Federal CIO Vivek Kundra is expected to name the Environmental Protection Agency's Lisa Schlosser to be federal deputy CIO, Chris Dorobek, editor of DorobekInsider.com, announced on Twitter today. The item was not on Dorobek's site as of early this afternoon.
Schlosser is principal deputy associate administrator of EPA’s Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education. Previously, she was director of EPA’s Office of Information Collection. She served as CIO at the Housing and Urban Development Department from 2005 to 2008.
She was also an executive at the Transportation Department, where she held the positions of associate CIO for IT security and associate CIO for IT investment management.
She began her career as a military intelligence officer in the Army. Following her military service, she held several positions in the private sector, including vice president of business operations and response services at Global Integrity, senior manager in Ernst and Young's security solutions branch, and director of information security services at Troy Systems.
Schlosser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Posted by Alice Lipowicz on Jun 01, 2011 at 12:56 PM2 comments
The Obama administration has added another big name from the tech industry to its list of advisers as Twitter's CEO, Dick Costolo, has been named to a national security and telecommunications advisory committee, the Washington Post reports.
Costolo's selection is the latest sign of the administration's outreach to America's high-tech companies. Former chief executives of Google and AOL have also advised the White House on technology issues.
Earlier this spring, the administration was rumored to be considering nominating Google CEO Eric Schmidt as commerce secretary but on May 31 announced that it had instead chosen John Bryson, a former energy company executive, for the position.
Posted by Michael Hardy on May 31, 2011 at 12:55 PM1 comments
With nine candidates competing for as few as six positions on the Industry Advisory Council’s executive committee, among those who stood out at a membership meeting on May 25 were two former appointees in the George W. Bush administration: Karen Evans, former administrator for e-government and information technology at the General Services Administration, and Ira Hobbs, former chief information officer for the Treasury Department.
Seven candidates and two representatives for absent candidates each made three-minute statements at the meeting.
Hobbs, now a consultant, was one of the first to speak, invoking the council’s “lofty goals” and his own personality. “You know me. I have a passion for dealing with people,” he said.
Evans, who is a partner in a small business, immediately followed, jokingly saying that “my Number One rule is to never follow Ira Hobbs. I am voting for Ira Hobbs,” she added.
Several candidates mentioned the limitations of the three-minute speech. “I’m a Southerner,” said Crouse Powell, a director of Accenture. “Three minutes is difficult for us.”
In addition, Judy Douglas, client industry executive with HP Enterprise Services and Dale Luddeke, executive vice president of corporate business for development for CACI, are the two candidates for the position of council executive vice chair.
Posted by Alice Lipowicz on May 26, 2011 at 12:55 PM0 comments
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), told Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, to "stop talking in acronyms" at hearing held on May 25. Gordon had been talking about GWACs (governmentwide acquisition contracts) and other alphabet-soup terms.
"I get to say I-T, right?” Gordon asked to be sure before going ahead with a comment on information technology.
Posted by Matthew Weigelt on May 25, 2011 at 12:55 PM0 comments
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), speaking on the topic of duplicative government programs, explains how the government and rubbery treats are not the same:
"Double your pleasure, double your fun' might work for chewing gum – but not for government programs paid for by American taxpayers," he said.
Posted by Matthew Weigelt on May 25, 2011 at 12:55 PM0 comments
Dave McClure's intriGuinG job history
If Dave McClure ever leaves the General Services Administration, how can you predict where he'll go?
McClure, associate administrator of GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, told an audience at the American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council's Management of Change Conference in Hot Springs, Va., that there's a clue in his job history: The Government Accountability Office, the Council for Excellence in Government, Gartner, then GSA.
"Keep that in mind," he said. "Somewhere with a G in the name."
But who is the distributor cap?
McClure sounds more like an auto mechanic than a federal official when talking about GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.
"I think of the office I head up as a spark plug for innovation," he said at the conference. Then he acknowledged the office's employees. "They really are the spark plugs for innovation. I'm just the mouthpiece talking about it."
Serious business
Simon Szykman, CIO at the Commerce Department, takes his role as a panel moderator seriously. In introducing a panel at the conference, he told the audience he wanted the discussion to provide real substance.
"If you walk out of here just having heard a string of words you're familiar with, then I haven't done my job as moderator," he said.
Striking a balance
Speaking to a mixed audience of people from government and industry can be tricky. Richard Spires, CIO at the Homeland Security Department, said there were way too many contractors when he arrived at DHS in 2009, then likely realized he was at risk of alienating the contractors in the audience.
Spires, who worked as a contractor before coming to government, asked them to consider the importance of having people on the customer side who know what they're doing. He said most contractors have been in the situation of saying, "'My customer just doesn't get it. I'm not going to be successful under this model, but I'm stuck.' I've been in that situation. I hate that situation."
Two-way street
Spires also said the CIO Council has partnered with the National Association of State CIOs to help federal and state government agencies share ideas.
"We believe strongly there's learning to go both ways" between the federal government and the states, said Spires, who serves as the council's vice chairman.
Posted by Michael Hardy on May 16, 2011 at 12:55 PM0 comments