Overview

October 21

As COVID-related office closures pass the half-year mark, government leaders are turning their attention to maintaining engagement and strengthening agency cultures across remote workforces. Virtual training and development programs are gaining importance as effective methods to empower employees with new skills, reinforce bonds between management and staff, guard against burnout, and keep employees productively connected to agency missions.

Join us Oct. 21 at 11am PT/2pm ET for an important and timely discussion on virtual training and certifications. Experts from the Center for Digital Government and Google Cloud will show you where to start and will dive into actionable examples from jurisdictions that rapidly deployed and scaled new training capabilities through a unique Google Workspace-based solution.

Speakers

Jeff Brown

Strategic Business Executive, Google Workspace

Jeff Brown is a Strategic Business Executive for Google's Public Sector team focused on Google Workspace. He has spent the last 9 years with Google working with public sector organizations to understand and adopt cloud technologies. Large scale cloud transitions are paradigm shifts, some of those he is responsible for include the States of: Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Arizona and recently West Virginia which required both political and organizational change. Prior to Google, Jeff spent the last 15 years in the public sector vertical with Symantec, VMWare and CA Technologies and is based out of Denver, CO.

Jessica Van Heuveln

Google Support Specialist for the State of Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer

Jessica Van Heuveln serves as the Google Support Specialist for the State of Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer. Through her experience as a Technology Resource Integrationist of Atlantic Community School District she gained the skills to creatively develop training materials that reach novice users, as well as expert users. As a lifetime learner, Van Heuveln enjoys opportunities that allow her to gain more insight into the Google Suite, taking what she has learned, and then sharing her newfound knowledge and expertise. She continually develops and edits training materials to assist users in expanding their skill sets to improve their overall work experience. Van Heuveln loves to help people reach their “aha” moments! Not only does she develop and facilitate all Google training materials for state-wide distribution, she is also highly sought after to assist with agency specific training across the State. She continues to be an active Community Advisor in the Public Sector Community and the Google for Education community.

Bill Rials, Ph.D. — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

William (Bill) Rials, Ph.D., is a professor and associate director (department chair) of the Tulane University School of Professional Advancement IT and Cybersecurity Program. Where he focuses on continually delivering and updating the program curriculum based on innovative and emerging technologies, before transitioning academia and higher education, he had a diverse government technology career delivering value to state agencies, local governments, and law enforcement agencies throughout the State of Mississippi. He has served in CIO, CTO, and CISO roles for local governments and also in various leadership positions within the State of Mississippi’s IT organization as a deputy to the State CIO. Dr. Rials holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Belhaven University, a master's degree in Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity from Missouri State University, as well as a Ph.D. in higher education administration and public administration from Jackson State University. His dissertation research involved the critical factors that affect the adoption of cloud services within the public sector. He is a noted expert in the IT and Cybersecurity space and frequently quoted by national media outlets. He is also a frequent contributor to national IT government organizations such as NASTD and NASCIO.

Webinar

Future Ready Workforce: Engage Remote Employees with Virtual Training