AI FedLab

Katrina Brisbon is a distinguished former career member of the Senior Executive Service with extensive leadership experience in federal acquisitions and procurement strategy. Most recently, she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions/Chief Procurement Officer and Senior Procurement Executive at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, she advised the HHS Senior Executive leadership on matters related to the HHS Acquisitions Enterprise while ensuring delivery of transparent, best value solutions across the $40 billion HHS acquisition portfolio. Prior to her tenure at HHS, Ms. Brisbon served as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Contracting and Procurement and Head of the Contracting Activity at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). There, she directed all aspects of TSA’s $3.8 billion acquisition operations, including oversight of contract operations, contract policy, business systems, and strategic planning. Ms. Brisbon also served as the executive liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Chief Procurement Officer on all matters related to TSA contracts and procurement, policy, legislation, and the workforce.

Ms. Brisbon’s federal service also includes a key leadership role as the Deputy Head of the Contracting Activity for the Defense Information Systems Agency. In this capacity, she provided strategic direction and oversight for the acquisition of telecommunications systems, information technology assets and associated services for annual obligations of approximately $7 billion.

Prior to joining the Senior Executive ranks, Ms. Brisbon held several influential roles, including Director of Acquisition Policy & Systems for the U.S. Coast Guard; Chief of the Contracting Office for the U.S. Army Intelligence Command; and Director of Major Acquisition Systems – Information Technology for the U.S. Coast Guard. In each role, Ms. Brisbon was responsible for developing and optimizing acquisition practices and advancing the capability and effectiveness of the acquisition workforce to ensure the most efficient means of acquiring supplies and services for the nation’s military forces.

Ms. Brisbon earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration & Computer Science from Newbery College, Newberry, South Carolina. She also earned a Master of Science in Human Relations (Concentration in Counseling Services) from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master of Business Administration from Liberty University.

Angela Kovach is the Head of Public Sector at ZL Technologies, where she leads strategy, sales, partnerships, and compliance initiatives for federal, state, and local agencies. She previously supported the U.S. Department of Justice by helping design the first cloud-based eDiscovery environment for U.S. Attorneys, managing custom workflow development for evidence processing, and serving as faculty at the National Advocacy Center. Angela has over 15 years of experience in legal technology, information governance, and federal contracting. She is a licensed attorney and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Yacine Allaoua boasts extensive experience supporting the US Federal Government and International Organizations in leveraging cutting-edge technology to solve complex problems. With a specialization in Government, he has worked across all three pillars (Civilian, Defense, and Intelligence) and supported International Government Agencies in multiple regions, including Latin America, Asia, and Europe. These experiences have provided him with invaluable insights into how public-private partnerships can bridge gaps and create a greater force multiplier.

Yacine has an intimate understanding of enabling emerging technologies to the Public Sector, having supported Governments with solutions ranging from digital assets related investigations and capacity building, supply chain visibility; as well as threat intelligence and cybersecurity solutions. More recently, Yacine has been passionate about the generational technology that Artificial Intelligence brings to the table and ultimately how AI can help meet Government missions.

With fluency in English, French, Arabic, and Spanish, Yacine is uniquely positioned to navigate the complexities of global business. Based in the Washington, DC area, Yacine is passionate about emerging technologies, international relations, disruptive trends, languages, innovation, sports and fitness.

Dr. Jesus Caban is the chief data scientist for the Enterprise Intelligence and Data Solutions Program Management Office. In this role, he provides direct support to the EIDS program manager in the PMO’s development and delivery of robust information and data platforms that facilitate informed decision-making for the entire Military Health System.

Dr. Caban previously served as the chief of clinical and research informatics at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence/Defense Intrepid Network from 2011 to 2022. In that role, his team led the planning, implementing, and sustaining of the DOD Traumatic Brain Injury Patient Registry, TBI Portal, TBI dashboards, the Clinical Assessment Management Portal, and multiple artificial intelligence/machine learning models for mental health. Dr. Caban is a trained computer scientist with more than 16 years of experience in inter-disciplinary clinical and informatics research. He has authored more than 60 scientific papers in clinical informatics, TBI, AI/ML, image processing, and data visualization. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the Uniform Services University at Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches within the Data Science graduate program.

Dr. Caban holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Kentucky. He was a 2022 Inductee to the University of Kentucky College of Engineering Hall of Distinction. He won the Defense Health Agency Innovation Award and AMSUS HealthIT Award in 2018, and the TBI Portal won a Federal HealthIT Innovation Award in 2019.

Zach Whitman is the Chief Data Scientist and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) at the General Services Administration (GSA), where he supports the Data Analytics Center of Excellence (CoE) team, and leads cloud migration, data architecture modernization, change management, data and analytics, data management, technology procurement, and strategy formation modernization efforts at external federal agencies.

As GSA’s inaugural Chief AI Officer, Zach is responsible for maintaining awareness of GSA’s artificial intelligence activities, establishing processes to measure and evaluate AI performance, establish and chair AI oversight governing bodies, lead the development of GSA’s AI inventory and other reporting, among many other responsibilities. He played a pivotal role in standing up GSA’s AI Directive.

Zach has over a decade of experience in research and data analysis and has released several research publications. Before joining GSA, Zach served as the Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Census Bureau for over seven years. During his tenure, he worked to make data as accessible as possible and to build trust in data analytics across the US.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology from Colgate University and a Doctorate in Hazard and Disaster Management from the University of Canterbury.

Jonathan Alboum is the Federal CTO at ServiceNow. In this role, Jonathan works with federal agencies to deliver digital workflows that create great experiences and unlock productivity.

Before joining ServiceNow, Jonathan held a variety of senior executive positions in the federal government. His federal government tenure includes serving as the Chief Information Officerfor the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he led the development of USDA’s ITModernization strategy, including Cloud computing, network modernization, and enhanced information security protections for a $3 billion annual technology spend. In addition, he servedas a leader in USDA’s Acquisition community, supporting the oversight, assessment, andstrategic planning of an acquisition portfolio of more than 70,000 awards, worth $6 billion annually.

Jonathan also worked at GSA as the Associate CIO for Enterprise Governance and Planning andled the creation of GSA’s consolidated IT organization. He began his federal career at the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), where he served as Deputy CIO and CIO. Before joining government, he worked in management consulting.

Jonathan holds a MS in the Management of Information Technology from the University ofVirginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Captain Christopher D. Clark enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2008. His initial assignment was with the Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron Futenma, where he served as a Financial Analyst until 2010. He then moved to Marine Corps Forces Pacific, holding the position of Budget Chief until 2013, where he was responsible for overseeing financial transactions worth $38 million annually.

In 2012, Captain Clark completed an Associate of Arts in General Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, which assisted in his selection for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program. He continued his education at The Ohio State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2016, followed by commissioning as a Communications Officer in the Marine Corps.

Captain Clark served as the Staff Communications Officer (S-6) for Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) from 2017 to 2021. In this role, he managed the communications requirements for the Group and its seven Squadrons in garrison, exercise, and deployment requirements across the Pacific Region to include multiple Marine Corps Rotational Forces Darwin deployments, exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, and Service Level Training Exercises as the Aviation Command Element S-6.
Captain Clark obtained a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management and Policy from the University of Maryland Global Campus in 2020 while working as the MAG-24 S-6, complementing his military duties and expertise in the field of information security.

Captain Clark was then selected to attend the Naval Postgraduate School, graduating in 2023 with a Master of Science in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence. For his thesis, he created a novel adversarial example attack using the A* Search algorithm that creates adversarial images that cause deep neural networks to misclassify images with minimal added noise. This thesis involved significant work in building, training, and attacking advanced machine learning models in white and black box settings.

Currently, Captain Clark is the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Information, Service Data Office Artificial Intelligence Lead Officer, a role that utilizes his extensive academic background and experience in the Marine Corps. He is the author of the USMC Artificial Intelligence Strategy, is leading the development of the USMC Artificial Intelligence Implementation Plan, and is a Doctor of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence candidate at George Washington University.

Colin Crosby is a distinguished leader with over 24 years of military and business experience. In his current roles as Marine Corps Service Data Officer and Deputy DON Chief Data Officer, he is responsible for strategic development and implementation of comprehensive approaches and governance for enterprise data, content management, information and knowledge management, and artificial intelligence.

Dr. Crosby’s military career began as a Communications Officer in the Marine Corps, after immigrating from Kingston, Jamaica to the United States in 1983. He graduated from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University (FAMU) with a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1994 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1996 after completing Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia.

Dr. Crosby transitioned to the Inactive Ready Reserves in 2004 to pursue higher education, earning an MBA in 2006 and a Doctorate in Business Administration with a specialization in Information Security. He excelled as the
Business Development Lead for M.E.R.I.T., Inc., where he developed and executed strategic initiatives that significantly shaped the company’s future.

In 2008, Dr. Crosby rejoined the Marine Corps’ Reserve IMA Detachment and was mobilized in support of Operations Enduring Freedom as the II MEF Information Technology Officer/Information Assurance Manager. He
later supported the United Nations Mission to Haiti (MINUSTAH) and held various roles within the Marine Corps, including Information and Knowledge Manager at HQMC DC Information.

Dr. Prithviraj (Raj) Dasgupta is a research scientist in the Distributed Intelligent Systems Section, Information Technology Division at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. His research is in the areas of adversarial artificial intelligence, machine learning, game-playing AI and game theory. He has led several large projects in these areas involving multi-agent and multi-robot systems, and has published over 150 research papers in premier journals and conferences. His research has resulted in several best paper and commendation awards. He is a senior member of IEEE; he serves as the editor of IEEE Intelligent Systems and on the program committees of top-tier AI conferences including IJCAI, AAAI and AAMAS. Prior to joining the Naval Research Laboratory, he was a full professor (tenured) with the Computer Science department at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2001.

Jake currently serves the Senior Technical Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A). In this role Jake is responsible for implementation of Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as well as rapid acquisition in the Department of Navy and the Marine Corps. Jake previously served as Director of Advanced Capabilities for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) Program. He was responsible for developing and integrating critical new technologies in conjunction with the US Army and DARPA into the CPS platform with an annual budget of over $60M. Jake served as a Program Manager at the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Unmanned Systems transitioning critical technology to the warfighter and Program Lead for Team Submarine Project Turing rapidly introducing AI into the undersea domain with a total budget of $140M. Jake served as the Assistant Program Manager (APM) for Submarine Combat Future Development and the Payload Control System (PCS) in NAVSEA PEO Submarine with an annual budget of over $30M. His portfolio as APM includes all Payload control and integration including unmanned vehicles, missiles and torpedoes for the BYG-1 Combat Control System and the Common Weapon Launchers (CWL). In his future development portfolio Jake is the Program Manager for the Submarine Launched Unmanned Aerial System (SLUAS) providing command and control as well as a Virtual Twin Combat System for the Submarine Force.

Jake served as the SEA05 System Design Manager (SDM), Technical Warrant Holder for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Module (MM) program in the PMS 420 program office and the SDM for a Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) program for the Unmanned Maritime Systems program in the PMS 406 program office. Jake has extensive Naval Engineering experience from with the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) as the lead software engineer and extensive submarine development and engineering experience with the BYG-1 Submarine Combat Control System.

Jake’s first job with the Department of the Navy was a CO-OP at Lockheed Martin Moorestown during his undergraduate study at Drexel University in Philadelphia spending three years working Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense in charge of test development and simulations of the combat system capability. Upon graduating Jake joined the civil service at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division Hydrodynamics group spending 4 years as the In Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) for the Seawolf Class Submarine Ship Control System and Data Distribution System.

Jake first came to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in 2011 serving as the lead software engineer for the RMS and AN/AQS-20A sonar system. From 2012 to 2014 he served as lead engineer of the Submarine Weapon Control System and head of the Open Architecture initiative for the BYG-1 Submarine Combat Control System.

Jake has received several NAVSEA awards including a NAVSEA Innovation Award over his career for innovation and excellence in engineering. Jake was recognized as Engineer of the Year (2020) by ASNE and has been published by the Naval Submarine League on Combat Systems of the Future. He has a Bachelor’s of Science (BS) in Computer Engineering from Drexel University, a Master’s of Science (MS) in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University, a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland and is completing a Masters of Arts (MA) in Strategic Studies at the Naval War College.

Dr. Jennifer Roberts joined ARPA-H in February 2023 from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she was the assistant director of Health Technologies. She has a broad background in both engineering and computer science and has overseen research programs and strategy development on topics such as cyber security, health care data interoperability, and artificial intelligence for synthetic biology.

Before joining the White House, Roberts worked for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as deputy director of the Information Innovation Office. During this time, she received the prestigious Superior Public Service Medal for her contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence and cyber security. Roberts has a Ph.D. in computer science from MIT, which she attended as both a National Science Foundation and Hertz Foundation Fellow.

Susan K. Gregurick, Ph.D., was appointed Associate Director for Data Science and Director of the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) at the National Institutes of Health on Sept. 16, 2019. Under Dr. Gregurick’s leadership, the ODSS leads the implementation of the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science through scientific, technical, and operational collaboration with the institutes, centers, and offices that comprise NIH. Dr. Gregurick was instrumental in the creation of the ODSS in 2018 and served as a senior advisor to the office until being named to her current position.

Dr. Gregurick was previously the Division Director for Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Prior to joining the NIH in 2013, Dr. Gregurick was a program director in the Office of Biological and Environmental Research at the Department of Energy.

Before beginning a career of government service, Dr. Gregurick was a professor of computational chemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her research interests included dynamics of large biological macromolecules, and her areas of expertise are computational biology, high performance computing, neutron scattering and bioinformatics.

Dr. Gregurick received her undergraduate degree in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Maryland.

Kaitlin Klaum is a dynamic leader in the technology space, currently serving as a Senior Solutions Engineering Manager at Box, where she leads the U.S. Public Sector team supporting Federal, State, and Local government agencies. With over 13 years of experience spanning sales engineering, business development, and strategic communications, Kaitlin brings a deep understanding of how to align technical innovation with mission-driven outcomes. Kaitlin is passionate about empowering teams, streamlining agency operations, and driving inclusive, forward-thinking solutions across the public sector.

Dr. Brian Henz is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Senior Science Advisor (ST) for Artificial Intelligence in the Science and Technology (S&T) directorate. Dr. Henz served as a member of the DHS AI Task Force (AITF) and is currently leading the development of AI Assurance methods to support acquisition and use of AI within the core missions of DHS. Dr. Henz received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, and has published over 80 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and conference proceedings.

Kevin Walsh is a Director in GAO’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity team. He oversees work related to AI, Census, CIO authorities, legacy modernizations, and satellite and space systems. He has led reviews covering topics related to the authorities of federal Chief Information Officers, management of legacy IT systems, coordination of IT contracts, and assessments of IT-related risk.

Kevin joined GAO in June 2006, and led projects related to FITARA and GAO’s High Risk area on Improving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations.

Kevin earned a master’s degree in business administration from Virginia Tech. Kevin earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Martin Stanley, AI and Cybersecurity Researcher, leads the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) efforts at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Information Technology Laboratory. Martin previously led the Emerging Technology and R&D Program at CISA and the Enterprise Cybersecurity Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Prior to his federal service Martin held executive leadership positions at Vonage and UUNET Technologies.  Martin co-authored “Digital Health”, an Oxford University Press Publication.