Michael Whitaker
Vice President of Emerging Solutions, ICF
Fostering a commitment to innovation in traditional environments can be rewarding, but it can also mean constantly pushing acceptable norms — and some hot buttons.
As ICF’s vice president of emerging solutions, Michael Whitaker pushes those buttons deftly to move innovation culture forward at the global consulting firm and in the U.S. federal IT world. He turned his eye to the federal IT market in 2014 after a career in civil engineering and sustainable urban infrastructure.
“Innovation is a key competency for ICF, and we created the emerging solutions role to institutionalize this capability,” said Ellen Glover, executive vice president at ICF.
Accordingly, Whitaker developed an innovation framework at ICF that balances the dual institutional demands for innovation and execution. Indeed, his supporters credit him with being able to balance quality, risk and innovation to meet current and future needs.
His approach to innovation does not depend on individuals, and he has instead emphasized the importance of innovation across the organization’s structure, business processes, incentives and training.
Whitaker seeks to spread that ethos across the federal IT landscape by contributing articles to industry publications and presenting ideas at ACT-IAC’s Institute for Innovation, which advances federal IT missions. He also helped organize ACT-IAC’s innovation workshops and recruit keynote speakers for the organization’s 2017 Management of Change conference.
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