State of the State 2007 Speakers

John Base, Research Vice President
Gartner

John Base is research vice president for Gartner in Chicago, IL. Through his research, he helps clients find technology answers for their environments. Base has been with Gartner for ten years and has over twenty-four years of experience in the information technology industry. Gartner’s mission is to deliver the technology-related insight necessary for their clients to make the right decisions, every day. Base successfully finds solutions for how society manages the gap between technology’s rapid evolution and the law’s attempt to keep up. In 1999, Base was awarded the Gartner Research Leadership award. He was named Management of Technology (Rookie) Analyst of the Year in 1998.

Prior to working for Gartner, Base was a communications advisor at IBM Corporation for nine years. He developed his skills in research at Technology Solutions Company were he served as director of research and analyst relations for three years.

Base received his undergraduate degree in psychology and political science from Rockford College and his journalism degree from Northwestern University. His Ph.D. in communications management is from The Union Institute. He has also completed post-graduate courses towards a master’s degree in information technology law at John Marshall Law School.

Susan Combs, Comptroller
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

Viewing public office as a solemn bond with the people she serves, Susan Combs was sworn in as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on Jan. 1, 2007. Texans elected her to the office by an overwhelming majority on Nov. 7, 2006.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Susan Combs built a strong record of fiscal conservatism and is an innovator in public policy. She lowered her agency’s budget by 18 percent without reducing essential services and trimmed staff while taking on more responsibility. An innovator, Combs is focused on providing better access to government services, minimizing costs and justly applying tax and fiscal laws as Comptroller of Public Accounts. She is known for her limitless energy and unparalleled commitment to excellence, which she has applied throughout her career working for Texas.

Combs previously won back-to-back elections in 1998 and 2002 to serve as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, blazing a trail as the first woman elected to the office, re-engineering the Texas Department of Agriculture’s electronic information systems for greater efficiency and launching the unparalleled GO TEXAN marketing campaign for Texas-made products. Her initiatives and programs boosted economic development and ignited revitalization across the state. With a special emphasis on rural Texas, her efforts helped to create and retain jobs for thousands of Texans, in turn building a stronger economy for the state. Her work to ensure Texas schoolchildren had access to healthy food at school served as a national model for other states to follow.

In recognition of her work for the agriculture community, The Progressive Farmer magazine named her Leader of the Year in Texas Agriculture for 2002. The Governor’s Commission for Women inducted Combs into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 2004 for her dedication and commitment to providing healthy food for Texas schoolchildren and for her high-profile efforts to enhance rural economic development. That same year, Combs was invited to participate in the Time-ABC News Summit on Obesity, where she was recognized for her work on childhood nutrition and named as one of six national heroes in the fight against obesity. In March 2006, the American Medical Association presented Combs with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, the highest award the AMA can bestow on a public official, for her leadership in tackling the state’s obesity crisis and championing a groundbreaking public school nutrition policy to address it.

Prior to her election as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Combs served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, where she successfully sponsored and passed landmark private property rights legislation. Working side by side with then Governor George W. Bush, Combs worked to rewrite the Juvenile Justice Code in 1995. She also wrote and passed legislation establishing an accountability system for our state’s public schools, as well as legislation to make state agencies more fiscally responsible. She authored additional legislation on tort reform, vital to the state’s business community.

Susan Combs graduated from Vassar College and worked in international advertising in New York, in the financial markets on Wall Street and for the federal government. She returned to Texas and received her law degree from The University of Texas School of Law. Upon graduation, Combs served as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas handling child abuse cases, where her performance as a tough prosecutor earned her widespread respect. Throughout her career, Combs has had a deep interest in children and their welfare and education. She has served as president and board member of a private parochial school and she has also served on the board of an agricultural lending institution.

Combs was born in San Antonio and has a cow-calf operation in Brewster County on the same ranch established by her great-grandfather more than a century ago. She lives in Austin with her husband, Joe, and is the proud mother of three sons.

Barbara Deane, Division Chief of Administrative Law
Office of the Attorney General

Barbara B. Deane is the Chief of the Administrative Law Division of the Office of the Attorney General. She came to the OAG in May of 2004 from the Texas General Land Office, where she served as Director of the Coastal Legal Division for approximately three years. Ms. Deane began state service in 1991 at the Texas Department of Agriculture, serving as Assistant General Counsel, Administrative Law Judge, and Deputy General Counsel for Enforcement over a ten year period. Prior to entering state service, Ms. Deane practiced personal injury law in private practice in Edinburg, Texas. A native Texan, Ms. Deane was educated at Texas A&I University, Texas Tech University, and Garza School of Law. She has been board certified in administrative law since 1995.

Victor Gonzalez, Director of Innovation & Chief Technology Officer
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

Victor Gonzalez is the Director of Innovation and Chief Technology Officer for the Comptroller of Public Accounts (CPA). He also serves as chair of the Interagency Task Force on Electronic Benefits Transfer. Immediately prior to joining the CPA, Gonzalez was the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Administrative Services and Chief Information Officer at the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). Prior to joining the CPA in January 2007 and TDA in May 2000, he worked at various state agencies including the Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Legislative Council, Texas Ethics Commission, the Office of the Secretary of State and the University of Texas. Gonzalez is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin who bleeds orange, especially during football season.

Barbara Holthaus, Attorney
The University of Texas System

Barbara M. Holthaus has been an attorney with the Office of General Counsel of The University of Texas System since 2002. She advises the Office of Group Insurance, the University of Texas System Administration and Systems 15 academic and health science institutions on state and federal insurance law affecting employee welfare benefits, privacy and security laws including HIPAA, FERPA and the Texas Public Information Act, and contract, financial litigation and other general law matters.

Holthaus worked from 1998 until 2002 as a staff attorney and later as a Special Projects Director at the Texas Department of Insurance, where she helped draft the agency's consumer financial and health privacy rules. She began her law practice in Texas in 1994 as General Counsel to the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychology. Holthaus worked as a public defender in Kentucky from 1985 until 1994, as both a trial and appellate attorney with the Kentucky department of Public Advocacy.

She received her J.D in law from the University Of Kentucky College Of Law in 1985 and graduated with a B.A. in political science from the University of Kentucky Honors Program in 1980.

Dustin Lanier, Director
Council on Comptitive Government

Dustin Lanier is the Director of Council on Competitive Government. The Council on Competitive Government is a venue for state leadership to work together to advance competitive reviews of the business operations of government. Prior to his current role, Dustin was the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Texas Department of Information Resources. In that capacity, he was responsible for strategic planning and coordination of the development of statewide technology policy. Prior to DIR, Dustin served as Special Assistant for Technology Policy to Governor Rick Perry. Dustin has both private and public sector experience in the technology industry, is a graduate of Duke University and is a husband and father of three.

Rudy Montoya, Director of Information Technology
Office of the Attorney General

Rudy Montoya has served as the Director of Information Technology for the Office of the Attorney General’s Administrative and Legal Divisions since July 2007. He has worked in information technology services for the Office of the Attorney General since 1990. Over the years, Rudy has held various positions of leadership in IT in the OAG’s Child Support Program, from Manager of Fiscal Operations to Manager of Operations to Associate Deputy Director of Information Technology. He has participated in several state workgroups, including the Strategic Telecommunications Plan for State Government Services, the Data Center Advisory Council, and the IT State Strategic Plan. He was recently elected to the board of the Texas Association of State Systems for Computing and Communications. He has also been very active in the Austin community, where he served 11 years on the Austin ISD School Board. He also served as a board director for the Texas Association of School Boards and participated in Leadership Austin. In 2006, Montoya was recognized by Austin Under 40 as “Austinite of the Year.” Montoya is a graduate of Texas A&M University.

Barbara Nadalini, Independent Consultant

Barbara Nadalini is an independent consultant specializing in Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture and Enterprise Governance. She has a diverse background which spans public, private and non-profit sectors. After graduating from George Washington University in 1990, Barbara spent five years working for the Legal Aid Society of Central Texas, writing and managing grants and grant compliance reporting, which prompted her to work closely with program delivery groups, developing a deep understanding of service delivery needs, program design, and audit-worthy compliance reporting. She then built, owned and operated a Northern Italian Restaurant in Austin, which she sold in 1999.The entrepreneurial years allowed Barbara to become very familiar with customer-focused service, while responding to unpredictable resources and fluctuating supply and demand. She subsequently caught the end of the dot.com boom, which exposed her to governance and architecture in the IT product development world.

Barbara has worked for several private consultancies for the last eight years, and spent two years at the Department of Information Resources in the Strategic Initiatives division. Barbara is a certified PMP, and also holds certifications in Rational Unified Process, Requirements Management with Use Cases, and Object Oriented Analysis and Design. She has extensive experience implementing governance programs, and business and systems architecture programs in both public and private sector. She is completing a Masters degree in Counseling at St. Edwards University in 2008, and is a committed volunteer in that field.

Ross Ramsey, Editor
Texas Weekly

Ross Ramsey is the editor of Texas Weekly, the premier newsletter on government and politics in the Lone Star State. He's been a journalist for nearly three decades, a spree interrupted only by a 28-month gap when he worked for the
Comptroller of Public Accounts. He's been a staff reporter at the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Times Herald, a freelance writer for a number of regional and national publications, and a reporter and newscaster at radio stations in Denton and Dallas. He became editor of Texas Weekly in 1998. Ramsey was born in Amarillo, reared (mostly) in El Paso, and educated at (but not graduated from) the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of North Texas in
Denton.

Brian Rawson, Chief Technology Officer
State of Texas

Brian Rawson is the Chief Technology Officer for the state of Texas as well as the Executive Director for the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), the agency responsible for overseeing value-driven technology management in the state. Rawson has over 22 years of progressive experience in a variety of information technology management, executive-level management, and leadership positions, most notably with the state of Texas and a global information technology consulting firm. Rawson serves on numerous committees and boards serving the state of Texas. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Data Processing and Analysis from The University of Texas at Austin, and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from St. Edward's University.

Mark Towers
Speak Out Seminars

Mark Towers is the founder of Speak Out Seminars.  He has been educating people in change management workshops throughout the United States, Europe, South Africa, Mexico and  Canada for eighteen years.  His educational, motivational and entertaining programs have provided people with the tools to truly transform their lives. 

Towers combines his background as a consultant, manager, teacher, coach, professor, therapist, broadcast personality and professional speaker to help you become a more polished, powerful and profitable individual, team or company.  He is the author of eight books, three audiocassettes and one compact disc.

Towers has earned two degrees from the University of Iowa.  He received his bachelor's degree in Secondary Education in 1972 and his master's degree in Counseling Psychology in 1977.  After spending several years in the education field he became a professional speaker for audiences such as ABC-TV, Hallmark Card, AT&T, Merrill Lynch, GTE and many government agencies.

Towers ' research has been very extensive. In order to cope with the current environment of "permanent white water," one must be able to continuously reinvent.  Towers applies his intelligence, experience, humor and wisdom to nudge you in a new direction.  Listen to the expert in managing change and you will be impacted with his positive and creative strategies for comparing with change.