Professional Services Council launches tech policy group

An IBM executive will chair the Professional Services Council's new technology policy council.

Anne Altman, IBM's general manager for federal government and industries, will oversee the executive advisory board for the group.

Other members of the panel are Pat Finn, senior vice president of Cisco's U.S. Public Sector Organization; Wes Anderson, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector Services at Microsoft; George Newstrom, president of Dell Services Federal Government; Randy Fuerst, president and chief operating officer of Oceus Networks; and Robin Lineberger, head of Deloitte's Aerospace and Defense Practice.

More members are expected to be named soon, and a senior executive will be named to the PSC staff to support the board's work.

The technology policy council "represents a recognition of the convergence taking place between the technology and professional services sectors and the many issues associated with that convergence," PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway said in a prepared statement. "Today, the lines that traditionally separated the two have been blurred almost to extinction."

PSC, which represents more than 370 member companies, has recently been involved in advocating for the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, as well as the Federal Data Consolidation Act of 2013.

"The move to an 'as a service' business model, or what others refer to as 'consumption-based buying', is changing the face of the government marketplace," Soloway said. "We have been planning for more than six months to adjust and modify our operating model to reflect those changes. With the addition of PSC's technology policy council, we are beginning that restructuring."