Overview

State agencies are under constant pressure to modernize aging systems while keeping critical services secure and compliant. The Alabama Department of Revenue (ALDOR) faced this challenge head-on when it migrated its tax systems to the cloud—without downtime, security lapses, or compliance failures.

Join Governing and Amazon Web Services for a live webinar to learn how ALDOR:

Met IRS and federal compliance standards with a cloud-based infrastructure that passed audits with zero critical findings.
Bolstered security and disaster recovery while reducing costs and scaling operations to handle millions of taxpayer returns.
Launched a new cloud-based IVR system in record time— demonstrating how agencies can quickly deliver modern, user-friendly services to the public.

Speakers

Rita Allen

IT Director, State of Alabama, Department of Revenue

Rita Allen is the IT Director for the State of Alabama, Department of Revenue. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has been employed the State of Alabama for over 34 years. She worked 14 of those years in the State’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the other 20 years with the Department of Revenue’s IT Division. In the past 12 months, she and her team have won several national awards including the Federal Tax Administrator’s award for Innovation and Info-Tech’s CIO Award for outstanding results in the CIO Business Vision program. She currently lives in Slapout, AL (yes, it’s a real place – Ha!) on Lake Jordan in Alabama but grew up in metro Atlanta (Tucker and Dunwoody). She received AS and BBA degrees from the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, GA) and an MBA from Mercer University (Atlanta).

Virginia Neslein

IT Project Manager, State of Alabama, Department of Revenue

Virginia Neslein is the IT Project Manager for the State of Alabama, Department of Revenue. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has been employed with the State of Alabama for approximately 8 years. Prior to coming on with the State, she had her own IT company, Kreations Technology Inc., where she worked as an Oracle DBA/Developer consultant for 16 years. In her time with the State of Alabama, she worked almost 2 years in the State’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and 1 year with the Department of Rehabilitation IT Division. Prior to her state career, she worked as a contractor for companies such as General Dynamics and Oracle Corporation at Gunter AF Base. In the past 12 months, she and her project team have won a national award, the Federal Tax Administrator’s award for Innovation. She currently lives in Millbrook, AL which is also the place where she grew up. She received BS degrees from the Auburn University at Montgomery, AL in Information Systems and a Masters in Computer Science from Troy University at Montgomery.

Erin Egan

Tax Systems Modernization Leader, Amazon Web Services

Erin Egan is the Tax System Modernization Leader in the Finance, Administration, Cybersecurity and Tax team with Amazon Web Services. Prior to joining AWS, she worked for the State of Wisconsin for more than two decades. She spent twelve years as the Director of Tax Operations at the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, overseeing the processing of millions of tax returns and collecting more than $15 billion annually. She won several national awards during her tenure for innovative technology projects in tax administration as well as unclaimed property.

Andrew Henderson

Sr. Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services

Andrew is a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) with 20 years of industry experience in a variety of engineering and leadership roles. He now focuses on helping public sector customers in their journey to realize the technical and business impacts of cloud computing.

Harry Black — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Harry is a seasoned executive with extensive leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. He has served as city manager, chief administrative officer, chief financial officer, program manager, and chief procurement officer, consistently driving organizational transformation through best practices and outcome-based strategies.

Webinar

Can Your Tax System Be More Accessible? Lessons from Alabama's Tax Service Modernization