Gail Roper

Gail M. Roper is a nationally recognized, innovative technology leader with a history of effectively serving as the liaison between the private and public sectors to gain buy-in and achieve implementation of complex, multi-million-dollar IT projects. Roper has extensive experience with public and private sector technology initiatives, vendor negotiations, and building new partnerships to create leading-edge IT initiatives.  Roper is a strategic thought leader with a record of developing and collaborating on IT plans that dovetail seamlessly with her customer's overall business objectives. Recipient of multiple industry awards and a sought-after speaker for delivering technology, broadband, and IT strategy at domestic and international forums and conferences.  A recipient of Government Technology’s Doer, Dreamers, and Drivers award.  Roper is currently the CIO for Montgomery County, Maryland.  Her goal is to promote nascent technologies that provide business resiliency for Montgomery County.  She served as CIO for the Cities of Austin, Raleigh, and Kansas City, Missouri. Roper worked with Alphabet (Google) as the SE Manager for Regional Expansion. Roper holds a Bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in Business and Technology from the School of Graduate and Professional Studies, Rockhurst University.  She has completed studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and earned the North Carolina Certified Chief Information Officer Certification. She has represented the United States in forums nationally and internationally on the subject of broadband, technology strategy, and Smart City initiatives.  She has lectured nationally and internationally in partnership with IBM, Red Hat, and Cisco on the topic of open data, and doing business with C-level executives.  Roper is a presidential appointment to the NACo – Technology Advisory Committee (C-TAC) and a current Fellow for the National Academy of Public Administration, Washington DC.