The Strict Reality
of AI Governance

Auburn University doctoral researcher in Adult Education and Systems Theory. Over 15 years operating inside large institutions and federal contracting structures. Creator of the GASP™ diagnostic, the L.E.A.C. Protocol™, and the Failure Files™ pedagogical instrument — the only AI governance curriculum grounded in andragogy rather than compliance documentation. Author of the canonical position paper The Pedagogy Problem in AI Governance (SSRN, April 2026). TAIMScore™ Certified Assessor, HISPI, March 2026. Goodpods #1 Indie Tech · Apple Top 100 Global Management & Leadership, April 2026.

Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired), with senior command experience at U.S. Army Reserve Command as Deputy Chief of Staff. Master of Strategic Studies, University of Texas at Austin. Decorated career spanning DCS Information Management (G6), DCS Operations and Knowledge Management (G3), and BRAC Project Office Chief. Currently leading responsible AI deployment strategy at the intersection of defense infrastructure, public safety, and smart city systems. AFCEA International board member, Homeland Security Subcommittee. Founder of the Col. Harding-Swacina STEM Scholarship for women entering technology fields. When she says an AI deployment decision should have been stopped, she has signed the orders that proved it.

31 years of information security leadership across four continents. Former Director of Cybersecurity Strategy at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. First and former CISO of the City of Atlanta — a city that experienced one of the most consequential municipal ransomware failures in U.S. history, and rebuilt from it. Founder of HISPI, eFortresses, and CloudeAssurance. Creator of the TAIMScore™ framework — the only practitioner-built, NIST-aligned AI trust scoring instrument currently in institutional deployment. CISSP, CISM, CISA, ISO 27001 Auditor. The only person in this room who has rebuilt an institution's security posture from zero after catastrophic failure.

Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, embedded in the go-to-market strategy for Copilot — the largest enterprise AI rollout in commercial history. She is the person moving autonomous AI systems from pilot approval to production deployment inside Fortune 500 organizations. That means she has seen every governance gap that surfaces between the boardroom pitch and the operational reality. Her role gives her direct visibility into where institutional readiness frameworks break down at execution — not in theory, but at scale, in real time. She will tell you what the corporate version of this story leaves out.

Strategic advisor to businesses and government agencies operating in high-stakes AI environments. Paul Wilson Global Solutions specializes in organizations that cannot afford to get the governance structure wrong and are not willing to wait for a failure case to find out they did. His advisory practice is built on the premise that AI governance failure is a structural problem, not a model problem — a thesis he has tested across government and commercial clients for whom the cost of getting it wrong is institutional, not just financial. He has sat in the rooms where these decisions were made. He is here to say what happened inside them.

20+ years driving excellence in enterprise transformation, AI, cyber, and innovation. Founded the Cyber & STEAM Global Innovation Alliance — building toward 10,000 partners serving 1,000,000 people globally in STEM, cyber, and innovation. As CEO of Global Innovation Strategies, she specializes in governance, policy integration, and strategic alignment across the DoD, DHS, NSA, and IC ecosystems. She has sat in the rooms where AI decisions get approved that should have been stopped.

Award-winning CEO, business educator, multi-published author, and global strategist focused on strengthening small business participation in corporate contracting. Founder of ProcuraFind® — a certifying authority for small business contract readiness — she has helped clients secure more than $6M in corporate contracts within two years. Her work sits at the intersection of supplier readiness, economic development, and AI-enabled workforce education.

Michelle Houston controls the mic and the room. As Co-Host and Audience Navigator, she manages the live production flow, directs audience participation, and ensures the microphone reaches the right person at the precise moment — so Dr. Floyd and the panel stay locked on the conversation that matters. Her role is not decorative. In a 50-seat room with unfiltered access to practitioners, the moderator determines whether the session produces institutional intelligence or noise. She produces signal.