2007 Federal 100 winners -- From Q – Z
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Go back to the 2007 Federal 100 home page Federal 100 Awards archive |
| Maj. Gen. Marilyn Quagliotti Defense Information Systems Agency Maj. Gen. Marilyn Quagliotti, DISA's vice director, made contributions to DISA and the federal information technology community that will have a positive and lasting impact for years to come. As vice director, Quagliotti is responsible for running the day-to-day business at DISA, one of the government's largest agencies. "It takes a lot of leadership to run an organization this size, and it's generally not the director that does it," said Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, director of DISA. "It's the deputy director, because the director is out there glad-handing on the road. We've 30 or 40 sites around the world, so [the director is] gallivanting around." |
| Timothy Quinn Interior Department Timothy Quinn, director of Interior's Enterprise Infrastructure Division, led the consolidation of 13 bureau backbone networks into a single backbone, the Departmental Enterprise Services Network. The voice, video and data network spans six time zones and supports more than 100,000 employees and contractors. Quinn is a team builder. His management style is low-key but effective, said Ed Meagher, Interior's deputy chief information officer. He set expectations and empowered people to meet them. "Tim is a 'can-do, so let's get it done' leader," Meagher said. Bureau managers had concerns about how the consolidation would affect them. Quinn created a governance committee and change-management program to diminish their concerns. The migration proceeded smoothly. |
| Steve Ressler Homeland Security Department Steve Ressler's work on audits of several DHS programs led to congressional attention and significant changes in those programs, but he is perhaps best known as one of the leaders to create a community of young government workers. Ressler is co-founder of the Young Government Leaders, a group of early-career federal employees. But Ressler is also recognized for his work as an IT auditor in DHS' Inspector General's Office, which often involves ferreting out the strategies of various organizations and the execution of IT integration plans, said Richard Harsche, the OIG's IT audit manager. "We interview a lot of people and also have meetings with people at the highest levels in the department. He has been able to stand up to that exposure as well as give clear messages to organizations about what they need to do to fix things," Harsche said. |
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Chuck Riddle Department of AgricultureChuck Riddle, project manager for the Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) led a successful food safety project that established secure broadband satellite access at each FSIS field office. Meat and poultry inspectors previously had only dial-up Internet connections for sending important food safety information to officials. For the first time, inspectors have sufficient communications bandwidth for coping with a possible avian flu pandemic or terrorism-related disease outbreak. "Without Chuck's leadership and representation within FSIS, the broadband satellite program and rollout would not have progressed as far and be as successful as it is today," said Robert Suda, USDA's associate chief information officer for integration and operations. |
| Joseph Rinaldi Justice Department Joseph Rinaldi, earned-value management (EVM) implementation manager at the Justice Department, was not only a leader in establishing EVM at the department, he was also essential in making it a working tool for department leaders to gauge how well information technology projects are going. He is responsible for making sure the development of EVM departmentwide is accurately reflected in the chief information officer's dashboard. "He has to communicate and coordinate with each of the EVM projects so that what they report each month is reflective of what actually happened on the project," said Vance Hitch, the department's CIO. Rinaldi, who is responsible for implementing EVM policies in the department and for the accuracy of the reporting, is "the key implementation cog" for EVM at Justice, Hitch said. |
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Jackie Rustigian Army Jackie Rustigian, chief of the Army's human capital management division, expanded and improved the Army's e-learning program and put it on a sounder contractual footing. Under a new contract, the Army reduced its previous program costs by 10 percent and acquired 300 additional course titles. The e-learning program now enrolls more than 330,000 users who have access to 725,000 courses. Those programs are critical to preparing the Army's best and brightest for executive positions, said Gary Winkler, principal director of the Army's Governance, Acquisition and Chief Knowledge Office. Rustigian's "strong work ethic, strength of character and commitment to those she serves have been crucial to her success as a leader in human capital development," Winkler said. |
| Mike Sade Commerce Department Mike Sade, now associate commissioner for acquisition management at the General Services Administration, succeeded in getting the Commerce Information Technology Solutions (COMMITS) NexGen governmentwide acquisition contract on a sound footing after the Government Accountability Office raised questions about the treatment of small businesses under the contract. Sade left the Commerce Department's Office of Acquisition Management and Financial Assistance in December 2006 to join the executive leadership team at GSA. Barry West, Commerce's chief information officer, said Sade has a special ability to take an open-minded approach to any task. "When he looks at an issue and makes decisions, he really tries to look at it from a multidimensional aspect," West said. "You would think that just being the acquisition person, he's just going to focus on acquisition, but he really does look at things from many different viewpoints. I've always been impressed by Mike because of that." |
| Larry Schlang Bantu Larry Schlang, chief executive officer for Bantu, helped create a secure instant-messaging system that is helping service personnel coordinate and communicate in the field. His company delivered a global instant-messaging system to 3.5 million Army, Navy and Air Force service members. "This technical capability transcended organizational bureaucracy and provided a joint standard for Instant Messaging and chat," said Greg Fritz, deputy director of Army Knowledge Online. In 2006, employees in all branches of the armed services sent about 2 million messages via instant messaging, which now rivals e-mail as a primary means of communication for service members. |
| Glenn Schlarman Office of Management and Budget Glenn Schlarman, a former branch chief in OMB's Office of Information Policy and Technology, was involved in all major information technology policy decisions and provided guidance and oversight to agencies on issues such as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 and the numerous data breaches that affected most agencies. "Glenn was always focused on the bottomline, and he quickly identified what was truly important from what wasn't," said Steve Aitken, acting administrator in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. One of Schlarman's major contributions was leading the movement to standardize IT business cases and make them easier for agencies to complete. "He was able to focus the business cases on results and not just process," said Tim Young, OMB's associate administrator in the Office of E-Government and IT. |
| Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea (ret.) Defense Department Lt. Gen. Robert M. Shea, former director of command, control, communications and computer systems for the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided leadership in securing cyberspace through improved configuration management. He was also instrumental in synchronizing joint C4 capabilities, network and information management and spectrum use. He advocated successfully for having Defense Department networks evaluated as command-and-control systems to ensure that U.S. warfighters have the highest quality of communications support. In developing a strategy for cyberspace security, Shea "was able put a vision on a piece of paper and staff it," said Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, director of the Defense Systems Information Agency. And that's not easy to do in a large, bureaucratic agency. "A one-man vision in Washington is one man's vision," he added. "It's hard to get people to buy in. But he was able to take that vision and get it staffed across a diverse community with lots of support." |
| Robert Shea Office of Management and Budget The first thing most people realize about Robert Shea, Office of Management and Budget's associate director for management, is his dry sense of humor. But behind Shea's funny exterior is a driven manager who doesn't consider "results oriented" a buzzword. "Robert is all about results and his style makes you want to achieve them," said Karen Evans, OMB's administrator for e-government and information technology. Shea led the creation of the ExpectMore.gov portal to which people can go to find out how well agency programs are performing based on the program's score under OMB's Program Assessment Rating Tool. |
| John Sindelar General Services Administration John Sindelar, the now-retired acting associate administrator of GSA's Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP), was a leading player in many major governmentwide initiatives, including Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. "John understands the big picture of policy implementation and picks key issue areas that will control the overall outcome," said Keith Thurston, assistant deputy associate administrator at OGP. When managing projects, Thurston said, Sindelar "focuses like a laser on schedule, high-quality deliverables and funds management." "After working on one of John's projects, you are ready for a long vacation," Thurston added. |
| Harold Skow Navajo Nation As director of the Navajo Nation's information technology department, Harold Skow led a project to provide integrated communications and high-speed Internet service for 110 Navajo Nation community centers, government offices, schools and libraries. The communications project involved a large number of people and sites, and Skow managed them all. "He attacks a project head-on and chooses to empower employees by delegating certain tasks for individuals." said Stan Bitsoi, user services manager for the Navajo Nation. "Harold gives employees the ability to make decisions to benefit the Navajo Nation." Skow is always accessible to employees. He provides his expertise, leads by example and sets a high standard. "Most importantly, he trusts his staff," Bitsoi said. |
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Lt. Col. Stephen Sobotta Army Lt. Col. Stephen Sobotta, director of the Pentagon Information Technology Agency's Consolidated Customer Service Center, established the Pentagon's first consolidated call center for handling requests for IT assistance around the clock. Sobotta had the challenge of establishing a call center with no budget, said Neal Shelley, the ITA's deputy director. "He did so by convincing directors in the ITA that their contribution of resources out of their budgets could generate significant improvements in service and ultimate savings in their operations," Shelley said. Sobotta established a small site-management team and gradually augmented its staff until it reached full operational capability. The result is an effective, collaborative center in which staff members are encouraged to contribute ideas for improvement, Shelley said. Call center agents have handled requests from as far away as Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. |
| Col. Steven Spano Air Force Col. Steven Spano, director of communications and information for the Air Force's headquarters in Europe, supervises 350 employees and oversees more than 5,000 communications personnel at 60 locations in 20 countries. In that large organization, Spano led three major projects to consolidate help-desk services and telephone operations and improve the management of information technology assets. "Each of these projects is itself a huge undertaking that has broken old paradigms and helped realize millions of dollars in savings and cost avoidance," said Gen. William Hobbins, commander of the Air Force in Europe. "[These projects are] about the need for the Air Force to drive continuous improvement and innovation beyond our technology advances and into our day-to-day processes." Spano also ensured that the Air Force got the technology it needed at the best prices, Hobbins said. |
| Richard Spires Internal Revenue Service Richard Spires, chief information officer of the Internal Revenue Service, reinvigorated the agency's business systems modernization program. As part of that effort, Spires instituted greater collaboration between business and information technology employees in developing solution concepts and comprehensive cost estimates. Spires' understanding of the IRS' business processes helped him forge partnerships in the agency, his colleagues say. "He has established a model whereby the business and IT are really co-owners and co-partners and have co-accountability," said Linda Stiff, deputy commissioner for operations support at IRS. "For us at IRS, Richard has brought something to the table that I believe is unprecedented," she added. "He's not only a leader within the IT community, he has become a full partner in terms of strategic thinking for the agency as whole." By introducing a new discipline to the modernization program, Spires' leadership prompted congressional leaders to give the program much greater odds for eventual success. |
| G. Martin Wagner General Services Administration G. Martin Wagner, retired acting commissioner and deputy commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service, was instrumental in restructuring the government's largest procurement agency and reinvigorating an organization where business and morale had fallen to an all-time low. Rebounding from a financial downturn while facing the merger of the Federal Supply and Federal Technology services, GSA employees needed strong leaders to guide the shift. Meanwhile, low employee morale threatened to disrupt the merger. "Marty was the architect and builder of GSA's new Federal Acquisition Service," said Jim Williams, the first commissioner of FAS. "His leadership and vision as the acting commissioner and later the first permanent deputy commissioner carried FAS from design to successful establishment of the new organization, with a revitalized customer focus, and the selection of the new key leadership that reflects Marty's commitment to customers." Under Wagner, FAS ended fiscal 2006 with a net operating revenue of $126 million and with its business model realigned to match current technology and market trends. |
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Tim Wang SRA Touchstone Consulting Group Tim Wang, principal consultant at SRA Touchstone Consulting Group, provided exceptional contactor support and continuity to the Office of Management and Budget's Office of E-Government and Information Technology during a time of high turnover among key portfolio managers. Wang has worked at OMB since 2003, when the e-government initiatives were new, and he has gathered a wide range of perspectives. Although the manager positions were empty, Wang attended all portfolio meetings so that he could relay important issues to senior OMB officials to keep the office running smoothly. Wang also volunteered his expertise to OMB officials who were updating OMB Circular A-11 to improve the federal budgeting process. Wang's efforts helped organize an annual flood of information from departments and agencies. Although contractors do as they are told, "consultants do that and then some," said Tim Young, associate administrator for e-government and IT at OMB. |
| Dr. David Warner MindTel Dr. David Warner wants to push America's emergency response teams to their ultimate readiness. The MindTel neuroscientist co-developed real-world emergency scenarios for demonstrations and training. In the Strong Angel III integrated disaster response demonstration in San Diego in August 2006, Warner's ShadowLite team employed nearly $34 million worth of information technology equipment to help volunteers spontaneously organize themselves to respond to complex disaster scenarios, such as a lethal virus outbreak that coincides with a terrorist attack. Some of the equipment that Warner's team developed and employed included biosensors, nonsynchronous networks to improve the coordination of first responders, and improved medical communications systems. "His effort in Shadowlite in San Diego was to show that people — ordinary folks such as you and I — can quickly cooperate and communicate through ingenuity in the face of the loss of infrastructure," said Lois Clark McCoy, president of the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue. |
| David Wennergren Navy Department David Wennergren, the Navy Department's deputy CIO, led DOD's Identity Protection and management Senior Coordinating Group, which oversees DOD's smart card, biometric and public-key infrastructure initiatives. He made communication and collaboration a key aspect of implementing DOD's smart card program, even before the federal government undertook a similar governmentwide program under the mandate of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. Wennergren brought together the concept of identity and management under a single Common Access Card with biometrics and PKI to create a smart card for identity protection, said Priscilla Guthrie, director of the Institute for Defense Analyses' Information Technology and Systems Division. Wennergren sees everyone as equal members of a team, Guthrie said. "He's brought a strong collaborative, participative outreach style to the DOD CIO office." |
| Larry Wilson Defense Logistics Agency Larry Wilson, the Defense Logistics Agency's executive director of enterprise solutions in information operations, has led DLA's $500 million Business Systems Modernization program. Some say it is the only successful large implementation of enterprise resource planning software in the Defense Department. Wilson's leadership and business acumen resulted in record levels of employee and customer satisfaction with the program last year. "This is the new workhorse that drives the logistics supply chain in DLA, and Larry really led the charge for us on the [information technology] operations and sustainment side," said Edward Case, deputy chief technology officer and chief information officer at DLA. Wilson elicits a high level of performance from the 3,000 people he supervises because of the personal attention he gives to their professional development and training, Case said. "He is the lever that we use to accomplish our mission," Case added. |
| Dennis Wisnosky Business Transformation Agency Dennis Wisnosky, chief technology officer at the Business Transformation Agency, led the effort to standardize and modernize federated architectures in the Defense Department. Drawing on decades of experience, Wisnosky oversaw DOD's business enterprise architecture program. He developed a federation strategy and ensured that it can support systems at department, service and component levels. Wisnosky was also instrumental in moving DOD toward a service-oriented architecture. Wisnosky's ability to make business enterprise architecture simple and understandable has been the catalyst for the many successes of DOD's business transformation program, said Lora Muchmore, DOD's director of enterprise integration. His work is a model for the rest of the federal government, she said. |
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