Patrick J. Flaherty is Director of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor, Connecticut’s Labor Market Information shop and the Data Integration Hub for P20WIN, Connecticut’s State Longitudinal Data System. Patrick is on the P20WIN Data Governing Board and serves as the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Agency Data Officer. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Studies from Harvard University and his Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut. He is also Adjunct Faculty at UConn where he is teaching Principles of Microeconomics at UConn/Hartford.

Currently, Patrick is the Labor Commissioner’s designee on the Connecticut Retirement Security Program (MyCTSavings). He is also the New England representative on the Local Employment Dynamics Steering Committee.

Scott Gaul is Chief Data Officer for Connecticut at the Office of Policy and Management where he supports the state’s efforts to improve open data, integrated data, through the state longitudinal data system, GIS data and data analytics. Previously, Scott worked on research, evaluation and community indicators at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for the Greater Hartford region. Prior to that, he served as director of analysis in the Washington, D.C.-based Microfinance Information Exchange and worked for the World Bank, Mercy Corps, and Quantitative Risk Management. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago.

Sumit Sajnani serves as the Health Information Technology Officer (HITO) for the State of Connecticut. In this role he chairs several state committees and commissions focused on health IT and is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the statewide Health Information Exchange (Connie).

Sajnani directs the development of uniform data standards and collaborates with other state officials to implement a state health information plan. He engages in the legislative processes in pursuit of Office of Health Strategy (OHS) objectives.

Previously, he spent 12 years as an executive consultant at Connecticut Department of Correction (CT DOC), driving transformational IT programs for offender management and electronic health record.

Sajnani has held several senior leadership positions in information technology, management consulting and healthcare administration. He has nearly 25 years of experience in health IT, IT strategy, planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of technical solutions.

Meeta Anand, Senior Program Director for Census and Data Equity at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, has spearheaded national and statewide coalitions to ensure accurate, equitable census counts, particularly for immigrants and historically undercounted populations. Anand will address the critical role of federal data in upholding democracy, the impact of recent moves to eliminate advisory committees and reduce data collection on race, ethnicity, and SOGI, and the consequences for representation, resource allocation, and civil rights enforcement.

Lynda Kellam, organizer with the Data Rescue Project, has led a nationwide coalition of librarians, archivists, and data professionals working to preserve endangered federal datasets. The Data Rescue Project acts as a clearinghouse, coordinating efforts to rescue, curate, and provide sustained public access to critical data from agencies such as the CDC, Department of Education, FEMA, and HUD. Kellam will share insights from the frontlines of data rescue, highlighting the importance of community coordination, accessible repositories like ICPSR’s DataLumos, and the urgent need to prevent data loss as federal datasets on public health, education, and marginalized communities come under threat.

Amy O’Hara, Research Professor at Georgetown’s Massive Data Institute and Executive Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center, and President of the Association of Public Data Users, is a leading expert in data governance, privacy, and secure data access. O’Hara’s work bridges government, academia, and nonprofits, focusing on building data infrastructure that balances privacy with the public good. She will discuss the evolving landscape of federal data policy, the foundational role of data in evidence-based policymaking, and the risks and opportunities posed by proposed changes to data collection and accessibility—especially as legislation and executive orders reshape what data is collected and shared.