Overview

Digital identity is now at the heart of government service delivery. Yet many agencies still implement Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) platforms built for ecommerce and other private sector use cases, not for managing public services such as health records or tax filings. The result? Compliance gaps, less than stellar UX, poor data privacy and rising security risks. As public expectations grow and the demand for secure, private, seamless digital services increases, government teams are being asked to meet these challenges with tools that simply weren’t made for the job—where privacy, compliance, and trust aren’t optional; they’re mission-critical.

Join Government Technology and Portage CyberTech for an insightful webinar that explores the key differences between public and private sector CIAM implementations and examines a real-world product approach that helps governments address the gaps. Whether you're an IT leader, digital strategist, or identity architect, this session will provide the context and clarity you need to identify and implement CIAM solutions that align with the public sector’s unique requirements.

In this session, you’ll learn:

The regulatory, trust, and policy frameworks that shape public sector CIAM
How user expectations differ between citizens and customers—and what that means for design
Why privacy, accessibility, and interoperability are heightened priorities for government implementations
Lessons and best practices that can be transferred—or not—between sectors
How to evaluate CIAM platforms and vendors based on your sector-specific needs
How a real public sector CIAM solution works, demonstrated live in the session

Speakers

Ed Therrieault

Principal Digital Transformation Architect, Portage CyberTech

Ed has over 25 years of experience in the design, development, deployment and operations of privacy sensitive electronic service delivery solutions for both public sector and banking clients. Ed’s involvement in the domains of Identity, Credential and Access management, web content management and service transformation started with his participation in the creation of the Central Frame Database at Statistics Canada. He went on to participate in the creation of the Strategis ID and the web content management solutions at Industry Canada and has made immense contributions to the Govt of Canada's vision for citizen and business centric access to information and transactions.

Bruce Lévis

Chief Strategy Officer, Portage CyberTech

Bruce Lévis is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Portage CyberTech. With over thirty years of experience, Bruce’s career has covered almost every aspect of public sector digital transformation from enterprise hardware to data warehousing and analytics, to digital asset management, to cybersecurity. Over the last ten years he has focused mainly on identity and access management. He is an active member of the Digital Identity and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) and is on the board of directors of CILEX, a Canadian-based Incubator-Accelerator. Prior to Portage, Bruce founded The Levis Group, a management consulting company that worked with established corporations and start-ups. As part of the Levis Group he co-founded, helped build, and sold two successful start-ups: Askari Solutions Inc. and Becker-Carroll. Prior to the Levis Group he held sales and leadership in companies like Once Corporation (now part of Bell), Computer Associates, and Northern Micro.

Martin Burke

Product Manager, CitizenOne, Portage CyberTech

Martin is the CitizenOne Product Manager at Portage CyberTech. Prior to Portage CyberTech, Martin spent 8 years at SAP, overseeing product enablement for North America & EMEA resellers and ISVs. He later expanded SAP’s global reseller program with top SIs. With 5 years in digital identity and cybersecurity, his current focus is the RegTech and public sector verticals, overseeing CIAM SaaS solution implementations for public sector entities across, currently serving over 2 million users. His product management ethos emphasizes strong customer advocacy and agility, demonstrated by the creation of a customer advisory board with Portage’s existing public sector clients. He is also an active member of the Digital Identity and Authentication Council of Canada.

William (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. He focuses on continually delivering and updating the program curriculum based on innovative and emerging technologies. Before transitioning to academia and higher education, he had a diverse gov tech career delivering value to state agencies, local governments, and law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Mississippi.

Webinar

Public vs. Private Sector CIAM: What Sets Them Apart and Why It Matters