Speaker Bios 

Richard Spires
Richard A. Spires was appointed in September 2009 to serve as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this capacity, Mr. Spires is responsible for the department’s $5.4 billion investment in Information Technology (IT). He leads and facilitates development, implementation, and maintenance of the department’s IT architecture. Mr. Spires is the chairman of the DHS Chief Information Officer Council and the Enterprise Architecture Board. He strongly supports the Secretary’s goal of unifying and maturing DHS – one DHS, one enterprise, a shared vision, with integrated results-based operations.

Mr. Spires held a number of positions at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2004 through 2008. He served as the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, having overall responsibility for the key support and administrative functions for the IRS, to include Information Technology, Human Capital, Finance, Shared Services, Real Estate, and Security functions. Prior to becoming Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Spires served as the IRS’ CIO, with overall strategic and operational responsibility for a $2 billion budget and a 7,000-person Modernization and Information Technology Services organization. This division is accountable for maintaining over 400 systems that administer more than 200 million taxpayer records and supports more than 100,000 IRS employees. Mr. Spires served for two and half years as the Associate CIO for Applications Development and led the IRS’s Business Systems Modernization program, which is one of the largest and most complex information technology modernization efforts undertaken to date.

From 2000 through 2003, Mr. Spires served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Mantas, Inc., a software provider that provides business intelligence solutions to the financial services industry. In helping to establish Mantas, Mr. Spires successfully led efforts to raise $29 million in venture funding. Prior to Mantas, Mr. Spires spent more than 16 years serving in a number of technical and managerial positions at SRA International.

Mr. Spires received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University. Mr. Spires was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering in 2006.

Jack Nichols
Jack Nichols is the Director of Enterprise Operations for the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at the U.S. House of Representatives. His responsibilities include the Virtual server infrastructure, SAN, Backup/Recovery, Windows servers, Unix servers, Active Directory, Exchange, BES, Spam and Mainframe environments supporting the House. He has been at the House for over 7 years and has received the CAO's Distinguished Service Award. Prior to working for the House he was a Managing Consultant for Lucent Technologies overseeing complex IT projects. Prior to his work with Lucent, Jack worked for the White House Communications Agency where he traveled with and in support of the President of the United States as the lead engineer responsible for delivering secure and non-secure data networks for the President, Vice-President, National Security Council and U.S. Secret Service. He has a 20 year history in Information Technology.

Ric Olympia
Mr. Olympia is Maryland State Department of Education’s Deputy CIO. He has over thirty years experience in Information Technology (IT) and has held technical and management positions for national and international companies including Control Data Corporation and British Telecom. His IT experience includes providing technology consulting and systems integration services to U.S. federal government military and civilian agencies as well as Global 100 companies. Mr. Olympia is currently pursuing his doctoral degree - focusing on the role of IT in the creation of resilient organizations.

Ken Rogers
Ken Rogers currently serves as the Director of Enterprise Architecture and Planning at the US Department of State. Ken is an entrepreneurial, results-driven professional with over 25 years of experience working with multinationals, US & foreign government agencies, non-profit organizations, and small business start-ups.

Ken’s private sector experience includes financial management, government contracting and relations, and information systems design and management in the aerospace and commercial electronics industry at Rockwell International and Unisys Corporation. During the 90s, as an economic and management consultant, Ken provided specialized international trade, development, and e-business assistance to government agencies and organizations in the US and throughout the developing world and provided Ken with the opportunity manage projects throughout Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin American, and Africa where he gained an understanding of the challenges confronting small and medium size firms working in these regions.

Ken’s public sector career includes serving as the Chief Information Officer and Chief Enterprise Architect and at the Department of Homeland Security’s, Science & Technology Directorate. Prior to that, Ken worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis as the Chief Enterprise Architect overseeing IT Strategic and operational planning and at the Export Import Bank as the eCommerce Strategist where he designing, in collaboration with private sector banks, a secure and seamless end-to-end “trade finance portal” for delivering trade finance products to its customers.

Ken has complemented his diverse business background with continued academic and professional training, which includes an Executive Master of Science in Information Systems & Technology, George Washington University, a Master of International Management, University of Maryland, a Master of Public and International Affairs – Economic Development, University of Pittsburgh, and Graduate Certificates in Asian Studies, International Political Economy, and CIO Certification. Ken holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Westmont College. Ken is also a professor at Nyack College and serves on the board of Ambleside School in Herndon VA. Ken and his wife Pam live in Vienna, VA with their four children.

Tom Hempfield
Vice President
U.S. Federal
HP Enterprise Business