Competition Panel
2026 Judges
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Judge
First Gentleman Adam Spanberger
Adam Spanberger is honored to serve as the inaugural First Gentleman of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A computer engineer and father of three daughters, he brings a practical perspective rooted in his career in technology and family life to the role of First Gentleman.
Adam attended Virginia’s public schools and graduated from the University of Virginia. His mother, an English teacher, inspired his strong belief in education in all its forms, including early learning, STEM, the arts, and career and technical education. An avid cyclist, Adam enjoys Virginia’s natural beauty and supports outdoor recreation, safe walking and biking, and opportunities for people to unplug and connect.
As First Gentleman, Adam is proud to support his wife, Governor Abigail D. Spanberger, and will serve with a focus on service and community.
Judge
Andrea Fletcher
Director of the Virginia Digital Service
Andrea Fletcher is the Director of the Virginia Digital Service, where she leads efforts to modernize how residents interact with the Commonwealth. She previously served in the federal government as the first Chief Digital Strategy Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services where she led the CMS Digital Service team and built the first Open Source Program Office in the federal government. Andrea entered the government through the US Digital Service in 2021, but her career spans federal health IT policy, AI governance, and global health systems work in more than 20 countries including supporting digital health systems for COVID -19, Ebola, and HIV. Andrea is a 2025 Service to the Citizen Award winner and was nominated in 2024 for the Samuel J. Heyman “Sammie” award for emerging leaders in government.
Originally from the Appalachian Mountains of Western Pennsylvania, Andrea holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College and an MPH from Emory University. She currently lives in Alexandria, VA with her husband, daughter, and English Springer Spaniel.
Judge
Dr. Tamarah Holmes
Director of Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development
Judge
Mylam Ly
Mylam Ly serves as Assistant Secretary of Administration for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she brings a strong information technology background to policy, compliance, and legislative affairs. She previously served as Policy and Governmental Affairs Manager at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), where she led the agencies internal policy program and managed legislative and regulatory compliance within the Legal and Legislative Services directorate. Her career reflects deep policy and regulatory expertise spanning both information technology and public health, along with experience in project coordination, consistently focused on translating complex technical and regulatory issues into actionable guidance.
Judge
Dr. Laura Schewel
Dr. Laura Schewel is the Deputy Secretary of Transportation. Prior to this role, she was the Co-Founder and CEO of StreetLight Data, a pioneering transportation data analytics tech company in San Francisco for 15 years. After StreetLight's acquisition by Jacobs Engineering Group, Laura served as the Sr. Vice President for Data and Digital Transportation for Jacobs. Laura has a PhD from UC Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group focused on transportation data and climate change. She was a National Science Foundation fellow in Energy Engineering, the OECD's Young Transportation Researcher of the Year, and one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. She is a native of Richmond Virginia.
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Judge
Toni Blue
Toni Blue serves as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia, appointed by Governor Abigail Spanberger to help oversee one of the largest and most complex secretariats in state government. A nationally recognized leader in health and human services, she brings more than two decades of experience shaping policy, leading large-scale initiatives, and driving systems change across the public and private sectors.
Before joining the Secretariat, Toni spent four years in the private sector advising states on human services modernization, including policy, operations, and technology transformation. She previously served as Senior Director of the Division of Benefit Programs at the Virginia Department of Social Services, where she led major public assistance programs such as SNAP and TANF and played a key role in Virginia's Medicaid expansion and its COVID-19 response.
A recipient of the 2021 VDSS Leader of the Year Award, Toni is a strong advocate for health equity, food security, and access to quality childcare. She holds a Certificate in Lean Six Sigma from Vanderbilt University, is a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute, and earned her bachelor's degree from Virginia State University. Above all, she is proudest of being the mother of her two children, Cameron O'Neal and Kennedy Blue.
Featured Speakers
2026 Speakers
Speaker
Traci J. Deshazor
Traci J. Deshazor is a Richmond, Virginia public administrator focused on modernizing government operations and strengthening public systems. As Richmond's Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services, she oversaw a six-agency, 1,000+ employee portfolio, and as the city's first Chief Equity Officer, she helped modernize its language access policies. She later served as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth under Governors Northam and McAuliffe, and as Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs on Virginia's federal policy portfolio. A Virginia Tech and Hollins University graduate, she now brings that operational and equity-focused experience to state government under Governor Spanberger.
Speaker
Marcus Thornton
Marcus Thornton serves as the Acting Chief Data Officer (CDO) for the Commonwealth and is from Danville, Virginia. He has worked in software engineering for the last 20 years. Before becoming the Deputy CDO, he worked for a data company that specializes in the collection of retail pricing data across all of North America. He creates new partnerships between the Office of Data Governance and Analytics and Commonwealth agencies and shows them how sharing data across the Commonwealth can be leveraged to make more informed decisions and increase their own efficiencies.