Meet the 2023 Rising Stars

The graying of the government technology workforce is a perennial topic, as promised retirement waves fail to materialize. While there is a burgeoning youth movement in the government technology ranks, it is advancing slowly.

The Rising Star Awards don't exist specifically to recognize young achievers, but the focus on early-career professionals represents our efforts to identify and elevate the next generation of government tech talent at federal, state and local organizations as well as in the contracting sector. And we're delighted to have collaborated with our colleagues at Route Fifty to identify this year's class of Rising Stars.

The women and men listed below have been selected both for their accomplishments over the past year and for their leadership potential in this community.

We'll be publishing profiles of our 15 winners in the coming weeks. And we'll be hosting a Cocktails and Conversation happy hour event on December 13 at the Washington Hotel — an opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the winners.

• Malaika Carpenter, Design Supervisor for the United States Digital Corps, General Services Administration
• Angelika, Hall, Security Operations Center Manager and Supervisory IT Cybersecurity Specialist, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
• Shermaine Nedd, Portfolio Manager, Federal Acquisition Service, Office of Information Technology Category, Identity Credential and Access Management Division, General Services Administration
• Bridgette Savino, Senior Analyst, U.S. Government Accountability Office
• Ryan Sibbald, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Special Operations Division, Drug Enforcement Administration
• Katrina Sizemore, Director, Division of Program, Contract & Budget Management,  Marketplace IT Group, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Conrad Stosz, AI Lead, Office of the Federal CIO, Office of Management and Budget
• Josie Birch, Disaster Recovery Program Manager, MNIT Services
• Santiago Garces, CIO, City of Boston
• Chris Polack, Strategic Initiatives Program Manager, NYC Emergency Management
• Aaron Rice, Security Administrator- I.T., St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners
• Aurelle Amram, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships for Code for America's Social Safety Net, Code for America
• Wendy Harman, Senior Director, CX Strategy, ICF
• Brock Lambert, Senior Manager, EY
• Zachary Nandapurkar, Technical Account Manager, Public Sector, Tanium