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Richard Birk Goldgar, Ph.D.
Associate Partner, Digital Credentials
IBM
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Dr. Rick Goldgar, Ph.D. is the IBM Associate Partner for Digital Credentials in the IBM Talent Transformation Service Line. He was responsible for the original architecture of what is now the IBM Digital Credentials product and currently leads efforts for the Learning and Employment Records (LER) marketplace. He is also instrumental in the worldwide credentials market business planning, client relationships, partnerships and supports business and financial modeling. Dr. Goldgar participates in education credential efforts with numerous organizations, including IEEE and the Ed. 3.0 efforts.
Dr. Goldgar has been with IBM more than nine years, previously working in IBM Watson Research, Watson Education and in the IBM Center of Competency. He has supported numerous key education initiatives at IBM in both k-12 and higher education and has worked directly with clients worldwide.
Dr. Goldgar was formerly the CIO and CTO at the Texas Education Agency, a $27B state agency responsible or over 1200 K12 districts, over 6M students and over 500,000 teachers in public and charter schools. In this role he was responsible for operations, contracts, innovation in the IT department. Dr. Goldgar built and managed award-winning organization of over 200 staff, over 80 applications, with a $45M budget for functions including project management, operations, security and data systems. Mr. Goldgar is considered the Father of Texas Student Data System (TSDS), a state-wide data warehouse and reporting system for all schools.
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Neal Vermillion
Office Director, Visa Office, Field Operations, Bureau of Consular Affairs
U.S. Department of State
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Neal Vermillion is the Visa Office’s Director of Field Operations in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. He served previously as a Regional Consular Officer based in Frankfurt, Germany providing coaching and guidance to consular sections in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Prior to that, Neal worked at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, first as a senior manager in the nonimmigrant visa unit and then as the Special Assistant to the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs. Neal also served overseas in Perth, Antananarivo, and Sofia. Neal graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with an undergraduate degree in political science and history. He received a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where his studies focused on the history of U.S. foreign policy.
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Dorian Rollins
Senior Specialist, Certification Relations
SHRM
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Dorian Rollins is an experienced Senior Certification Specialist within the Society for Human Resource Management’s Certification Relations team, supporting affiliate, international and B2B groups. She joined SHRM in 2005 as a Customer Care representative and transitioned to the SHRM Certification Relations team in 2019. Prior to SHRM, Dorian was with our SHRM Certification exam vendor, Prometric, so she is no stranger to the world of credentialing. She works very closely with several of SHRM’s affiliates including chapters, global and domestic education partners, military partners, and B2B groups, to provide them with specialized SHRM Certification services. Dorian is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, where she majored in Communications.
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Doug Rand
Senior Advisor, Office of the Director
USCIS
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Doug Rand began serving as Senior Advisor to the Director of USCIS on Aug. 16, 2021.
Previously, he served as a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), directing the Technology and Innovation Initiative that focuses on the intersection of immigration policy and artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing the nation’s national security and economic growth.
Rand served in the Executive Office of the President between 2010-2017 as Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with a portfolio spanning inclusive high-growth entrepreneurship, access to capital, clean energy innovation, commercialization of federally funded research, and high-skill immigration. More recently, he advised the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
As an entrepreneur, Rand was the co-founder and president of Boundless, and the co-founder and CEO of Playscripts, Inc.
He is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management, and received Master’s and undergraduate degrees from Harvard, where he studied evolutionary biology.