AFFIRM recognizes IT leaders

Tim Young and Lisa Schlosser are considered game changers in government. They are federal employees who have significantly improved the way agencies meet their missions. Both also are about to experience life-changing events. Young’s wife, Michelle, is about to have the couple’s first child. Schlosser, the Housing and Urban Development Department’s chief information officer, will deploy to Iraq as an Army reservist. Young, the Office of Management and Budget’s associate administrator for information technology and e-government, and Schlosser also have one more thing in common: They were among a small number of federal employees recognized June 20 by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management for their work during the past year. AFFIRM honored Schlosser with the Executive Leadership Award and Young with the Leadership in e-Government award. “Lisa does exceptional work and makes people perform better,” said Richard Burk, AFFIRM’s outgoing president and OMB’s chief architect, at the organization’s annual awards luncheon in Washington. “Few folks have had the impact that Tim has in advancing the administration’s e-government agenda.” AFFIRM gives the Executive Leadership award annually to a federal employee who exhibits exceptional management of IT. Schlosser credited HUD’s leadership team and those in the CIO’s office as major contributors to her success, which includes getting green scores on e-government under the President's Management Agenda and raising the agency's Federal Information Security Management Act score to an A+ from a D, which means HUD's systems are more secure. “I’m really proud to be a part of the IT community, and sometimes in the day-to-day pressures, we forget about how far all of us have brought IT and e-government in the last five year,” she said. At OMB, Young oversees the day-to-day management of 25 e-government initiatives, nine Lines of Business projects, SmartBuy and other cross-agency programs. “When I was hired four years ago, I was very excited, and since then that excitement has remained,” Young said. “This is by far the most challenging and most rewarding job I’ve ever had. The credit goes to the dedicated OMB staff and agency CIOs for making these things happen.” AFFIRM also honored: AFFIRM also named new officers for 2007-2008: