Event speakers

Airis McCottry Gill

Executive Director, Employee Experience and Organizational Management
Veterans Experience Office

Airis McCottry Gill was appointed as the Executive Director for Employee Experience and Organizational Management in September 2021. Through this role, Ms. Gill is responsible for leading the effort to establish the employee experience capability for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as well as providing human resources, budget, acquisition, and logistics support for the Veterans Experience Office (VEO). In 2020, she spearheaded the creation of VA’s first-ever Employee Journey Map and in 2022 led the development and launch of VA’s first Employee Trust and Experience quarterly survey. Ms. Gill joined the Department in July 2016 as the Director of Management, Planning and Analysis. Prior to her tenure at VA, Airis served as the Director of Internal Operations and Executive Officer in the General Services Administration (GSA) Public Buildings Service National Capital Region, leading the organizational resources and employee engagement efforts for over 1,100 employees and a personnel, compensation, and benefits budget of $148M.

Larry Smith

Director of Educational Technologies & Technical Director
Marine Corps University and U.S. Marine Corps

As Director of Educational Technologies (ET) for the Marine Corps College of Distance Education and Training (CDET), Larry Smith leads strategic development for the integration of technology into the learning environments of Marine Corps University (MCU) and across the Marine Corps enterprise. Under Mr. Smith’s leadership, the Marine Corps architected and modernized the enterprise eLearning Ecosystem to support in-person, asynchronous and virtual learning and deliver content at the point of need. He is responsible for training MCU and ET staff on content creation tools, collaborative innovation as well as Learning Management System (LMS) and Content Management System (CMS) service reliability and consistency. Mr. Smith has more than 30 years of progressively responsible management and leadership experience with fourteen years of Program Management experience relating to Information/Educational Technology and Distributed Learning. Prior to joining the Marine Corps College of Continuing Education as Deputy Director in 2017, Mr. Smith spent 20 years as a Marine Corps pilot.

Tanya Chowdhury

Public Sector, Industry Engagement, Digital Strategy Group
Adobe

As an Engagement Manager on Adobe’s Digital Strategy Group, Tanya Chowdhury has partnered with leading State, Local, and Federal Civilian agencies to enable digital transformation by providing holistic guidance covering experiences, people, process, & platforms. As government has shifted to digital with a focus on equity, she has advised on government employee experience, go-to-market strategies, and developed Adobe’s perspective on Digital Equity to illuminate what equity in digital looks like and how it can be achieved to meet the needs of constituents, residents, and/or citizens who are: disabled, unhoused, without access to internet, non-English speaking, not digitally literate, etc. <br/ > Prior to Public Sector, Tanya partnered with leading financial institutions where she developed innovative strategies to advise their C-suite on how to achieve their objectives and drive growth. Tanya is passionate about supporting the government better serve the public and all its customers.

Rukshan Gunawardana

Solutions Consultant, Public Sector, Experience Cloud
Adobe

Rukshan has served clients in the public sector arena for over 15 years. His diverse career has given him extensive experience in digital transformation, delivery of cyber security solutions, and providing tailored architectural services in heterogeneous environments. As a Solutions Consultant at Adobe, Rukshan continues his work with government agencies, empowering clients to meet their digital goals through Adobe's advanced digital technologies.

James Hanson

Head of Public Sector Strategy, Digital Strategy Group
Adobe

James has 20+ years of domain knowledge and expertise helping organizations develop strategies, messaging, and brand positioning across government sectors. As Head of Industry Strategy, James is responsible for driving the digital experience for government agenda through public and private sector use cases and best practices to solve specific government challenges.

David Santiago

Head of Industry Strategy, Public Sector, Document Cloud
Adobe

David Santiago is a strategic technology leader with nearly 20 years of experience in digital transformation. A former member of the federal Senior Executive Service, David has helped oversee numerous, successful technology modernization programs across government, delivering long-lasting, positive change in support of critical missions.

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