Young leaders to watch -- in 2016 and beyond

By FCW Staff

| November 23, 2015

Here are 14 young women and men -- in agencies and the private sector alike -- who are overachieving in their current roles and distinguishing themselves as the likely leaders of tomorrow.

RisingStars

There are 14 months remaining in President Barack Obama's administration, but the exodus has already begun. Political appointees are starting to leave, while retirements from the career federal workforce hint at demographics that have worried IT leaders for years.

Those fearing a hollowed-out IT community, however, should take a look at the talent coming up through the ranks. Young women and men -- in agencies and the private sector alike -- are overachieving in their current roles and distinguishing themselves as the likely leaders of tomorrow.

Each year, FCW honors such individuals with the Rising Star awards. Nominations come from all corners of federal IT as peers and managers point out early-career colleagues who are going above and beyond to make government perform better. And as this year's 14 winners make clear, there's plenty of leadership potential waiting in the wings.

Akosua Ali, management program analyst and contracting officer's representative at the Department of Homeland Security
Michael H. Brody, director of policy, architecture and governance at the Department of Homeland Security's Information Sharing Environment Office
Lindsay Burack, information architect at Sapient Government Services
Evan Chan, supervisor of web and mobile application development at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Regina Kassar, business development manager at Red Team Consulting
Nicholas Keshavarz-Nia, information systems security engineer and analyst at Noblis
Alexander Lin, project manager at TCG

Erica McCann, director of federal procurement at Information Technology Alliance for the Public Sector
Katherine Mullins, director of HSIN mission integration and outreach at Department of Homeland Security
Mark Naggar, IT vendor management specialist and Buyers Club project manager at Department of Health and Human Services
Christina Prat, IT specialist at Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection
Teresa Rodriguez, senior project manager at the Agriculture Department's U.S. Forest Service
Michael Wheeless, principal systems engineer at Oceus Networks
Andrew Yuen, IT specialist at Environmental Protection Agency

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Here are 14 young women and men -- in agencies and the private sector alike -- who are overachieving in their current roles and distinguishing themselves as the likely leaders of tomorrow.