The New Digital Government: Building the Future Workforce

Victoria Wales serves as Digital Branch Chief for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a National Institute of Health. Previously, Victoria led diverse national engagement programs for nearly a decade in the U.S. General Services Administration, including for GobiernoUSA.gov, the official Spanish language portal for the U.S. government, a workforce development project at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guild Lead for GSA Technology Transformation Services. Most recently she served on detail to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Digital Engagement web team lead for COVID-19 and Flu Education.

Dr. Scott Michael Robertson, an autistic adult, is a policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Dr. Robertson spearheads ODEP’s activities to enhance national autism policy, increase access to employment and support neurodiversity in the workplace. He serves as subject matter expert for ODEP’s Apprenticeship Inclusion Models (AIM) initiative, which seeks to strengthen career pathways in information technology, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. Dr. Robertson collaborates on ODEP’s initiatives to support accessible workplace technology and autonomous vehicles to facilitate transportation to work, and previously served as a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Public Policy Fellow for U.S. Senator Tom Harkin in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions. 

Will Slack serves as product manager in the U.S. Digital Service, working on empowering public servants and bringing technical talent into roles across government. Prior to that, Will served as Director 18F's Products and Platforms Portfolio, growing products to government-wide impact, and helped modernize the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ systems. Before joining public services, Will was a healthcare IT executive, and today teaches workshops on GitHub basics and public interest technology for anyone from middle schoolers to civil servants.

Justin Herman is Global Head of Public Sector for Twilio, ensuring the omnichannel communications fueling the most innovative companies is now available for our most critical public services. He currently serves as a member of the World Economic Forum’s global Expert Network, as well as Industry Chair of the ACT-IAC IoT/Smart Cities Working Group. Previously, Justin launched the U.S. GSA's government-wide Emerging Technologies program to support and coordinate citizen services initiatives with AI, Social Media, VR/AR and more across more than 300 federal, state and local agencies, and was named Fedscoop 50’s “Tech Champion of the Year.” He served on the White House National Science and Technology Council subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for two administrations and co-developed the U.S. National Action Plan for Open Government. Justin is a veteran U.S. Air Force Space Command officer.