Governor Greg Abbott has named eight individuals to serve on the Public Sector Artificial Intelligence Systems Advisory Board, with terms running through September 1, 2027.
The new appointees are Heather Hall, Ph.D., Sylvia Hernandez Kauffman, Tina McLeod, Anh Selissen, Ronald Steffa, David Bolduc, Jaclyn Beerens, and Josh Chacona.
Heather Hall is the chief information officer at the Texas Workforce Commission. She also serves as president of the Texas Association for Strategic Solutions and Collaboration in Computing (TASSCC) and participates in several professional organizations. Her academic background includes a doctorate in Information Science from the University of North Texas.
Sylvia Hernandez Kauffman is chief information officer at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Her previous roles include Inspector General for HHS and software development leader at Exxon Company. She holds degrees from Stanford University and Harvard University.
Tina McLeod serves as chief information officer for the Texas Office of the Attorney General. Her prior experience includes leadership positions within Texas Health and Human Services and advisory work with Austin Women in Technology.
Anh Selissen leads information technology at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and previously worked at the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. She has advanced degrees in geology and geoscience.
Ronald Steffa is chief financial officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He has served in various financial roles within TDCJ and is involved with his local church community.
David Bolduc heads the Office of Public Insurance Counsel. His career spans nearly five decades across several government agencies including legal counsel roles for state departments such as insurance, agriculture, natural resources, and attorney general’s office.
Jaclyn Beerens works as vice president of consulting services at CGI. Her previous board experience includes service with TASSCC and Healthier Texas.
Josh Chacona is a regional vice president at Snowflake with earlier engineering roles at Oracle, National Instruments, and Scapa North America.
These appointments bring together expertise from across technology leadership positions within state agencies as well as private sector experience relevant to artificial intelligence systems oversight.
