Looking for future leaders

The last several weeks have seen plenty of personnel changes. There are new CIOs at the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of Agriculture and General Services Administration are looking to replace Cheryl Cook and Sonny Hashmi, respectively; the Pentagon finally filled its deputy chief management officer slot; and the White House added a director of IT, a U.S. chief data scientist and a deputy chief technology officer.

FCW, of course, covered each and every shuffle. Yet those senior positions are just a tiny slice of the IT workforce, and hardly the only ones worth showcasing. Top leaders are important, but it's the rank-and-file talent that makes agencies run. And with FCW's Rising Star awards, we'd like your help in finding those individuals who are doing great things today -- and who are likely to be filling the senior slots tomorrow.

The trick, of course, is knowing where to look. The true Rising Stars are often in the background, making their bosses look good.

Not sure what makes for a Rising Star? Here are five points to remember:

1. Anyone in the federal IT community is eligible: military and civilian, career and political, contractor, academic and association expert alike.

2. Winners go above and beyond — whatever their level or rank. A fancy job title is not required, and just doing one’s job well is not enough.

3. You can make multiple nominations. Do so early and often.

4. Impact matters. The judges need to know not only what a nominee did but also what all that work accomplished.

5. Age does not matter, but nominees must be less than 10 years into their work in the federal community.

So if you know someone — or several someones! — who should be considered, please be sure to nominate him or her at FCW.com/2015risingstars. And please spread the word to your colleagues so we can get the best possible batch of winners.