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TRUE Initiative and Transform Hawaiʻi Government Present the 2nd Annual Hawaiʻi Cloud Innovation Summit
TRUE Initiative and Transform Hawaiʻi Government Present the
2ND ANNUAL HAWAIʻI CLOUD INNOVATION SUMMIT
August 1, 2023 at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center
Event Created Exclusively for Hawaiʻi’s Community
Promoting Innovative Technologies,
Digital Transformation and Enabling the Workforce
HONOLULU (June 19, 2023) – This year’s event is focused on the theme of “Laulima: Working Together to Future Proof Hawaiʻi’s Economy,” bringing together all sectors of the economy and highlighting the importance of collaboration to drive growth and success.
The event is complimentary to all registered attendees and will be held at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The conference aims to unify diverse participants from various sectors, including local businesses, healthcare institutions, education, government, and defense. These diverse attendees will be able to engage in a rich exchange of ideas, best practices, and insights, all focusing on digital transformation through cloud technology.
Through engaging keynote presentations, informative panel discussions, interactive sessions, and networking opportunities, attendees will gain valuable knowledge and practical insights to leverage digital transformation and innovation to drive economic growth and protect the local economy. The summit will also focus on the importance of enabling the workforce to meet the demands of the digital age, highlighting the need for continuous learning and development to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.
Public and private technology leaders are shifting to the cloud as part of their digital transformation strategy. Moving from traditional on-site servers to the service-based cloud model supports greater agility, productivity, and efficiencywhile reducing costs and enabling faster innovation.
“Technology has impacted the global landscape and it is critical for our local businesses and community to access the knowledge, resources, and connections to stay competitive in the marketplace,” said Leilani Farinas, TRUE executive director. “The Summit provides a platform for collaboration, idea exchange, and inspiration to help Hawaiʻi organizations succeed.”
“Our public sector leaders’ efforts to modernize can be activated by our collective ability to innovate, resource, convene and facilitate. The summit is a tent pole event that allows us to collaborate, explore novel solutions and bring our community together to effectively work towards a more modernized government,” said Christine Sakuda, executive director of Transform Hawaiʻi Government.
“Cloud solutions can drive a range of benefits including accelerating economic resilience and sustainability, facilitating innovation and collaboration, and solving community problems,” said Eddie Ontai, president of DataHouse. “World-class experts and local industry leaders will share their experiences on how to successfully navigate the challenges of shifting to the cloud.”
Lt. Governor Sylvia Luke will deliver the opening keynote address. The conference will feature informative panels and breakout sessions with thought leaders from the public and private sectors.
Additional keynote speakers include:
- Angela Shippy, M.D.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Senior Physician Executive
Angela A. Shippy, MD, MHA, FACP, FHM is Amazon Web Services’ Senior Physician Executive and Clinical Innovation Lead, Healthcare. In this role, Dr. Shippy brings clinical and operational leadership experience and perspective to advancing cloud technology adoption to support, enable, and activate patients and providers. Previously, Dr. Shippy served as Senior Vice President, Chief Medical & Quality Officer at Memorial Hermann Health System where she had system-wide oversight for accreditation, clinical quality, employee and patient safety, lab, and pharmacy. Prior to Memorial Hermann, Dr. Shippy served as Chief Medical Officer of HCA’s Gulf Coast Division and as Vice President of Medical Affairs at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center where she practiced as a hospitalist. She earned a B.S. in biology from Texas A&M University and an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she also completed her residency in internal medicine. Dr. Shippy has served on local, state, and national councils and committees and held volunteer faculty positions at Baylor College of Medicine, UT Health-Houston, and The Institute of Healthcare Improvement. She currently serves as a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Foundation Board and on advisory committees for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Houston and The Houston Area Women’s Center.
- Steve Comstock
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Enterprise Technologist
Steve Comstock is a transformative C-suite technologist with over 30+ years of experience in driving global business transformations with cloud scale digital architectures, AI/ML driven insights and creating new revenue streams. Steve comes from Platform engineering and data analytics background. Steve works with AWS customers’ C-suites and executive leaders as a strategic digital and technology transformation advisor providing cloud, cyber & AI/ML expertise. He currently in the Western region of the United States as an Enterprise Technologist for AWS.
Prior to joining AWS, he was the CIO for CBS Interactive, responsible for the overall technology where he led global engineering, architecture & Cybersecurity teams. He was part of the team who launched Paramount+, CBSN (Digital News), digitally streamed the Superbowl twice, and was the technical leader for a ComScore 6 ranked company. Before CBS Interactive, Steve was the VP of Customer Experience/Engineering with Sendmail, Inc.. He led the QA, Customer Experience, Engineering, and led multiple organizational transformations.
Before Sendmail, he held various roles with Oracle Corporation, bringing new products to market, testing and verifying customer readiness, and was the key implemented of “eating our own dog food”. During this time, Steve developed and implemented agile change control, resiliency testing, and led a number of organizational transformations.
Steve started his career with the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), where he developed software that supported various functions for on station operations worldwide including the three US Antarctic research bases. Steve considers himself industry agnostic and believes that every technology decision starts with business value enabled by the unique convergence of IoT, Cloud, Data Lake & powerful analytics powered by AI/ML, increased connectivity, and rapid service delivery.
- Mo Ramsey
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Global Leader, Disaster Response and Humanitarian Affairs
Maurice “Mo” Ramsey is Amazon Web Services’ Disaster Response and Humanitarian Leader. In this role, Mo brings significant business and technology leadership experience advancing cloud technology adoption to support, enable, and activate humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR) missions for customers, partners, and communities.
Previously, Mo served in the US Army (active) from 1992 to 1997. He was honorably discharged in 1997 as a disabled veteran. He has served in leadership roles such as Director at Slalom Consulting over Advanced Infrastructure and Strategy (serving as a CIO ‘on demand’ resource); Sr. Director, Cloud at CenturyLink (formerly Tier3); and GM of Advisory Services at Lighthouse; and, most recently, Area Practice Lead, Professional Services, Nonprofits with AWS.
Mo earned a B.A. from Columbia College and holds multiple business and technology certifications.
The annual event is presented by TRUE Initiative, a nonprofit organization that focuses on creating a diverse and sustainable economy through tech enabling Hawaiʻi, and Transform Hawaiʻi Government, a nonprofit that advocates for government modernization to improve access, efficiency and cost-savings within government programs and services.
The Hawaiʻi Cloud Innovation Summit is sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its APN partners, who are facilitating the content offerings, providing insights, and technical expertise to help drive Hawaiʻi’s community toward a cloud-first future.
Registration is required to attend the Hawaiʻi Cloud Innovation Summit. Tickets are available online at:
https://HCIS2023.eventbrite.com
For more information, visit
