Reston, VA | September 25, 2025 – Brillient Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and Senior Vice President (SVP) Richard Jacik and George Mason University (GMU) Inaugural VP and Chief AI Officer Amarda Shehu hosted the Converge AI: Government Solutions Forum September 18. Their fellow George Mason University (GMU) AI-in-Gov Council founding members Dominic Delmolino, Richard Patterson, Manish Malhotra, Ramesh Ponnada, Rich Heimann, Matt Fisher, Tamara Nall, and Deneen Williams also attended the event, held at Fuse at Mason Square.
Richard Patterson, Chief Data and AI Officer at the U.S. Department of State, kicked things off with a powerful keynote, framing the discussion for how AI is transforming government operations.
Dominic Delmolino, Vice President of Field Technology and Engineering at Amazon Web Services (AWS), shared insights on field technology innovation during an AWS presentation.
Delmolino then moderated the Innovating with AI Ops: Policy and Practice panel featuring Michael Boyce, Generative AI Lead at U.S. Digital Response, Manish Malhotra, Founder and Executive Chairman at Unissant, Myeong Lee, Assistant Professor of Information Science, GMU, and Jerry Limber, Principal, Jerry Limber Consulting.
Highlights from the panel included:
- “Start small. Start internal. That’s the way to go.” – Jerry Limber
- “No one asks what the ROI of Microsoft Excel is. It’s just part of getting the job done.” – Michael Boyce
- “Everybody I talked to today is starting an AI company.” – Manish Malhotra
Ramesh Ponnada, Chief Executive Officer, 4A Consulting, LLC, opened with a presentation on the topic of AI and Cybersecurity: Building Trust in a Zero-Trust World.
Ponnada discussed the careful balance between technology and trust, and how companies who provide AI and cybersecurity services must also deliver trust for government missions to succeed.
Silpa Nunna, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Growth at 4A Consulting, moderated an incredible panel on AI and Cybersecurity joined by Vipin Swarup, Principal of Credenta, Travis Rosiek, Public Sector Chief Technology Officer of Rubrik, and Massimiliano (Max) Albanese, Professor & IDIA Executive Director, GMU.
Brillient’s CDO and SVP, Richard Jacik, joined Amarda Shehu, GMU Inaugural VP and Chief AI Officer, to host a fireside chat and Q&A session. Felipe Millon, Head of Federal Civilian and State & Local Government, OpenAI, followed them onstage and presented a demonstration of ChatGPT5. Afterward, the AI and Cybersecurity panel conversation continued to explore how AI is evolving and what opportunities and challenges it creates for the public sector.
Here were some hot takes:
- “AI is like a house of cards — eventually, the wind will knock it down. We need to look deeper and secure it.” – Travis Rosiek
- “Secure the pipeline, not just the end parts.” – Ramesh Ponnada
The lunch and poster session provoked thought and discussion among attendees. Myeong Lee, GMU’s Assistant Professor of Information Science at GMU and AI-in-Gov Fellow, presented his findings about how various AI types function within different domains, topics, and organizations.
The next generation of researchers showcased their talents in a poster contest, and the award was decided by the vote of the attendees, which included industrial leaders, government employees, and university professors.
Jennifer Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, described who NVTC is, what the technology council does and different ways tech professionals can get involved.
Ravi Mudumby, Chief Strategy Officer for 22nd Century Technologies Inc., delivered a presentation on 22nd Century’s scale and experience supporting federal, defense, and state IT programs, highlighted their $3B+ in contracts and nationwide presence, and discussed their AI philosophy and solutions.
Darnita Trower, Chief Customer Experience Officer for 22nd Century Technologies, moderated a panel about Maximizing AI Innovation, Minimizing Risk. Panelists Rich Heimann, Director of AI, State of South Carolina, Matthew Fisher, Chief Executive Officer, Mathsolutely, and Dave Vennergrund, Vice President of AI and Data Insights, General Dynamics Information Technology, delved into what a careful balancing act this is.
Panelist Paul Weiss, Vice President of Digital Solutions at Brillient, said, “Systems that have made an inference are participating in chains of truth, and many of them may not always provide the truth by design.”
Matt Passos, Acting CTO of U.S. Department of Commerce, offered insights on government AI transformation during his mid-afternoon keynote. He discussed changes in federal AI priorities and approaches with the GMU AI-in-gov Council.
Dr. Tamara Nall, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Leading Niche (TLN) moderated the Humans, Meet Your AI: How the Government is Rewriting Human Interaction panel.
Brillient CEO Sukumar Iyer joined fellow panelists, Deneen Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Priwils and Amarda Shehu of GMU in a spirited discussion about how AI is transforming government-public interactions.
Bold predictions from the panelists:
- “Modernize systems — imagine doing taxes by email or having them completed for you. But people must stay responsible — trust and security matter.” -Deneen Williams
- “I was born an Optimistic person. Human intelligence augmented by AI will overcome today’s challenges.” – Sukumar Iyer
- “Whatever gets integrated should empower the human. Learn from history, be advocates, and ask questions.”. – Amarda Shehu
Grace Lim, Data Transparency Product Manager for the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for the U.S. Department of Treasury, delivered the closing keynote, in which she shared her vision for data transparency and AI-driven government.
Next, the poster session winners were announced. First prize winner Rehenuma Tasnim Rodoshi presented her research work in AI-for-Public-Good Poster Competition and expressed her gratitude following the award.
“A huge thank you to my supervisors and mentors Dr. Daniel Barbara and Dr. Amarda Shehu, and the organizers for their support and for creating such a vibrant platform to showcase innovative research,” she said. “It was an incredible experience to present my work, engage in insightful discussions with professors, peers, and industry professionals, and learn about diverse ways AI is being applied to serve society.”
Discussions continued at the networking reception, where speakers, partners, and attendees made connections that will shape the future of AI in government.
From innovation to cybersecurity to the future of human-AI interaction, today’s conversations showcased the power of collaboration. Brillient was proud to partner with GMU AI in Gov Council as a founding sponsor. Massive thanks to everyone who made #ConvergeAIGov unforgettable.