Callahan bows out of AFFIRM race

AFFIRM

Laura Callahan, deputy chief information officer at the Homeland Security Department, has withdrawn her name from consideration to be next year's president of the Association for Federal Information Resources Management, following questions about her academic credentials.

Callahan, the current AFFIRM president who was tapped for the position in January, will fulfill her term, which ends at the association's annual awards luncheon June 13.

In accordance with AFFIRM bylaws, the incoming vice president will serve as president until the next annual meeting in June 2004.

Callahan was put on paid leave June 5 after lawmakers questioned whether she received her academic degrees from a so-called diploma mill. She was the deputy CIO at the Labor Department until Homeland Security CIO Steve Cooper tapped her to be his deputy in April.

The revised slate of AFFIRM officers for the 2003-2004 term is as follows:

* Vice president: Scott Hastings, CIO, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at DHS.

* Co-vice president, programs: Michelle Heffner, director, interagency management division, General Services Administration Office of Electronic Government and Technology

* Co-vice president, programs: Harold Klink, vice president, SI International Inc.

* Co-secretary: Lisa Akers, deputy director, Federal Systems Integration and Management Center, GSA Federal Technology Service

Co-secretary: Kenneth Touloumes, vice president, business development, Titan Corp.

Co-treasurer: Mark Day, deputy CIO, Environmental Protection Agency

Co-treasurer: Leslie Barry, director, business development, Computer Associates International Inc.