Overview

April 27

The U.S. has lost over $36B to benefits fraud since the start of the COVID crisis. Reliance on outdated benefit systems with understaffed agencies has created a perfect storm for fraud, waste and abuse. The American Rescue Plan Act was authorized in March 2021, providing $1.9T in state and federal spending to address the unprecedented number of state residents needing help with unemployment, food stamps, home energy and child care. Join Government Technology on April 27th at 10am PT/1pm ET, as we bring together thought leaders to discuss how technology can help state agencies address this crisis while improving the delivery of constituents’ benefits. Hear how technology can:

• Automate application reviews to allow staff to focus on the most suspect requests
• Make it easier for government systems to deliver benefit funds
• Improve program integrity so funds are delivered to those in need

Speakers

James Collins

General Manager, Microsoft Consulting Services

James Collins joined Microsoft in 2020 as a General Manager focused on state and local government, and higher education, after 6 years as CIO and head of the Delaware Department of Technology and Information (DTI) and nearly 20 years of state service. Collins, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, previously served as Director of the Division of Professional Regulation, Deputy Secretary of State, Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Governor Markell. Collins was first nominated as CIO by Governor Jack Markell and confirmed by the Delaware Senate in 2014. During his tenure as the State of Delaware’s top technology officer, Collins leveraged his extensive experience in both the public and private sectors to implement synergistic, cost-effective and scalable IT solutions that help Delaware deliver digital government services to its citizens. Notable achievements under Collins’ leadership include expanding broadband high-speed Internet service across rural areas of Delaware and working to eliminate broadband deserts across the state by the end of this year. Collins also fulfilled multiple Executive Orders including creating the Delaware Cyber Security Advisory Council, expanding the State Open Data/Open Checkbook portal, and advancing IT centralization and virtualization cloud-based “as-a-Service” solutions. In 2019, Collins was elected as president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and continues to serve on its Executive Committee.

Deborah Huskins

former Hennepin County Director of EWS – Eligibility, Work and Services

Deborah Huskins recently retired after a 42-year career in state and county human services in Minnesota. Most recently, she was a Director in Hennepin County’s (home to Minneapolis, MN and surrounding suburbs) Human Services department for nearly 21 years. Under her direction, the county provided income maintenance, employment, and health care eligibility services to county residents, including SNAP, TANF (known as MFIP in MN), Medical Assistance (Medicaid), General Assistance, Emergency Assistance and related services. Fraud prevention and fraud investigation relating to these and other programs were part of her purview. For 7 of these years she was assistant director for child welfare and maternal and child health services. She was one of two Minnesota county representatives on the state’s executive steering committee for the METS system (the system to implement MNsure, Minnesota’s version of the Affordable Care Act) for 6 years, and a county representative on the state’s Integrated Services Delivery System committee for several years. Before going to Hennepin County, she was Assistant Commissioner at the MN (state) Department of Human Services, overseeing assistance programs for families and individuals, computer systems implementing those programs, child support, and other programs. Her previous service was in the state Attorney General’s office and the Minnesota State Senate.

Shawn Kingsberry

VP of Advisory Services – Americas, for Unisys

Shawn Kingsberry serves as the Vice President and Director, Global Government Solutions. He works to guide public sector consumers as they adopt cloud computing, data analytics and other digital government platforms. He has more than 22 years of experience in the field of information technology and has a diverse background in both federal government and corporate settings, with extensive experience in large-scale information technology transformation, big data analytics, and enterprise computing, as well as secure hybrid cloud implementations. Prior to joining Unisys, Shawn served as director of cloud Solutions from Engility Corporation. In this role, he supported all sectors of the federal civilian government. He led the corporate Information Technology Transformation initiative focusing on 21st-century implementations and stood-up the Fraud Analytic Practice title INSIGHT™. INSIGHT provided people, processes, and technology solutions supporting the end-to-end lifecycle of fraud investigations.

Otto Doll — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

As the Minneapolis CIO for seven-plus years, Mr. Doll was responsible for all city IT services. He also served as South Dakota's CIO for 15 years with responsibility for all state government computing, telecommunications, radio, and public broadcasting. While with IT research firms, Mr. Doll has advised Fortune 1000, federal, state, and local government CIOs on information technology assessment and alignment to business needs. He has served as a director with the United States General Services Administration, developing information technology strategic plans and oversight policy. Mr. Doll received his computer science degree from Virginia Tech and is a senior executive fellow of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a past president of NASCIO — a national organization of state CIOs. He also is a past president of the Metropolitan Information Exchange (MIX) — a national organization of city and county CIOs. Mr. Doll was named to Government Technology's 2004 Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers.

Webinar

Combating Benefit Systems Fraud, Waste and Abuse in the Era of COVID