and Finance Chief for the Office of Intelligence & Analysis. He planned and developed requirements for major IT acquisitions, managed the budget formulation & execution process, and provided performance oversight for a portfolio of 7 geographically dispersed risk based, intelligence driven, program offices. The portfolio he managed invested $500M/year through 78 major contracts (80% high risk) that supported enrollment, vetting, and adjudication of 22M people every 20 seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 99.99999% operability.
José began his Government career as an acquisition intern at GSA. In his last position at GSA, he served as a Lead Contracting Officer with an unlimited warrant, leading the supply chain modernization effort. He focused on high dollar value, highly complex, politically sensitive supply chain, 4th party logistics acquisitions supporting military activities in the United States
Chief Technology Officer
Dinocrates
Jim is the CTO of The Dinocrates Group, a Maryland-based boutique strategy and advisory firm, and the founder of the Institute for Healthcare Financial Technology. As CTO, Jim leads the Dinocrates Transformational Technology Services to assist public and private sector clients understand and adopt the latest advances in Blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA) and cloud technologies.
Given the dramatic changes in technology and healthcare delivery, Jim recently founded the Institute for Healthcare Financial Technology, which upon inception will be a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare value chain to reduce costs and streamline access and delivery of healthcare. IHFT builds on the innovations of financial, insurance and healthcare technology, especially in such concepts as distributed ledgers, blockchain, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Jim is a 2019 FedHealth IT 100 winner, and is also active in the Healthcare Committee for the Government Blockchain Association, and co-lead of the HIMSS Healthcare Blockchain Working Group. He is an advisor to multiple healthcare Blockchain start-ups, and guest lectures on Blockchain and technology at Universities and Industry.
Jim is a veteran and former naval officer, having served in both active and reserve capacity.
Co-Chair Association of Government Accountants (AGA) Emerging Issues Working Group
Mr. Shevchik is an active member of the AGA where he co-chairs the AGA Blockchain Working Group. The AGA Blockchain Working Group’s mission is to explore and share developments within the Blockchain/Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) space to educate and inform AGA members. Via collaboration with government (federal, state and local) agencies and vendors the Blockchain/DLT work group will help AGA’s 16,000 plus members understand what Blockchain/DLT is, where and how it is being used and how it may impact AGA members’ organizations. Presenters to date have included; Bitfury, Circle, CGI, Chamber of Digital Commerce, ConsenSys, Deloitte, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Treasury, Factom, Federal Reserve, Grant Thornton, Health Wizz, IBM, Microsoft, PwC, SAP and Secure Key.
Mr. Shevchik currently works for the Federal Reserve System where he is responsible for Outreach and Marketing Strategy for U.S. Treasury’s Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) program. “We’re here to help both agencies and vendors think smarter about a part of their business – invoice processing - where we have deep expertise.”
Mr. Shevchik has both federal and commercial experience having worked domestically and internationally in the areas of engineering, manufacturing, finance, marketing, business development and customer relations with organizations like the Federal Reserve, The Coca-Cola Company, Bristol- Myers Squibb and General Electric.
Mr. Shevchik holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University. He is also a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) and Project Management Professional (PMP).
Director of Enterprise Architecture
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Administration & Finance
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Jeremy Wood is a Federal IT implementer, strategist, and enthusiast specializing in complex business systems. His expertise and career spans infrastructure, service desk, software development, budget, policy, and architecture. He continues to focus on providing value to business through technology solutions in an effort to reduce cost and increase efficiency. In the last year he transitioned into a pivotal role at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) that will help transform both the business and IT roles and systems through use of agile enterprise architecture.
Jeremy continues to be involved across government in an effort to help Federal IT become a value center for business. His past experience in the military, private sector consulting, and his 20+ years of Federal time have placed him in a unique position to bring innovative solutions to old and new problems. Through involvement with organizations like ACT-IAC, he strives to educate and share what he, and others, have learned about how to do government technology well. As the Federal chair of the Emerging Technologies Community of Interest, he continues to help the government and their industry partners understand upcoming technologies and their potential impact.
He has experience as an instructor, presenter, and speaker for technology and its impact in our society at large. His keen ability to communicate clearly and in context for his audience has generated positive impressions and continued opportunities to share.
DISA Information Technology Specialist
Director's Initiatives Group
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
From building her own levels in the game Lode Runner in the early 1980s to posting on the Prodigy message boards in the early 1990s to developing websites in the early 2000s and launching the Defense Information Systems Agency's (DISA) social media channels in the early 2010s, Sherri Sokol has always enjoyed geeking out with the latest technologies. As a member of DISA's Innovation Team, she explores blockchain and emerging technologies and methods to advance the agency in meeting its strategic goals and achieving the DISA director's vision of assured identity and universal transport.
Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Macro Solutions
(Recipient of 2018 ACT-IAC Education Award)
Todd Hager is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Macro Solutions and has been working with Macro since early 2015. He provides leadership in strategy, innovation, quality, marketing and practice development. His nearly 30 years of federal work includes financial and analytics systems, contact center applications, agile application development, application governance, and DevOps. He is a PMP, a Certified Scrum Master and ITIL v3 certified.
Todd is the Industry Chair for the ACT-IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest (COI). In that capacity he formed and is co-chair for the ACT-IAC Blockchain Working Group which in addition to publishing a Blockchain Primer and the Federal Government Blockchain Playbook, executed three successful Blockchain Forums hosting over 1000 participants among them. He also helped to form the ACT-IAC Intelligent Automation and RPA Working Group which is in the process of crafting a playbook. Within his COI, he also oversees the ACT-IAC Artificial Intelligence Working Group and the IoT Working Group and provides support to the ACT-IAC DevOps Working Group.
Beyond his COI leadership role, Todd was also the Emerging Technology Co-Chair for the 2018 ELC Tech Know Hub and the Industry Chair for the ACT-IAC Healthcare Block-a-Thon (a health IT Blockchain event).
Todd was recently selected as the industry winner of the 2018 ACT-IAC Education Award. This ACT-IAC award honors extraordinary individuals who have made significant contributions to improving government and to government-industry collaboration. The ACT-IAC Education Award -- conferred in the spirit of Virginia “Ginny” McCormick -- recognizes an individual or team from government or industry who has made significant contributions in educating, sharing knowledge, and bringing awareness towards a more effective and efficient government.
Electronic Records Format Specialist
National Archives and Records Administration
Sharmila Bhatia joined the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 2001. As an Electronic Records Format Specialist she researches formats and develops electronic records management guidance for Federal agencies. She has worked with electronic records for over 15 years as a processing and accessioning archivist and has experience with a variety of formats and in multi-stages of the records lifecycle.
Before coming to NARA, Ms. Bhatia was a reference archivist at the South Carolina Department of Archives & History. She has a Master of Arts and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina.
VP Prometheus Computing LLC
ACT IAC Emerging Technology Blockchain Working Group Co-Chair
Frederic de Vaulx is Vice President of Prometheus Computing where he helps develop the vision, innovation and strategy of the company. He is also a Senior Software Engineer and Program Manager overseeing the design, architecture and development of custom software applications for Prometheus’ federal and commercial clients.
Frederic is a member of the ACT-IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest and Co-Chair of the Blockchain Working Group that published a blockchain primer in late 2017 and a first version of the blockchain playbook in early 2018. He is a member of the IEEE Blockchain Initiative, the HIMSS Blockchain Task Force and the CSA Blockchain Working Group.
Chief Enterprise Architect
National Science Foundation
*Technology steward at NSF*
Adviser to the CIO in planning and coordination of IT vision, strategy, architecture and innovation management
23+ years of experience in Information Technology, including Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, IT Transformation, Enterprise Modernization, Cloud Computing, Emerging Technologies
Certifications:
ITIL® V3, PMP, COBIT 5, CSPO, Sun Certifications, Oracle Certifications
Electronic Records Policy Analyst
Policy and Program Support
Office of the Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government
National Archives and Records Administration
Kyle is a career professional with over 20 years’ experience in Records and Information Management developing and implementing Federal agency records programs. At the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Kyle performs as a senior specialist and technical expert in the formulation of government-wide electronic records management program policy. His work involves research on the application of Electronic Records Management technologies new to the Federal Government workspace. In the case of Blockchain technology, agencies are finding innovative applications and in the process may be creating new Federal records. As such, Kyle’s efforts directly contributes to NARA’s development of sustainable, forward-thinking records management policy that agencies will need to consider as they continue to explore and invest in the use of emerging technologies that create, manage, or store government records.
Senior Vice President of Security
Easy Dynamics Corp
Paul Grassi is the SVP of Cybersecurity for Easy Dynamics Corp. Grassi is responsible for helping clients mature effective cybersecurity programs via an appropriate mixture of policy, process, technology and operations. Prior to joining EDC, he was the Senior Standards and Technology Advisor and Lead for Digital Identity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His portfolio included NIST 800-63, leading contributions to NIST 800-53 and the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), multiple identity projects in the National Cyber Security Center of Excellence, and leading USG activity in various standards orgs, namely FIDO, IETF and X9. Grassi has a broad background of technology and management consulting, and significant experience developing enterprise security strategies and systems, having served a range of Fortune 500 companies, as well as domestic and foreign governments.
Confirmed registrations who cancel within 3 business days of the program will be subject to a $250 cancellation fee. Registrations cancelled after the program starts are subject to the full registration fee. Substitutions can be made at any time. In the event a particular training workshop is cancelled, the liability of Potomac Forum, Ltd is limited to refund of any prepaid registration fee.
