Keynote Speakers
Thursday, Sept. 8
Colleen Harris
Making the Transition to GA4 and Google Data Studio
Session Speakers
Aaron Ogle
Aaron Ogle is a Technical Program Manager at Google.org. He manages Google.org Fellowship program, which offers full-time pro bono support for nonprofits and civic entities. He has collectively managed dozens of projects supporting these organizations in using technology to advance their missions.
Before joining Google.org, he was most recently the Director of Engineering for Nava PBC, where he led a 120+ engineering team to build human-centered digital services for state and federal governments. He has also been a public servant with the City of Philadelphia, built communications tools with Congress, made benefits more accessible in Vermont, studied public policy at the Aspen Institute Tech Policy Hub, and was an inaugural Fellow with Code for America.
Andrea Batts-Latson
Ms. Batts-Latson manages the DINFOS PAVILION website and teaches graphic and web design at Frederick Community College.
As the self-titled, super teacher, “HappieTeach,” and masked superhero ‚”BattyLatty‚” she `fights crimes against design one learner at a time.`
Her creative characters, superior design skills, and engaging antics won the hearts and minds of students, with proven track records of success. She continues to inspire students and audiences with irresistible humor.
This winning combination earned her the Civilian and the Instructor of the Year Awards in 2015. Prior, Ms. Batts-Latson designed and developed visual information marketing campaigns for the Army Family, Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Annual Symposiums.
Ms. Batts-Latson holds many distinguished titles of Adobe Education Leader, Adobe Education Trainer, Adobe Community Professional, Adobe Creative Educator, and Adobe Campus Leader, applying more than a decade of Adobe Education training in the areas of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver Spark; recently earning a specialist certification in Experience Design (Xd) for interactive multimedia web applications. Her brand designs are prevalent in diverse federal and military communication campaigns, in online digital art libraries, and instructional materials for print, video, social and multimedia platforms.
Andrew Liebelt
I have been working with and supporting Governments for the past 6 years and have been our Director of Support & Knowledge for the last 3 and specialize in helping governments
Brian Mitchell
Brian has been serving businesses, non-profit organizations, and government entities since he founded interGen web solutions in 2006. He has a strong interest in integrating diverse data sources into intuitive user experience, providing robust hosting environments, and matching business needs with effective solutions.
Brian also served as the President of Open Source Matters, providing financial and legal stewardship for the Joomla Content Management System.
Connor McFadden
Connor McFadden is an award-winning cinematographer, photographer & editor working in Atlanta, Georgia. Raised in Philadelphia, he began making short films at age seven and in 2014 he graduated with honors from Rowan University with a Bachelor’s degree in Radio/TV/Film and a concentration in New Media. Connor’s corporate video work ranges from local small businesses to $10 billion corporations. Additionally, he has lensed short films, music videos, interviews and visual art projects.
David Herr
David Herr has been working in the accessibility industry for over 10 years, focused on document accessibility after a long career in IT. He earned his CPACC from IAAP and often is a speaker at CSUN and many other accessibility conferences.
Currently he is the Vice-President of Enterprise Solutions at CommonLook where he works with clients and partners on solutions for document accessibility across their organizations.
Don Torrez
Don Torrez has worked with more than 350 local governments to better understand web accessibility and how to best comply with laws and guidelines.
Don is a Certified Accessibility Coordinator with the ADA and has produced webinars and white papers in the US and Australia. He also has written a training curriculum on Web Accessibility and speaks out for greater awareness in electronic disability issues. His vision is to remove the fear and confusion from this issue.
Gregg Turnbull
Gregg is the Director of Innovation and Insights for Larimer County, Colorado & Mountain Region Director for NAGW. Gregg is also CCGCIO certified, as well as a Certified Government Digital Service Professional (CGDSP).
Hadiza Buge
Ms. Buge currently leads digital media and communication efforts for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Hadiza provides digital media oversight in both web technologies and web communication to other divisions in ATF. In her current position, Hadiza oversees the development of agency policy to incorporate communication activities across, print, web, and audiovisual products and delivers guidance to other non-communication staff on communication products.
Prior to ATF, Hadiza led the crisis communication team on Ebola in West Africa and the web communication in the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation and Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention where she created and provided oversight for social media accounts, managed the websites (including writing and editing content) and also served as the division’s SharePoint administrator facilitating many user-centered web redesigns, several preventions, and awareness campaigns, and creating and implementing an award-winning DHAP web request system allowing for streamlining and better managing of the content.
S
he led agency-wide collaboration efforts and created and/or contributed to the creation of several manuals regarding digital processes that allow for institutional knowledge to be shared. She has created and helped lead the implementation of social media plans for three divisions and was a pioneering member of the team that led the first social media campaign at CDC. Hadiza has won center, agency and department, and other industry awards for her work.
Before her time at CDC, Hadiza worked as an International Assignment Editor/Producer for CNN International and CNN USA.
Harish R Rao
Harish founded Interpersonal Frequency with a vision of creating a unique software development firm dedicated to empowering public organizations and government municipalities with high-end, modern digital technologies. Combining his real-world expertise in civic technology, management, and digital marketing with a passion for data-driven tools and processes, he is always seeking new ways to bring user experience and engagement to the fore.
Heather Shirm
Heather Shirm currently works as Digital Marketing and Communications Manager for Palm Beach County. Her team oversees content for the county’s Internet and Intranet websites as well all social media outlets. She is responsible for writing and updating the official county social media policy and for archiving all social media posts. In 2015, her social media policy won the first ever GSMCON Golden Post Award for Best Government Social Media Policy.
Holly Milne
David is a recognized cloud expert. He has received 2 AWS City On a Cloud awards for his teams’. David has served at the city, county, state, and federal in both the United States & Canada. Additionally, he has consulted with the 18F Digital Service Agency(White House) & Argonne National Laboratory (DOE). .
John Northup
John has worked in web development since 2000, in roles including design, coding, usability, and accessibility. He thrives on the challenge of facilitating delightful, engaging experiences for aural and visual users alike. He holds a master’s in information science from the University of Michigan School of Information, an undergraduate degree in mass communications from Goddard College, and a CPACC certification from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.
Ken Smith
Ken Smith is a Certified Government Digital Services Professional and has served as the Web Communications Specialist for the City of Bryan, Texas for nearly a decade. Ken is responsible for the design, development, management, security and accessibility of more than a dozen websites and applications for the City of Bryan and its community partners.
During Ken’s tenure, the City of Bryan’s websites and digital products have been recognized for more than 20 state and national awards from TAMIO, 3CMA, NAGW and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Formerly a National Politics Producer and news designer at the Washington Post, Ken’s portfolio spanned both the print and online sides of the Post’s award-winning journalism. In his 20 years as a journalist, Ken won numerous awards for his work and was a key player in designing the coverage of some of the biggest news stories of the 21st century.
When not working on websites, Ken spends as much time as he can fly fishing, collecting antiques, grilling large quantities of meat in his backyard, and spending time with his wife Jennifer, their dog and their three cats.
Marcus Townsend
CGDSP with 20+ years working on the web, 16+ years in Local government, and is currently working as a Solution Architect for the City of Fayetteville North Carolina
Monica Grover
Monica Grover is an FBI public affairs specialist with 10 years of digital communication experience.
She creates and edits content for the Bureau’s web and social media teams. She also manages the FBIs award-winning podcast series Inside the FBI.
Monica has a passion for plain language and loves her newfound role telling stories in audio form!
NeKeisha Philippeaux
NeKeisha Philippeaux is Web Communications Specialist who has over 10 years of service with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). She is currently the Acting Branch Chief of the Web Media Branch. She oversees the maintenance of ATF.gov, ATF en Espanol, the bureau’s digital memorial, digital signage system and more. She has received awards for her outstanding work and continues to make strides in the digital communications realm.
Rachael Taft
Rachael Taft joined Manatee County Government in April 2017, coming from a background in journalism, PR and marketing in the private and nonprofit sectors. She manages the County’s website and social media, works across departments to develop new digital tools to help serve the public, and assists with a variety of communications initiatives as part of the Information Outreach team. An avid traveler, Rachael lived in eight different states and countries before choosing Florida as her home.
Rasmi Elasmar
Rasmi Elasmar is a Technical Program Manager at Google.org.
Aaron Ogle is a Technical Program Manager at Google.org.
Together, they manage Google.org’s Fellowship program, which offers full-time pro bono support for nonprofits and civic entities. They have collectively managed dozens of projects supporting these organizations in using technology to advance their missions.
NAGW Sponsors
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS!
