ITen Wired is bringing in top tech experts and well-known speakers from across the country for the Oct. 22-23 summit, being held at the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front.

ITEN Wired is a conference hosted by IT Gulf Coast and Florida West Economic Development Alliance. The annual summit provides networking and learning opportunities for executives, entrepreneurs, technology professionals and academia to foster local economic development efforts surrounding innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.

Economic development and job creation — especially in technology-based fields — is a critical component to improving labor force participation, per capita income and other economic indicators on the Studer Community Institute's Pensacola Metro Dashboard.

The event also promotes technology-driven entrepreneurship by showcasing success stories within the region and connecting entrepreneurs to resources that can help grow their businesses. The 2015 keynote speakers include:

— Nino Vidovic, chief operating technologist at KonicaMinolta. Vidovic has extensive experience directing high-level technology development and engineering efforts for innovative software, cloud, mobility, Internet of Things and telecommunications solutions. He is an effective leader of technical and business teams throughout all phases from initial conception through product introduction.

— Vern Boyle, director of technology at Northrop Grumman Information Systems. Boyle is director of Technology for Northrop Grumman’s Cyber Division. He is responsible for defining and executing CD’s technical strategy, with emphasis on cybersecurity, signals intelligence, information operations, and critical infrastructure protection. He also defines technologies that support the business’ mission area strategies in the defense, intelligence, and civil arenas. Boyle also leads the division Advanced Cyber Technology Center that focuses on producing products and solutions to address customer hard problems.

Boyle has more than 20 years of experience defining, developing and deploying advanced cyber, SIGINT and intelligence solutions. His areas of expertise include high speed optical and digital processing, global communication systems, network and protocol processing, SIGINT systems, and complex system architecture development. Prior to Northrop Grumman he worked as a technical director and chief technologist at Essex Corporation and Harris Corporation. Prior to that he worked on space programs at Lockheed Martin.

He holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Penn State University and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology.

— Dr. Stephen Dunnivant, dean, Advanced Technology Center Gulf Coast State College. Dunnivant has more than 25 years of experience in higher education and economic development. He is originally from upstate New York and a graduate of Gulf Coast State College, FSU, George Washington University, and the University of West Florida. He played a leadership role in developing Gulf Coast State College's $35 million Advanced Technology Center.

The Information Technology Association of the Gulf Coast is a not-for-profit organization. The group's goal is to create educational and networking opportunities for members and to foster the growth of the technology industry and entrepreneurship in the gulf coast region. visit www.itgulfcoast.org for more information and to get involved.

FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance is the economic development organization in Pensacola that includes more than 100 public and private entities.