Margaret Mayer Board Chair Discover Financial Services
BioMargaret Mayer leads the technology strategy and implementation for customer single sign-on migration and future capabilities for the enterprise. Margaret Mayer is accountable also for the enterprise online application framework and online quality engineering practices. Previously led team responsible for Capital One’s marketing website.
Greg Samuels Vice Chair Solvaria
BioGreg Samuels has spent his 25 years in the IT industry focused on solving business issues using information technology. Now the CEO of Solvaria, he has been a Programmer, Infrastructure Manager, Consultant, Chief Information Officer, and Mentor for many companies across Virginia. A lifelong learner, Greg utilizes his past experiences and current trends in technology to guide companies in making sound technology investments in people, process, and hardware. Greg was the leader of the Richmond Technology Council CIO Forum, and is a current leader in the Virginia Council of CEOs. Greg holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech.
Harold Fitrer Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair Communities in Schools
BioDr. Harold Fitrer joined CIS of Richmond on July 1, 2008 as the Executive Director. Dr. Fitrer has over 30 years of experience working with Richmond Public Schools spanning a career in human resources and supervisory roles including the Assistant Superintendent for Administrative and Support Services. Dr. Fitrer holds an Ed.D. in Administration and Supervision and serves as adjunct faculty for Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education. Dr. Fitrer was most recently awarded the VEAOP State Administrator of the Year, 2005.
Jeff Nelson Secretary Strategic Staffing Solutions
BioJeff Nelson is Vice President of Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), a private international IT services firm. Since 2006, Jeff has also served as the General Director of S3 International with headquarters in Vilnius, Lithuania; S3I builds shared service centers in Eastern Europe for global companies. In 2015, Jeff became the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Previously, Jeff was Executive Director of The U.S.- Baltic Foundation (www.usbaltic.org) in Washington, DC, a private educational and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening ties between the U.S. and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Vida Williams Programs Committee Chair The Axis Partners
BioVida Williams has twenty years of progressive experience in leading technology projects of various scale in a variety technical environments, but specializing in Enterprise Strategy and IT Programs. Experienced in guiding all phases of IT production from design to development to test to implementation. Production planning, team scheduling, budget review and implementation, communication and organization. Her work has evolved over the last 8 years to include full-scale strategic enterprise planning enabling companies to leverage systemic technology to improve process efficiency and thus, the overall effectiveness.
Jennifer Frayser Development Committee Chair Solvaria
BioJennifer Frayser is an experienced B2B marketer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and managed services industries. In her role as the Vice President of Marketing at Solvaria, she leads the company’s marketing strategy, branding, communications and social presences, while also working closely with the sales and service delivery teams to support business development. Prior to joining Solvaria in 2014, Jennifer most recently worked as an account supervisor at a communications firm that provided strategy to nationally-recognized brands to deliver tangible business results. Jennifer received her Bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University and currently resides in Richmond with her husband and daughter.
Chris Jones Governance Committee Chair Sands Anderson, P.C.
Bio Chris Jones is experienced with a variety of matters, from commercial transportation and premises liability, to more complex problems involving products liability, privacy, and data security. Chris Jones has worked pro bono as general counsel to CodeVA since 2017 General Counsel. He has helped to craft memoranda of understanding and other agreements concerning non-profit operations and offered legal guidance to members of the executive board. He received a B.A. in Government from Hamilton College in 2000 and a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee School of Law. During law school, Chris worked in a third-year externship with Justice G. Steven Agee in the Supreme Court of Virginia, and also served as the Senior Case Editor of Washington and Lee’s Environmental Law Digest. He has given numerous continuing legal education presentations for the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, the National Business Institute, and the Richmond Bar Association.
Andreas Addison Richmond City Councilman
BioA civic innovator and channeler of big ideas about how technology moves communities forward and improves lives and outlooks, Andreas has brought some really big ideas to the City of Richmond in his six years with RichmondWorks, the city’s performance management department. It’s all about how the city can serve the citizen, for Andreas, who views that age-old question through the new lens of technology and data analysis. In 2013, Andreas convinced city leaders to enter the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge. Through his efforts, Richmond was selected as one among 32 worldwide cities to participate and to receive consultation services from IBM’s world class consultants.
Matt Benedetti Microsoft
BioMatt Benedetti has more than twenty-eight years in business, marketing, and government relations. The last nine at the helm of is own government relations company. A comprehensive lobbying and consulting services firm, Matt Benedetti & Associates represents its clients’ interests before legislative bodies and administrative agencies at the state and local level, as well as helping navigate the often rough and muddy waters of the government procurement process. Matt also specializes in multi-state government relations consulting and management.
Dan Cornell Altria Client Services, Inc.
BioDan Cornell serves as Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Altria Client Services, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Altria Group, Inc. Since 2012, he has been responsible for information technology strategy for the Altria family of companies. This includes all application development, data management, technology infrastructure, data center operations and telecommunication networks. He also oversees the strategic technology alignment with Altria Group’s core businesses and departments to meet current and future needs. Dan joined PM USA in 1996 and has held numerous IS management and leadership roles in both Richmond and New York. Dan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a Minor in Management from Old Dominion University. He additionally serves on the Board of Directors for RVATech (Richmond’s Technology Council) and Virginia Repertory Theatre.
Jared Cotton Chesapeake Public Schools
BioDr. Cotton served for more than six years as the Associate Superintendent for Educational Leadership and Assessment for Virginia Beach City Public Schools before being appointed as the Superintendent for Henry County Public Schools in 2012. He served Henry County for over six years, and was recently named the 2019 Virginia State Superintendent of the Year by the Virginia Association of School Superintendents. Dr. Cotton brings skills and abilities to Chesapeake that include a collaborative leadership style; expertise in strategic planning, curriculum, and instruction; and an ability to address critical needs in spite of limited resources.
Nathan Daugherty Comcast
BioFirst joining Comcast in 2006, Nathan Daugherty is Comcast’s Government Affairs Manager for Central and Southern Virginia. In this role he is responsible for managing the daily activities of the Government and Regulatory Affairs department. This includes reviewing franchise and other contracts for implementation to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory standards, as well as directing Comcast’s local community investment portfolio. A double Wahoo, he graduated from UVA’s Batten School of Public Policy as part of its first postgraduate class.
Anthony Fung Tech. Entreprenuer and Former Deputy Secretary of Technology
BioAnthony Fung served as Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In this capacity, Anthony served as a senior adviser to the Commonwealth on technology matters including data analytics, cyber security, innovation, and entrepreneurship and technology operations. Prior to joining the Governor’s Cabinet, Anthony was the CEO of a professional consulting firm, which served as a SCORE counselor, providing advice to small business on start-up best practices, business operations, and strategy. He lives in Richmond with his wife and two children and their dog, Tofu.
Stewart Roberson Moseley Architects
BioAn educator for over 35 years, Stewart served as a public school superintendent for 21 years. When he became chairman, president, and CEO of Moseley Architects in 2011, Stewart observed that “public service is in his DNA,” and that he wanted his “second chapter” to include opportunities to provide leadership to an entity serving the public interest. Joining Moseley Architects, with its significant presence in public sector facility design, makes that possible. “I view my second chapter as one in which I’m able to help preserve and enhance a highly successful team focused on outstanding client service and continuous improvement,” reflected Stewart.
Alan Seibert Salem City Schools
BioAlan Seibert serves as Superintendent of Salem City Schools. He is Past President of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents and a leader in the SOL Innovation Committee. Dr. Seibert has been a catalyst for innovation in curriculum, instruction, assessment and use of meaningful data in his school division; and is a strong advocate for similar statewide reforms. He is also admired for his strength of character and dedication to serving others.
Vinnie Schoenfelder CapTech
BioVinnie Schoenfelder currently serves as CapTech’s Chief Technology Officer with over 20 years of industry experience and over 15 years working for CapTech. Graduating from Roanoke College with a degree in Computer Information Systems, Vinnie has been a lifetime consultant. Working for United Parcel Service, Coopers & Lybrand, The Hunter Group, and now CapTech Vinnie has been a key resource in helping large organizations solve business problems through the use of technology. During the course of Vinnie’s career, he has been a frequent speaker at Fortune 500 companies and technology conferences across North America, and has been engaged with clients in North America, Europe and Canada.
Kurt Engleman Capital One
BioKurt Engleman leads Capital One’s Finance Risk Management (FRM) team and serves as Chief Risk Officer for Finance, which includes risk oversight for the capital markets, controller, financial analysis and planning, tax, and corporate development functions. Kurt started his career with Capital One in 2001 as an analyst and project manager in Card Operations. In 2003, he took a role in business development analysis for Partnership Finance in Card Marketing, then moved to Risk Management in 2005 to lead process improvement initiatives related to regulatory compliance programs. From 2011 2016, Kurt headed the team that oversaw program management and compliance management efforts for Basel advanced approaches regulatory capital requirements. Prior to his current Finance Chief Risk Officer role, Kurt led risk management for Finance’s Capital Markets and Analytics team (treasury, balance sheet management, and capital functions). Kurt earned a B.A. in Economics and Public Policy from Duke University and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds the following certifications: Six Sigma Black Belt, Project Management Professional, Stanford Certified Project Manager, International Certificate in Banking Risk and Regulation, and AWS Cloud Practitioner.
Mat Wisner Amazon.com
BioMat Wisner is the founder and current Sr. Manager of the Amazon Future Engineer program. Amazon Future Engineer is a childhood-to-career program aimed at inspiring and educating hundreds of thousands of students from underrepresented and underserved communities each year to try computer science and coding. Mat has worked over 9 years at Amazon focusing on tech education programs and previously led global talent acquisition teams on behalf of the company. Mat lives in the Seattle, WA area with his wife, son and French Bulldog. He’s an avid runner and recently completed his first (socially distanced) marathon May 2020.
Joe Dean CarMax
BioJoe Dean has worked in Technology Product Management for 15 years where he has blended his backgrounds in technology and business to create innovative products for companies such as Motorola, American Express, NICE, and CarMax. In addition to his current role at CarMax, where he leads a team of integration developers, he also serves on the board of their Home Office Giving Committee, which manages CarMax’ non-profit partnerships in the Richmond-metro area. He currently lives in Richmond, VA with his wife and two daughters. Outside of his work and family, he is passionate about running, language learning, and history. He holds a Bachelor’s in Telecommunications from Michigan State University and a Master’s in Strategic Management from Indiana University.