Track 1 - Fuse Conference Center 1311 A
William Lopez, Chris Tonjes, Gerry Gomez
Where the Agent Stops: Boundaries, Orchestration, and Legacy Integration in Government AI
An agent that pre-screens eligibility and an agent that determines eligibility are not the same system, but they can look identical in a demo. This panel is about the difference, told through two production systems: WIOA GO (agent-assisted eligibility screening for DC unemployment/workforce services) and the DC Department of Employment Services state system, which connect to create a seamless experience. We’ll dig into where the decision boundary is actually implemented, how multiple agents coordinate on one case without stepping on each other, and what it takes to wire agents into legacy government infrastructure that was never built for them.
About the Speaker(s)
Will Lopez is the President and Co-Founder of BuildWithin, a technology company delivering AI-powered workforce solutions and apprenticeship management platforms. In his role, Will leads revenue strategy, financial planning, and government partnerships, driving innovation at the intersection of technology, public policy, and workforce development.
Under his leadership, BuildWithin has expanded nationally, helping government agencies, workforce boards, and employers modernize talent pipelines through skills-based hiring, apprenticeship programs, and AI-driven workforce technology. Previously, Will served on the executive leadership team at Phone2Action, helping lead the company through acquisition, the integrations of KnowWho and GovPredict, and its successful exit in 2019.
Chris Tonjes currently serves as Chief Information Officer for the DC Department of Employment Services A native of New York City, Chris has over 20 years of IT experience, including work in finance, wireless communications, and government. Chris has a broad-based background supporting open data, digital transformation, DevOps and Agile implementation, and organizational change management.
Gerry Gomez is a technologist and serial entrepreneur dedicated to the frontier of autonomous intelligence and the realization of agentic systems. With a background in computational modeling from MIT and early-career simulation engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Gerry approaches software through a lens of cognitive science and physics-first architecture. A proven scaler of high-growth ventures, he served as a foundational leader at Phone2Action (now Quorum), driving the technical evolution that led to its exit as the D.C. region's largest govtech firm. Currently, as Co-founder and AI Lead at BuildWithin, Gerry is focused on architecting the future of work by building intelligent systems that automate complex reasoning and bridge the gap between human potential and the modern labor market.