Session #2

State Government at Warp Speed
11:35 - 12:50 p.m.
CPE Field of Study: Information Technology

PPT Presentation

This session will highlight examples of how the COVID-19 crisis moved state government to embrace new technologies and digital approaches to delivering services to citizens, advancing their agenda around digital workforce, restructuring and streamlining operations, and virtual cloud-based technology infrastructure. Many state governments have pivoted to new ways of delivering services to citizens in timeframes demanded by COVID, never envisioned prior to this crisis. This session will highlight several examples and extract lessons states can use to continue to make themselves better prepared for the next crisis, and to advance innovation in their state.

 

William McNamara was appointed the 20th comptroller of the commonwealth of Massachusetts by Governor Charlie Baker and sworn in on February 21, 2020. Comptroller McNamara brings leadership experience in the finance, strategy, and management functions, gained in both public and private sector organizations.

McNamara most recently served as assistant secretary in the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (A&F). His work included oversight and administrative responsibility for several agencies and quasi‐governmental bodies. He led the analytical work in areas of revenue, including the impact of federal tax reform legislation on state revenue and state residents. Prior to his role at A&F, McNamara served as deputy commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

Bill McNamara (as he is known informally) earned his bachelor of arts in economics and English at Williams College, and a master of business administration with a concentration in finance at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. He resides in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his family and is active in local civic and charitable organizations.
 
V. Reid Walsh is the deputy secretary for human resources and management for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As deputy secretary, Reid’s focus has been on implementing core transformation initiatives. These include consolidating commonwealth HR under a shared services model, building a four-year strategic plan and IT roadmap for HR, establishing a unified service delivery model through process standardization, building an HR LEAN program and managing HR service delivery through metrics and governance.

Prior to taking on her current role, Reid served as the chief of staff and policy director for the Office of Administration, playing an instrumental role in the agency’s key initiatives. Reid also served as the director of operations for the Tom Wolf for Governor campaign and as executive director of the Wolf Inaugural Committee. Before returning to her hometown of York, Walsh spent thirteen years in Washington, D.C., with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Reid attended the University of Delaware, where she graduated with a degree in communications. After college, she spent a year in service through Jesuit Volunteer Corps serving the homeless youth community of Phoenix, Arizona. Reid currently resides in Spring Garden Township with her husband and two children.
 
Ryan Oakes leads Accenture’s global and North America public sector business serving government agencies, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. Over more than two decades, he’s played key roles in transforming state, county and city governments as well as reshaping operations at some of America’s largest and most prestigious universities. While the depth and breadth of his expertise has continually evolved, one thing has stayed the same: Ryan’s commitment to helping clients reshape what they do and how they do it for the benefit of the people they serve.
 
Marty Benison currently serves in Accenture’s State and Local Government Practice. He works with state and large city and county governments in the area of operations and management advising these entities on application improvements and business process redesign. Before joining Accenture, Marty had a 30-year career in state government, serving as comptroller of the commonwealth of Massachusetts from January of 1999 until May of 2015. Throughout his career Marty focused on using technology to improve processes across government while maintaining high levels of internal controls.

He is past president of NASACT and past president of the National Association of State Comptrollers. He also served as a public member of the Professional Ethics Executive Committee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts from 2001 through 2014.  He served as chairman of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council from 2010 through 2015. 

Marty holds a B.A. in economics from Boston College and a masters’ degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

 


The NASACT Community

NASACT serves as the premier organization working to bring together state auditors, state comptrollers and state treasurers to cooperatively address government financial management issues. NASACT also manages two secretariats - the National State Auditors Association (NSAA) and the National Association of State Comptrollers (NASC). Both NSAA and NASC are included under the umbrella of NASACT’s budget and utilize staff hired by NASACT.