Innovation Summit 2026 - AI Dominates the Landscape

***Innovation Summit 2026 - AI Dominates the Landscap******e***

ChatGPT was officially released by OpenAI on November 30, 2022, launched as a free public research preview. It quickly became one of the fastest-growing technology products in history and accelerated the release of competing generative AI platforms across the market.

Federal agencies are following directives such as the Office of Management and Budget’s "Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust." According to the Federal Agency Artificial Intelligence Use Case Inventory, 56 federal agencies reported AI use cases at all stages of development. It shows that the number of submitted use cases rose from 1,757 in 2024 to 3,611 in 2025 – of which 1,818 have been deployed or piloted.

Join us at this in-person event as thought leaders from government and industry share what they have learned from their work integrating AI tools into their processes.

**Learning Objectives:**

• Scale AI from pilot programs to enterprise adoption
• Build governance, security, and Zero Trust frameworks for AI
• Strengthen workforce readiness, change management, and mission measurement
• Modernize data, infrastructure, and legacy environments for AI workloads
• Improve resilience across hybrid, multi-cloud, edge, and distributed operations
• Address emerging AI threats, security risks, and operational challenges

**Panel 1: From Pilot to Production: Scaling AI Across Government**

Federal, state and local agencies are moving beyond AI experimentation and beginning to deploy AI solutions that improve mission delivery, citizen services and operational efficiency. This panel will explore how agencies are overcoming barriers to adoption, establishing governance frameworks and successfully scaling AI initiatives across the enterprise.

**Gray Barrett**, Acting Director of SI Workforce Enablement, Bureau of Diplomatic Technology, Center for Analytics, Department of State

**Natalie Buda Smith**, Director, Digital Strategy, Library of Congress

**Joe Croghan**, Associate Director of Informatics, Office of Cyber Infrastructure and Computational Biology (OCICB), National Institutes of Health

**Dr. Neeraj Koul**, Senior Advisor for Railroad Data, Federal Railroad Administration

**Felipe Millon**, Head of Government Go to Market, Open AI

**Dave Erickson**, Distinguished Architect, Elastic

**Cole Feely**, Sales Engineer, OEM Federal, Dell Technologies

**Panel 2: Securing AI for Government: Zero Trust in an AI-Driven World**

As agencies adopt AI to support critical missions, security and trust must remain foundational. This session will explore how government organizations can apply Zero Trust principles across the AI lifecycle to address risks related to data protection, model integrity, access control, compliance, and resilience.

**Ajay Phogat**, Senior Advisor to the CIO, Customs and Border Protection

**Rudolf Rojas**, IT Program Manager & Security Lead, U.S. Department of Agriculture

**Dan Carroll**, Field CTO, Dell Federal

**Felipe Fernandez**, Chief Technology Officer, Fortinet Federal

**Judson Walker**, Sr. System Engineering Director, Versa Networks

**Panel 3: ****Powering Mission-Critical Workloads: Modern Data Center Infrastructure for AI, Security, and Edge**

As agencies scale AI initiatives and adopt Zero Trust architectures, modern infrastructure is becoming essential to mission success. This panel will explore how government organizations can modernize data centers, edge environments, and hybrid infrastructure to support secure, resilient, high-performance workloads.

**Kevin Walsh**, Director, Information Technology & Cybersecurity Team, U.S. GAO

**Bill Watkins**, Director of Federal IT Management, National Nuclear Security Administration

**Michael Powers**, Principal Engineer, Anduril Cognition Team, responsible for AI/ML Decision Support at the Tactical Edge.

**Edward Smith**, Sr System Engineer, Dell OEM Federal

**David Richard**, Principal Solution Architect, Intel Public Sector

**Hosted by: ****Claudia Hosky**, Publisher, FedInsider

**Moderated by: ****Jane Norris,** Contributing Editor, FedInsider

**Presented by: **FedInsider, Carahsoft Technology Corp, Dell Technologies

**Sponsored by: **AMD, Anduril, Armada, Data Robot, Druva, Elastic, Everfox, Fortinet Federal, Intel, Lyme, Nutanix, OpenAI, Pumamesh, Sterling, Thales TCT, Trellix, TVAR Solutions, Versa, Vertiv, and The College of Professional Studies at GWU

**Complimentary Registration**

Please register using the form below or call (202) 237-0300. Participants can earn up to 3 CPE credits in Business Management. To receive CPE credit you must arrive on time, fill out and submit your evaluation to registration as you leave. Certificates will be e-mailed to registrants. In accordance with the standards of the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 50 minutes equals 1 CPE.

**Additional Information:**

**Prerequisites and Advance Preparation**: None required

**Program Level**: Basic

**Delivery Method**: Group Live

**Fee**: There is no fee associated with this event, and no penalty for cancellation or no-show. For more information regarding concern and/or program cancellation policies please contact Certs@FedInsiderNews.com

CPE certification for this event is being administered by The George Washington University College of Professional Studies, registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education of the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority in the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website www.nasbaregistry.org.