Wednesday, May 6 | National Press Club, Washington, DC
Date Wednesday, May 6
Time 2 – 5pm EDT
Where National Press Club, 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC
Step into the future at IGNITE 2026, where bold leaders are reshaping the digital landscape to drive efficiency, accelerate innovation, and deliver measurable mission impact. This is more than a conversation, it’s a catalyst for action. Federal, military, and industry executives will take the stage to share how they’re implementing AI, advancing cybersecurity, leveraging data, and modernizing acquisition to redefine how government works and leads.
Join us on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, for a high-energy experience designed for engagement, insight, and connection. IGNITE brings together decision-makers and operators who are not just envisioning transformation — they are executing it. The day culminates with the IGNITE Awards, recognizing federal, military, and industry trailblazers whose leadership and bold contributions are driving the next era of digital transformation.
IGNITE 2026 Summit Agenda:
Where Innovation Meets Action
1:15-2 pm: Registration/Check-In EVENT BEGINS AT 2 pm
- Fireside Chat: CIO Leadership Insights: Priorities and Initiatives
- Panel 1: Mission Impact: Infrastructure & Emerging Tech
- Panel 2: Data and AI, Driving Modernization and Efficiency
- Panel 3: Acquisition at the Speed of Mission
- IGNITE Honoree Recognition
- Networking Reception
Fireside Chat: Unstoppable Forces – Powerful Women Igniting Transformation
Witness an intimate, no-holds-barred conversation with trailblazing leaders sharing their personal journeys, game-changing strategies, and bold visions for the future of digital transformation.
Panel 1: The Change Agents – Executives Redefining Digital Transformation
Meet the powerhouses driving seismic shifts across government and industry. These executives aren’t just transforming operations—they’re rewriting the playbook for success in the digital age.
Panel 2: The Innovators – Reshaping the Digital Landscape
From AI to cybersecurity, these visionaries are harnessing the most advanced technologies to create solutions that are revolutionizing industries and reshaping how we work, connect, and lead.
Panel 3: The Spark That Ignites – Accelerating Innovation
Step into the fast lane with leaders who are turning big ideas into actionable strategies, breaking barriers, and setting a blazing pace for digital transformation across sectors.
Keynote Panelists
Shauntia Bell
Acting Director, Enterprise Systems Solutions Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Kathleen Berst
Acting Assistant Director Support/Component Acquisition Executive, Defense Health Agency*
Makoto Braxton
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Department of Health and Human Services*
Jesus Caban, Ph.D.
Chief Data Officer and Analytics Officer, Defense Health Agency
Evan Carey, Ph.D.
Acting Director, National Artificial Intelligence Institute, Department of Veterans Affairs*
Phillip Christy
Principal Executive Director. Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction and Chief Acquisition Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
Robin Collins
Chief Information Officer, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services
Thomas 'Pat' Flanders
Chief Information Officer,(J-6) and Program Executive Officer for Medical Systems, Defense Health Agency
Will Gaines
Chief, Infrastructure Services Branch, National Heart, Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
Amy Gleason
Administrator of the US DOGE Service and Strategic Advisor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services*
Susan K. Gregurick, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the Office of Data Science Strategy, National Institutes of Health
Polly Hall
Chief Advisor for Acquisition, Innovation & Policy Integration, General Services Administration*
Kristen Honey, Ph.D.
Chief Data Officer, Department of Health and Human Services*
Jennifer Johnson
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Acquisitions and Senior Procurement Executive, Department of Health and Human Services
Melanie Keller
Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Food and Drug Administration*
Jennie Khun
Chief Information Officer, Office of the Director and Office of Information Technology Director, National Institutes of Health
Sridhar Mantha, MBA, MS
Acting Chief Information Officer, Office of Digital Transformation, Food and Drug Administration
Kimberly McManus, Ph.D
Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Deputy Chief AI Officer, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs*
Bethany Messick
Deputy Director, Data Analytics and Systems Group, Center for Program Integrity, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services*
Jeffrey Neill
Executive Director of Acquisition and Logistics and Senior Procurement Executive, Department of Veterans Affairs
Susan Orsega
Deputy Assistant Secretary of War Health Services Policy and Oversight*
Brian Peltier
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Social Security Administration*
Mark Plaugher
Director, Information Systems Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services*
Lisa Rosenmerkel
Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer, Compliance, Risk and Mediation, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs*
Zachary Schwartz
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
Wade Zarriello
Acting Director, Infrastructure and User Services, Office of Information and Technology, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Agenda
9:40 – 10:15 AM
Title
Description
9:40 – 10:15 AM
Title
Description
Sponsors
IGNITE 2024 Pinnacle Award Winner
Patricia Horoho
Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Ret.), CEO, Optum Serve
2026 IGNITE Honorees
Matt Artz
AI Product Manager, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Jennifer Bailey
National Program Manager for Facility Based Care Quality and Oversight, Department of Veterans Affairs
Cindi Bassford
Cyber Security Leader, Guidehouse
Jim Bates
Assistant Deputy Chief Information Officer – EHRM – IO, Department of Veterans Affairs
Shauntia Bell
Acting Director, Enterprise Systems Solutions Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Jessica Berrellez
Vice President, Health IT Strategy & Operations, DLH Corporation
Jeff Bishop
Director, TAC, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Tiffany Branch
Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, Food and Drug Administration
Leah Buckley
Acting Chief Information Security Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Robert (Bob) Buckley
VP Consulting Services, CGI Federal
Barclay P. Butler, Ph.D.
Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Jesus Caban, Ph.D.
Chief Data Officer and Analytics Officer, Defense Health Agency
Maura Catano
Executive Director, Office of Healthcare Transformation, VHA
Diana Ceban
Executive Vice President, Strategic Initatives & Market Expansion, Tria Federal
Michael Chappell
Defense CTO, Appian
Suzanne Charleston
Executive Director, Federal Account, Wellpoint Federal
Candice Charlton
Vice President – Solutions Architect, Maximus
Mohammed Sohail Chaudhry
Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Precise Software Solutions
Phillip Christy
Principal Executive Director, Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Constructions/Chief Acquisition Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
Andrew Collins
Sr. Manager, Growth, Peraton
Robin Collins
Chief Information Officer and Acting Chief Technology Officer, Administration for Children and Families
Andrés Colón-Pérez
Chief Technology Architect, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Joseph Croghan
Branch Chief SEB, National Institutes of Health
Jared Cunha
Sr Director of Creative Technology, Coforma
Robert Cunningham
Executive Director, Enterprise Command Operations, Department of Veterans Affairs
Ben Cushing
Chief Architect, Health & Life Sciences, Red Hat
Chantel Dawson
Director, Office of Talent Solutions, Food and Drug Administration
Mike Deutsch
Chief Growth Officer, Alpha Omega
Wesley Dietz
Program Director, DEA Bluestone, GovCIO
Judith Doherty
Strategic Account Executive, DLH Corporation
Chandra Donelson
Strategic Advisor for HR IT Modernization, Analytics, and AI, U.S. Air Force
Aaron Drew, Ph.D.
Technical Director for the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Product Line, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Sheila Duffy
CEO, Greystones Group
Steve Ertter
Program Director, National Government Services
Melissa Fannin
Principal, Health Sector Lead, Deep Water Point & Associates
Elena Fenton
Account Manager, Federal Healthcare, Leidos
Andi Fisher-Colwill
Director of Business & Administrative Services / Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer, Department of Commerce
Thomas “Pat” Flanders
Chief Information Officer and Program Executive Officer for Medical Systems, Defense Health Agency
Susan Foster
Senior Field Marketing Manager, Public Sector, Equinix
Kathryn Freeland
President and CEO, A-TEK, Inc.
Kurt Freitag
AI Center of Excellence Lead/ Full Stack Developer, A Square Group, LLC
Brian Funk
Chief Technology Officer, MetaPhase
Danni Gaines
Acquisition Project Manager, Office of Business and Customer Assurance, Food and Drug Administration
D. William Gaines
Chief, Infrastructure Services Branch, National Heart, Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health
Gina Gallagher
Growth Executive, LMI Solutions
Jack Galvin
Deputy Chief Information Officer, VA Office of Inspector General
Anika Gardner
Agile Program Manager, Publicis Sapient
Matthew Garvey
Managing Principal, Continuum
Saumyendu Ghosh, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Digital Transformation/Office of Operations, Office of Business Informatics and Solutions Management, Food and Drug Administration
Roshni Ghosh, M.D.
Public Sector Industry Leader
Greg Giddens
Partner, Potomac Ridge Consulting
Michael Gleeson
Management and Program Analyst, Mission Strategy, Food and Drug Administration
Garth Glenn
Data Architect, TISTA Science and Technology Corporation
Eric Gonzales
Sr. Director, Client Growth & Strategy, Ad Hoc, LLC
Joe Grace
CEO, Grace and Associates
Nick Grandis
Account Executive, Rubrik
Leonard Grant
Head of Contracting Activity and Director, Office of Acquisitions & Grants Services, Food and Drug Administration
Susan Gregurick
Associate Director for Data Science, Office of Data Science and Strategy, National Institutes of Health
Polly Hall
Chief Advisor for Acquisition, Innovation & Policy Integration, General Services Administration
Kate Hammen
Senior Technical Advisor, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Stu Hammer
Senior Director, Strategy, Peraton
Allison Hickey
CEO, All In Solutions, LLC
Jane Hite-Syed
Chief Operating Officer, Wellpoint Federal
Raymond Holder
Chief Growth Officer, Capgemini
Kristen Honey, Ph.D.
Chief Data Officer and Analytics Officer, Department of Health and Human Services
Karen Hudgins
Executive Advisor to the Chairman, Signature Performance
Iris Ibekwe
Associate Director of Front End Development, CivicActions
Nikolaos Ipiotis
CIO, ARPA-H
Jennifer Johnson
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Acquisitions/Senior Procurement Executive, Department of Health and Human Services
Bill Jones
Director, Security Practice, Tria Federal
Ratima Kataria
VP Health IT Strategy and Growth, ICF
Renee Kearney
Vice President Consulting Services, CGI Federal
Barbara Keating
Managing Director, Maximus
Shana Keating
Senior Solution Sales Executive, ServiceNow
Melanie Keller
Deputy Commissioner for Operations and Chief Operating Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Trey Kennedy
Director, SBIR Programs, CGI Federal
Jennie Khun, DSL
OD CIO and IT Director, National Institutes of Health
Chris Kim
Senior Vice President of Growth, BDR Solutions
Michael Kim
Sr. IT Manager for the VA Logistics Integration Platform (VALIP), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Don Knieriem
Vice President/Chief Growth Officer, Federal Health Division, GDIT
Danielle Krakora
CEO, Co-Founder, Ibility, LLC
Kendall Krebs
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Infrastructure Operations, Department of Veterans Affairs
Ben Kutil
Chief Technology Officer, Ad Hoc, LLC
David Kwon
Vice President Consulting Services, CGI Federal
Carrie Lee
Federal Health Cyber Lead, Guidehouse
Joshua Lehman
Office Director, Office of Business & Customer Assurance, Food and Drug Administration
Efe Lind
Chief Solutions Officer, PingWind, Inc.
Ryan Loving
Vice President, Federal Health and Civilian Agencies, LMI Solutions
Anita Lynn
Principal, Health and Homeland Sector, Capgemini
Robin Major
President, SoftDev
Srdhar Mantha
Chief Information Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Jess Markey
Senior Product Manager, Publicis Sapient
Daniel McCune
Principal, VA and Military Health, Credence Management Solutions, LLC
Matthew McKinsey
Program Director – VISN 4 Tele Emergency Care, Department of Veterans Affairs
Shane McNamee
Industry Lead, Global Public Health, Appian
Bethany Messick
Deputy Director, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Tim Miller
Field CTO and Public Sector Cyber Lead, Dataminr
Mahua Mitra
Chief, Enterprise Platform Services, National Institutes of Health
Benjamin Moncarz
Chief Financial Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Eric Myers
IT Supervisory Specialist, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services
April Nadeau
Senior Vice President, Sentar
Kamal Narang
Senior Vice President, Federal Health, GDIT
Vijay Narasimhan
Chief Technology Officer, ASSYST, Inc.
Jeff Neill
Executive Director and Senior Procurement Executive, OAL, Department of Veterans Affairs
Steevenson Nelson, Ph.D.
Office of Strategy Analyst, National Institutes of Health
Patrick Newbold
Chief Information Officer/Director of Information Technology, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Jordan Parsons
CEO & Co-Founder, GovAllies
Kimberly Pendleton
Procurement Officer, Food and Drug Administration
Melinda Pitchford
Chief Strategy Officer, Connected Logistics
Michele Wimbush Pratt
Technical Project Manager, Peraton, Inc.
Laura Prietula
SES and Senior Advisor to the VA CIO and PDAS, Department of Veterans Affairs
Denise Rainey
President & CEO, Rainmakers Strategic Solutions
Colleen Reed
Branch Chief, Trademark Systems Division, United States Patent and Trademark Office
Alton Robinson
Program Manager, DoW Fire & Emergency Services Certification Program, Air Force Civil Engineer Center
Wilma Robinson
Deputy Executive Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
Edwin Rosas
Chief Executive Officer, Avetus Partners
Jennifer Rosas
Co-Founder & Advisor, Avetus Partners
Lisa Rosenmerkel
Acting Deputy Chief Information Officer, Compliance, Risk and Mediation, OIT, Department of Veterans Affairs
Lisa Rosenthal
VP, Civil Health Client Executive, Optum Serve
Nathan Ruiz
Senior Vice President, Govini
Bobby Saxon
Specialist Executive, Deloitte
Andreas Schick
Director of Data Science, Food and Drug Administration
Steve Schliesman
Senior Vice President, Heath Mission Systems, Leidos
Zachary Schwartz
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for OIT, Department of Veterans Affairs
Kevin Seeley
Vice President, Veterans Affairs Services, GDIT
Murari Selvakesavan
Director, Div of Enterprise Info. Mgmt Services, Enterprise Architecture and Data Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Melissa Shea
Senior Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer, Food and Drug Administration
TJ Shumard
Business Development Executive, Abt Global
David Sloniker
Vice President of Supply Chain Management, TISTA Science and Technology Corporation
Mitchell Smith
Founder and CEO, Govbase
Andrea Snader
Sector President, Edgewater Federal Solutions
Erin Snyder
Executive Vice President, CORTEK, Inc.
Mike Snyder
CEO, EM Key Solutions, Inc.
Steven Sousa
Senior Vice President HHS, CGI Federal
Jeffrey M. Spaeth
Chief Information Security Officer (Acting), Department of Veterans Affairs
Kathy Spangler, DNP
Senior Director for Health Mission Systems, Maximus
Eric Strauss
Chief Growth Officer, Connected Logistics
Ned Struzziero
Vice President of Growth, Sprezzatura
Rob Suchocki
MEPBS COR, Office of Information Technology, Director, Div of Enterprise Info. Mgmt Services, Enterprise Architecture and Data Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Scott Svabek
Director of Tactical Operations, Grace & Associates
Sallie Sweeney
Vice President of Cybersecurity Services, Edgewater Federal Solutions
Frank Tucker
CEO, MicroHealth, LLC
Augie Turano
Director of Data Migration and Management (retired), Department of Veterans Affairs
Mike Vogel
Senior Client Executive, Credence Management Solutions
Jennifer Wade
Associate Director for Enterprise Solutions, Food and Drug Administration
Greg Wagner
VP of Growth, All In Solutions, LLC
Rebecca Weaver
Vice President, CGI Federal
Kate Wetherby
Acting Director Marketplace IT Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Dawn Wierzbicki
Chief Federal Business Development Officer, Signature Performance
Rich Wilson
Senior Vice President, Health and Services Growth, Leidos
Michael Wittman
Vice President, CGI Federal
Gina Wolery
Chief Operating Officer, Index Analytics
Mary Womack
Federal Civilian Account Lead, Rock IT Data
Robert Wood
CEO, Sidekick Security
Christopher Wyckoff
Executive Director of Strategic Technology and Platform Partnerships, TISTA Science and Technology Corporation
Krista Yager
Vice President, Health, Peraton
Diane Yarnell
President, Health IT, DLH Corporation
Wade Zarriello
Acting Director, Infrastructure & User Services Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
