2024 DAF Data, Analytics, and AI Forum

Tara Murphy Dougherty is the CEO of Govini. Prior to this, she served as Govini’s President, where she led strategy and growth and oversaw Govini’s work with all federal clients. She has held leadership positions in technology across industry, government, and nonprofit sectors, including at Palantir Technologies, and she served as chief of staff for Global Strategic Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, among other senior roles.

She holds a bachelor’s from Georgia Tech and a master’s from Georgetown University. She serves on the Board of Directors for the National Defense Industrial Association and the National Defense University Foundation, and the Board of Advisors of the Reagan Institute’s National Security Innovation Base Program.

Kristyn E. Jones is Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. She is responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force, comprised of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, to include organizing, training, and equipping Air and Space Forces and for the welfare of approximately 700,000 active duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen and Guardians and their families serving around the world. As the Under Secretary, she oversees the department’s annual budget of more than $205 billion and directs strategy and policy development, risk management, weapons acquisition, technology investments and human resource management across a global enterprise.

Hon. Jones serves as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller. In this role, she serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary, Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations on all financial matters. She is responsible for providing financial management and analytical services necessary for the effective and efficient use of the Department of the Air Force resources. This includes directing the development of the Air Force program and budget, overseeing the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency's acquisition and operational cost analysis, providing analytical services and conducting Air Force accounting and finance operations.

Prior to her current governmental service, Jones was a Managing Director in KPMG’s Federal Advisory practice, where she supported the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and other federal clients. Previously, Jones served in a variety of government positions. She entered the Senior Executive Service in June 2008 serving as Director, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Information Management until 2014. From 2007 to 2008, Jones was assigned as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller for Cost Management Transformation. Prior to this role, Jones was the Director of Enterprise Transition Planning at the Department of Defense Business Transformation Agency and served as a Financial Manager at the Office of Naval Research. Earlier in her career, Jones held management positions at two Fortune 500 companies, Capital One and Advanced Micro Devices. Jones also served as a Military Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Army, where she held a variety of leadership positions.

Kian Katanforoosh is the CEO and co-founder of Workera.ai, the skills intelligence platform redefining how enterprises understand, develop, and mobilize talent. The company empowers organizations to stay ahead by unlocking the skills data needed to drive innovation and data-driven talent strategies across upskilling, talent acquisition, talent mobility, and coaching and mentoring.

Kian is also a lecturer of computer science at Stanford University, where he teaches one of the university’s most popular classes, Deep Learning, and has received the university’s highest teaching award. He is a founding member of DeepLearning.AI

Gen. Jim Slife serves as the Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia. As Vice Chief, he guides the Air Staff and serves as a member of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council. He assists the Chief of Staff with organizing, training and equipping 689,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian forces serving in the United States and overseas.

Gen. Slife was born outside of Detroit and grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was commissioned through the ROTC program at Auburn University and has spent most of his career in special operations aviation assignments, deploying extensively. Prior to his current assignment, Gen. Slife was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia.

Ryan Swann is Vanguard’s Chief Data Analytics Officer and principal. In this role, he oversees the strategic use of data and analytics across the firm. This includes, but not limited to, managing the entire data lifecycle and improving business outcomes by leveraging analytics, AI/ML, and Data Science. Additionally, Ryan is an innovator, entrepreneur, and investor focused on the data/AI/ML, cybersecurity, blockchain, and sustainability spaces.

Before joining Vanguard in April 2020, Mr. Swann led data and analytics organizations not only to drive business outcomes but also to reduce risk in the private and public sectors. In the private sector, he was a Chief Data Officer (CDO) at Collibra Inc. after serving as the CDO at E*TRADE Financial, where he developed and implemented an enterprise data strategy. Prior to these private sector roles, Mr. Swann was CDO/Director of Data Analytics at the Office of Government-wide Policy during the Obama Administration. While in this role he co-founded the White House Data Cabinet and co-authored the first Federal Data Maturity Model after serving as senior data leader at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the 2008 financial crisis for almost a decade.

Mr. Swann earned a B.A. in communication with a minor in mathematics and computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park, an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and an M.P.A. from Harvard University. During his undergraduate years, Ryan also served in the U.S. Marine Corps where, after a tour in Iraq, he received several medals and commendations for outstanding service.