Shari Whitaker is an Information Technology Leader, Air Force veteran, speaker, entrepreneur, author, mentor, and woman of faith. She is the Director of Cloud and Software Governance for LexisNexis. As head of the Cloud Business Office, she establishes and ensures the strategic and tactical execution of cloud governance and best practices across the organization. For over 30 years, she has been a noteworthy leader who takes pride in using technology to solve problems and building/leading high performing teams. After spending a third of her career providing networking and data center management to some of the highest-ranking officials in the military, she has moved on to hold various IT leadership roles in the government, transportation, healthcare, and legal industry. She holds a special passion for mentoring and advocating for women of color in STEM. Shari holds a graduate degree in Communications Technology and a graduate degree in Project Management and Leadership. She is based out of the LexisNexis Center of Excellence in Raleigh, NC.