Speakers

Allen Thomas has a long history of service in eastern North Carolina including extensive experience in both the public and private sector. He most recently served for three-terms as mayor of the city of Greenville before becoming executive director of the North Carolina Global TransPark in June 2017.

With the rise of mobile technology in the 1990s, Thomas co-founded IQMax Healthcare Technologies, the first platform to enable doctors and medical professionals to securely manage their daily medical workflow by linking and interfacing multiple facilities through their mobile phones and smart devices.

While mayor of Greenville, Thomas launched Greenville's first office of economic development cohesive business strategy which resulted in more than $850 million in new development, jobs and public-private partnerships in a 36-month period and completely transformed commercial corridors and revitalized the city's center and riverfront.

Taking a regional approach, he helped lead in the creation of Quad East, an alliance of Eastern North Carolina cities and counties working together to leverage financial, corporate and transportation assets to form an economic cluster for future development.

Thomas also worked with North Carolina leaders, lawmakers and state government to close decades-old lingering transportation issues in eastern North Carolina. This included restoring $258 million in funding and construction of the Greenville Southwest Bypass and securing federal future interstate status (I-587) for U.S. Highway 264. The result: Better connecting eastern North Carolina to the national ground transportation grid.

Josh Stein was sworn in as North Carolina’s 50th Attorney General on January 1, 2017. The Attorney General is elected by the people of North Carolina every four years as the state’s top law enforcement officer and top lawyer. Attorney General Stein is focused on protecting North Carolina families from crime and consumer fraud. Attorney General Stein has also made combatting the opioid crisis a top priority.
 
As the head of the Department of Justice, the Attorney General oversees criminal appeals from state courts to ensure that criminals are kept behind bars and innocent people are not. Attorney General Stein also ensures that consumers are protected by going after scam artists and corporate bad actors. The Attorney General protects the taxpayers as well, by providing legal representation to state government agencies, departments and commissions, and by investigating and cracking down on Medicaid fraud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the N.C. Department of Transportation's deputy secretary for multimodal transportation, Julie White oversees the high-level operations of the Rail Division, Division of Public Transportation, Division of Aviation, Ferry Division and Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation.

White has a long history of public service in both state and local government. Over the past two decades, she has served in the Office of North Carolina Lieutenant Governor, the N.C. House of Representatives Majority Leader's Office, the N.C. Department of State Treasurer and most recently as executive director of the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Coalition.

White is the longest serving member of the Strategic Transportation Investment Workgroup and serves on the board of directors for NC Go!

White earned a Master of Public Administration from North Carolina State University and is a graduate of the Leadership North Carolina program

Colonel (Retired), United States Army, Judge Advocate General Corps

COL Warner retired from the United States Army in 2013 after 33 years of military service. He served as the Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon for three JCS Chairmen. In that role, he served on many Government Interagency Panels and Working Groups for Governmental Leaders and Deputies and as both an Advisor and an Investigating Officer for major National Security and Defense Department Inquiries, Events and Incidents.

He also served as the first Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment (LOD), Fort Bragg, North Carolina and as the Staff Judge Advocate of the Army’s Training Command. Deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), he became the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate, Combined Joint Task Force-7 (Coalition Provisional Authority), Baghdad, Iraq immediately following the fall of Baghdad until September 2003 and was the Senior Judge Advocate in the Command Operations Center, Coalition Forces Land Component Command (U.S. Third Army), Camp Doha, Kuwait, during the march to Baghdad. He commanded the 12th JAG Detachment in OIF. COL Warner also served as a Team Chief, 12th Legal Support Organization and the Command Judge Advocate for the 171st Corps Support Group. He previously served as a Medical Service Corps Company Commander, Executive Officer and Department Chief for several hospital units. COL Warner is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the Joint Forces Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. He has chaired Advisory Boards, Tiger Teams and Working Groups as a Senior Army and Joint Service JAG Leader.