Date/Time

October 23, 2026 | 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM ET

Location

1401 I St NW
Unit 515
Washington, DC 20005

Event Agenda:

9:00 am—10:00 am: Registration, Networking, & Vendor Tables Open (Continental Breakfast Provided)

10:00 am—10:15 am: Welcome & Announcements

10:15 am—11:15 am: Keynote Session

AI at Work: Separating the Hype from Reality: Matthew Deneroff

11:15 am—11:30 am: Break

11:30 am—12:30 pm: Keynote Session

The AI-Ready Service Desk: Clean Data, Rich Knowledge, Real Automation: Jessica Alfaro

12:30 pm—2:00 pm: Lunch Provided, Networking and Vendor Tables Open

2:00 pm—3:00 pm: Discussion Panel: 

The Promise and Perils of AI:  A panel discussion exploring AI successes, challenges and best practices for the future of service: Jessica Kennedy, Glen Posey, and Jesica Alfaro 

3:00 pm—3:15 pm: Refreshment/Dessert Break and Vendor Tables Open

3:15 pm—3:30 pm: Closing Remarks and Prize Drawing*

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Happy Hour

*Must be Present to Win! 

Keynote Session - Presented by Matthew Deneroff

AI at Work: Separating the Hype from Reality

AI is rapidly reshaping the workplace, but not always in the ways headlines suggest. This session cuts through common misconceptions about AI and work to examine what is actually happening inside organizations today. Drawing on workforce research and real-world insights, attendees will learn how AI is changing jobs, skills, hiring and leadership expectations, where adoption is stalling, and what employees and employers are really saying. Join Matthew Deneroff from Robert Half to gain a practical understanding of AI's impact on the workforce and what leaders can do now to prepare their organizations for the future of work.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Distinguish AI hype from reality and understand what is actually changing in today's workplace.
• Identify the workforce, skills, and leadership challenges that influence successful AI adoption.
• Apply practical strategies to prepare employees and organizations for an AI-enabled future of work.

Keynote Session - Presented by Jessica Alfaro

The AI-Ready Service Desk: Clean Data, Rich Knowledge, Real Automation

Before you invest in AI, find out whether your service desk can actually feed it.

Most service desks don't have an AI problem. They have a data problem, a knowledge problem, and a process problem, and AI is simply unforgiving enough to expose all three at once.

The pattern is familiar now: a virtual agent goes live, deflection numbers look good for a quarter, and then ticket volume quietly returns. The model wasn't the issue. It was trained in and grounded on categorization schemes nobody has maintained in years, a knowledge base where the twenty most-viewed articles are somewhat out of date, and workflows that were never actually defined well enough to automate.

If AI is the future of service, readiness is the price of admission, and readiness is a service management discipline, not a technology selection exercise. This session walks the dependency chain: clean data enables rich knowledge, rich knowledge enables real automation. At each layer we’ll cover what “good enough” looks like, how to measure where you actually stand, and which gaps to close first.

Practitioners leave with a readiness self-assessment they can run against their own environment. Leaders leave with a defensible answer to the question: what has to be true before we spend money on this?

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

• Assess their organization's AI readiness across three dependency layers, ticket and configuration data, knowledge, and automatable process, using a maturity-based self-assessment.

• Identify the specific data defects that most degrade AI output, categorization drift, free-text-only resolution notes, stale CI relationships, inconsistent resolution codes, and prioritize which to remediate first.

• Distinguish deflection from resolution when scoping automation, and define the guardrails, escalation paths, and measures that make automated action safe to deploy.

The Promise and Perils of AI: 

A panel discussion exploring AI successes, challenges and best practices for the future of service.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how organizations deliver service, make decisions, and engage customers, but successful adoption requires thoughtful planning and execution. Join industry leaders as they share real-world successes, challenges, and lessons learned, offering practical insights and best practices for leveraging AI responsibly while maintaining trust, security, and the human touch in the future of service.

Moderated by:

Monica Morrison, Director, Business Application Service Desk, Marriott International

Panelists:

Jessica Alfaro, Founder, PerformaTech Solutions LLC

Jessica Alfaro is the Founder of PerformaTech Solutions LLC, where she advises federal IT contractors on technology strategy, capability development, and audit-ready compliance. She brings more than 20 years of customer-delivery experience in federal IT consulting, including roles as VP of Technology, where she built cloud, data, and cyber roadmaps and led AI governance and adoption efforts. Jessica is a certified ITIL 4 Strategic Leader and Managing Professional, a CMMI Associate, FinOps Practitioner, and a CMMC Registered Practitioner, with hands-on ServiceNow and Jira implementation experience. Her work sits where service management discipline meets emerging technology, which is exactly where most AI programs succeed or stall.

Jessica Kennedy, Service Management Analyst, World Bank Group

Jessica Caceres Kennedy is a Service Management Analyst at the World Bank Group, where she leads quality management for HQ and Latin America IT Support. Her work centers on designing frameworks that advance data integrity, client satisfaction, and service excellence, translating complex operations into clear, actionable insights.

Drawing on a background that spans IT services, systems engineering, quality assurance, and global support operations, Jessica brings a well-rounded and deeply practical perspective to service delivery. A certified SAFe Agile Scrum Master with strong ITSM expertise, she currently leads AI-enabled initiatives aimed at automating service gaps and modernizing IT operations. Her passion for experience management further shapes her approach, grounding technology-driven work in a genuine understanding of the human side of service.

She joins this panel as a practitioner who has seen firsthand how AI is transforming service management not simply as a driver of efficiency, but as a force for reimagining what exceptional service can look like.

Glen Posey, IT Director, The Willis Group

Glenn Posey Jr. is an experienced IT leader with more than 20 years of experience driving technology strategy, innovation, and business transformation in the retail and convenience industry. His background spans solutions engineering, cloud, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and enterprise technology.

As an IT Director at The Wills Group, Glenn leads technology initiatives focused on strengthening security, modernizing infrastructure, improving operational efficiency, and aligning technology with business objectives. His solutions engineering background gives him a unique ability to bridge technical capabilities with practical business needs.

Glenn is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies to drive innovation, improve productivity, and create meaningful business value.

Speakers and Bios

Matthew Deneroff, Market Director and Vice President, Robert Half

Matt Deneroff currently serves as a Market Director and Vice President of the global talent solutions and business consulting firm, Robert Half. In his role, Matt oversees the Contract and Permanent Placement Services for Technology & Digital in the DC, MD and VA markets. He has held several leadership roles throughout his decade with Robert Half and has received company-wide recognition for sales growth and production. Matt earned his degree in business administration and management from the Catholic University of America.

Jessica Alfaro, Founder, PerformaTech Solutions LLC

Jessica Alfaro is the Founder of PerformaTech Solutions LLC, where she advises federal IT contractors on technology strategy, capability development, and audit-ready compliance. She brings more than 20 years of customer-delivery experience in federal IT consulting, including roles as VP of Technology, where she built cloud, data, and cyber roadmaps and led AI governance and adoption efforts. Jessica is a certified ITIL 4 Strategic Leader and Managing Professional, a CMMI Associate, FinOps Practitioner, and a CMMC Registered Practitioner, with hands-on ServiceNow and Jira implementation experience. Her work sits where service management discipline meets emerging technology, which is exactly where most AI programs succeed or stall.