The Government Technology & Services Coalition today announced the launch of a second collaboration around “governing advanced technology before it governs us” – FITGovDATA. The Summit will host practitioners from the public and private sector to work jointly on best practices in governance around early and safe adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Since the FITGov Summit in May 2023, the critical focus of efforts in AI remains the synergy between AI and data. Throughout the Summit, leaders repeatedly highlighted the need for accurate and unbiased data for optimal results from AI. To that end, FITGov has added several data luminaries from both the public and private sectors to advance the collaboration around agile governance and facilitate robust exchange around challenges implementing AI.
“Data – sharing it, using it, understanding the power of it – has been evolving quickly for many years. The recent explosion of Generative AI has put recent progress front and center, showing that we are preparing for all AI is throwing our way. I believe collaboration between the public and private sectors is more crucial than ever – we must work together to learn from oneanother to set the proper guide rails to assure optimal use for our advantage, both offensive and defensive,” said Co-Chair of FITGovDATA Donna Roy, Strategic Advisor to Guidehouse’s National Security Sector and former veteran of data and information sharing at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Roy worked across DHS to establish the Chief Data Officer function and spearheaded the DHS Data Framework, an approach aimed at closing mission critical data gaps and maturing the enterprise data access framework for securing and safeguarding sensitive and classified data.
Newly appointed FITGovDATA Co-Chair and GTSC Mentor Mike Horton, former Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,said, “AI is advancing both in the public and private sectors at an alarming rate – as a nation we face these opportunities and challenges not as public vs private but as our nation against the capabilities being developed by others. Our collaboration now, around the governance and security of our systems and data, is architecting our future. I’m very excited to be in the middle of this evolution.” Horton, now Vice President, National Security at ASRC Federal, was the first CDO at DHS, established the DHS CDO Council, revised the Data Governance Council charter, and set the agency on course with the DHS Data Maturity Model (DMM) and approval for the DHS Evidenced-Based Data Strategy (EDS).
Adding to the thought leaders engaged in this critical conversation around data are Rob Brown, former Chief Data Officer for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services known throughout industry as an innovator and “do-er,” and Robin Champ, who most recently left her role as Chief, Enterprise Strategy Division and strategic foresight expert at the U.S. Secret Service to join LBL Strategies as Vice President.
FITGovDATA is partnering with host Google and will take place February 28, 2024 in Reston, Virginia.
“We are extremely pleased to facilitate collaborations around the most critical homeland security topics, with the experienced, proven leaders from both government and industry,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO & Founder of GTSC. “Everyone is ready to roll up their sleeves and figure out how we assure and agile governance process that harnesses the power of AI without hampering its potential.”
We welcome this extraordinary team of leaders to the FITGovDATA team. Learn more about them, and sign up for updates on the Summit at www.FITGovSummit.org. Join us on Linkedin and Facebook @FITGovSummit
The inaugural FITGovDATA Summit will convene February 28, 2024, in-person, in Reston, Virginia.
