Steven G. Zylstra (left), Sen. Jeff Flake and Tim Oergel
With a new administration and Congress coming into power, members of the technology community headed to Capitol Hill to get a sense of what lies ahead for their industry.
Arizona’s was among some 20 state technology councils that joined the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and more than 140 technology executives and business owners representing 29 states at the sixth annual 2017 CompTIA DC Fly-In on Feb. 14–15. All attendees participated in an agenda set by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the world’s leading technology association, in addition to discussions with members of their respective congressional delegations.
It was especially important that Arizona was represented at the DC Fly-In this year, says Steven G. Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, who led this state’s delegation. “We wanted to get a sense of the direction Congress may take on trade, H1B visas and corporate tax cuts,” he says.
Zylstra was joined by Jarid Buck, CTO and CEO of WorkBubble; Chase Norlin, CEO of Transmosis; Tim Oergel, founder and chief academic officer of Advancing Achievers Technology & Cybersecurity University; and Scott Stewart, senior technical staff/FSO of Control Vision.
They met with Sen. Jeff Flake and Reps. Trent Franks, Ruben Gallego and Paul Gosar. They also met with staff members for Reps. Andy Biggs, Raul Grijalva, Tom O’Halleran, David Schweikert and Kyrsten Sinema.
Workforce development was the focus of this year’s CompTIA meetings. To help in the effort, Zylstra already had been working in support of the CHANCE in TECH Act, which would develop an education and workforce program specifically for technology and an IT apprenticeship model.
