Condon to join list of former gov execs at SRA

Mary Ellen Condon, director of the information management and security staff at the Justice Department, plans to leave her post this week for a job managing information technology projects for SRA International Inc.'s government sector.

Condon, who joined Justice four years ago, will oversee projects involving civilian agencies. Renny DiPentima, president of SRA's government sector, referred to Condon as "someone who understands what agencies are going through," and he said her addition to the company will add value to the services SRA provides to its federal customers.

At Justice, Simon Liu, deputy director of the information management and security staff, will serve as acting director until Justice officials make a permanent appointment.

Condon's move to SRA follows a recent migration of high-level federal IT executives to the Fairfax, Va.-based company. In recent years, new SRA employees have included Kathy Adams, former Social Security Administration assistant deputy commissioner for systems—who joined SRA in September—and Anthony Valletta, former acting assistant secretary of defense for command, control, communications and intelligence—who joined SRA last year. DiPentima, former deputy commissioner for systems at SSA, joined SRA in 1995.

Condon said she is making the move to the private sector in search of new experiences. "It's a new opportunity," she said. "It's a new challenge. It's a challenge I haven't undertaken."

Among her accomplishments at Justice, Condon listed leadership in helping move the department toward a common IT architecture; guiding information security pilot projects, such as public-key infrastructure programs; and helping establish an IT investment board for the department.

In addition to working for Justice, Condon has served in IT jobs at the Navy, the Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Energy Administration (which became the Energy Department) and the Agriculture Department, where she directed information resources management at the Agricultural Marketing Service. She also chaired the federal Information Technology Resources Board, a panel that serves as a third-party adviser to agencies planning IT projects.

During her stint at Justice, Condon was a candidate to replace Mark Boster as the department's deputy chief information officer. Boster vacated the post earlier this year and took a job with Science Applications International Corp. Linda Burek, former director of the department's systems technology staff, was appointed to that position last month.

Condon's last day at Justice is Dec. 3. She plans to begin work at SRA Dec. 13.