[email protected]

Sponsors: Fairfax City and Looking Glass Cyber

Host: Jennifer Taylor

Steve Jordon is Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s (NVTC) Veterans

Employment Initiative (VEI) and Vice President of the NVTC Foundation. NVTC is the trade

association for the technology community in the National Capital Region and serves a membership

of nearly 1000 companies and organizations representing over 300,000 employees. Steve leads a

“business driven” approach to addressing the significant challenges of military members, Veterans

and their spouses in transitioning to civilian employment. The VEI has facilitated over 12,000

Veteran hires since 2013.

Sponsors: Fairfax City, Lookingglasscyber

Host: Cindy Gurne, My View

Asaad Taha is a leading Social Impact Entrepreneur and Senior Principle Adviser with multisectoral expertise on the continuum of social impact programs—from the strategic level to frontline delivery. He has a special interest in the Health Science.

His background shows a quality education in multidisciplinary fields and 14-plus years in health, development, and management. In-the-trenches experiences have built his reputation in systems thinking and development, program design and execution, results-based monitoring and management, and implementation and oversight of donor and government-funded programs.

Asaad’s record includes working engagement with national and global agencies, institutions, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community-based organizations (CBOs), as well as:

• The Department for International Development (DFID)

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

• Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM)

• United States Department of State (DoS)

• United Nations Department for International Department

Pro-active engagement in this work has strengthened his skills and abilities in mobilizing multidisciplinary and multisectoral best practices.

In practice and person, Asaad conveys his passion for creative, innovative, and best-of-breed solutions. Resilient but persistent, he exploits his frontline experience and international partnerships to promote, develop, mentor, deliver, and support sustainable growth.

Asaad Taha is Arab/English bi-lingual consultant, speaker, and thought leader in Social Impact strategy, systems design, and delivery solutions. Founder and Managing Partner of S4F Solutions, he currently works with the Program Design Topical Interest Group at The American Evaluation Association (AEA) and Patient Safety Cultural Technical Expert Panel at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Casey W. O'Brien is the Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the National CyberWatch Center, a cybersecurity education and research consortium focused on advancing cybersecurity education and strengthening the national cybersecurity workforce.

Ms. Tosin Adetoro has a bachelor's in physics from Frostburg State University and a master's in technology education from Virginia Tech. She also received her Educational Leadership and Administration Certificate from George Washington University. A National Board Certified Teacher, endorsed in Physics and Technology Education, Tosin has over ten years of experience in the education field. She began her teaching career in Loudoun County, Virginia where she taught Aerospace Science, Applied Technology, Physics courses, and served as the LCPS Aerospace Educator In-Residence at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly.

In 2014, Tosin launched Get Into STEM, LLC to continue to share her STEM passion and skills with the world. Get Into STEM allows for Tosin to design and execute STEM programming that provide supplemental activities for hundreds of students and teachers annually. Tosin has worked with children of all ages in programs such as Upward Bound, Technology Student Association, People to People International, the Nu Xi Zeta HAVE Foundation, Jack and Jill of America, Smithsonian Enterprises, and Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington. Throughout her STEM education career, Tosin has also worked as a STEM Education Coordinator for Northern Virginia Community College, a Director of Professional Development at IBSS Corporation, Science and STEM Coordinator for an entrepreneurial-STEM-art program at a private school in Herndon Virginia, and more recently an Elementary STEAM Specialist in Falls Church Virginia.

For more information about her program: wwwgetintostem.org

Sponsors: Fairfax City, Va; Lookingglasscyber.com

Kirk Borne is a data scientist and an astrophysicist who has used his talents at Booz Allen since 2015. He was professor of astrophysics and computational science at George Mason University (GMU) for 12 years. He served as undergraduate advisor for the GMU data science program and graduate advisor in the computational science and informatics Ph.D. program.

Kirk spent nearly 20 years supporting NASA projects, including NASA's Hubble Space Telescope as data archive project scientist, NASA's Astronomy Data Center, and NASA's Space Science Data Operations Office. He has extensive experience in large scientific databases and information systems, including expertise in scientific data mining. He was a contributor to the design and development of the new Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, for which he contributed in the areas of science data management, informatics and statistical science research, galaxies research, and education and public outreach.

Sponsors: Fairfax City, Lookingglasscyber

Host: Charles Britt, Your Future in Tech

Joseph has created award-winning VR, AR, and 360 experiences for Discovery Communications, US Postal Service, AARP, and more. He has lectured on the use cases of virtual reality for numerous events and organizations, as well as on User Experience Design for VR at UMBC and on VR as a tool for public diplomacy at the US State Department.

As organizer of the DCVR Meetup, Joseph has organized dozens of events and activities to grow the local VR community into an inclusive collective of nearly 2,000 designers, developers, and filmmakers.

Dr. Lilia Abron

President of Peer Consulting

Dr. Abron has long been a strong advocate of environmental justice and improving our efforts to find environmental sustainability.

She is President and Chief Executive Officer of PEER and a pioneer and visionary in the industry. She has built one of the largest black, female-owned and operated, environmental engineering firms in the United States.

Dr. Abron’s experience spans over 45 years in planning, managing and directing environmental engineering programs for the improvement, maintenance and enhancement of the natural and built environments.

Vice President

US Jobs, Policy and Industry Affairs

She has a strong commitment to creating an awareness of the importance of consumer electronics as a driver of new jobs.

Prior to her current position she has done marketing, business development and strategic planning in such industries as pharmaceuticals, Financial Services, Care Giving, and Technology.

She is also going to be a host of The Workforce Show.

She's a graduate of University of Michigan and comes from Middletown, Ohio (the home of the author of Hillbilly Elegy, J.D.Vance).

Sponsor: Fairfax City, VA Host: Aaron Burciaga

Greg is a senior executive with 20+ years of delivering market expansion and profit optimization on both large and small platforms. Whether leading an organization as CEO or as a Senior Operations executive, Greg applied transformational strategies leading to measurable and sustainable client acquisition and revenue growth. A trailblazer who has been at the forefront of predictive revenue optimization, enterprise SaaS software development and has led complex digital transformation projects for global organizations.

Sponsor: Fairfax City, VA Host: Charles Britt, Your Future in Tech

Dr. Nicole Smith is Chief Economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, an independent, nonprofit research and policy institute that studies the link between education, career qualifications, and workforce demands. Since 2008, Dr. Smith and fellow economists have conducted research related to jobs, skills, and equity to better inform students, parents, teachers, and policymakers about the changing relationship between education and careers.