Hon. J.D. Clark, Wise County Judge
Judge Clark is serving in his third term as Wise County Judge. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and history from the University of North Texas and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Midwestern State University. Before his 2014 election as County Judge, Clark was a high school history teacher and the mayor of his hometown of Chico.
Judge Clark served as president of the National Association of Counties (NACo) in 2025-2026 and helped launch a national county storytelling initiative. He previously served as chair of NACo’s Telecommunications & Technology Committee, Rural Action Caucus and Veterans & Military Services Committee and as co-chair of the Broadband Task Force. He is on the board of the Texas Association of Counties.
Keri K. Stephens, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Director of the Technology & Information Policy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Stephens is a professor in Organizational Communication Technology and is co-director of Technology, Information, & Policy Institute in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. With over 25 years of interdisciplinary research experience, Dr. Stephens’ expertise includes organizational communication, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), crisis and disaster communication, infrastructure communication, and health communication.
Her team authored the Texas Water Development Board’s Flood Resource Guide for Community Officials in 2022, and they developed the Public Involvement Training for TxDOT in 2023. She also works as a partner for the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas and the Digital Risk Infrastructure Program (DRIP) for under-resourced Texas communities.