2023 Rising Star: Shermaine Nedd

As a portfolio manager and innovation lead for the General Services Administration’s Identity, Credential and Access Management Division, Shermaine Nedd is charged with finding innovations for the USAccess mission: to deliver personal identity verification credentialing services to over 120 government agencies, commissions and boards. 

During the pandemic, in-person access to credential sites became limited, with nearly 500 sites shutting down. Nedd led the first-ever collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service to use their infrastructure to deliver USAccess services.

Nedd was a leading force in operationalizing 15 USPS sites as long-term options, with more sites planned for the future to give feds and contractors more PIV service options in an increasingly hybrid work environment. 

The existing sites have already facilitated over 16,900 transactions, and this end result wouldn’t have been possible without Nedd’s program management, analytical and stakeholder management leadership, her colleagues say.

“Her work in leading the planning and execution of the first ever collaboration with the USPS led to a successful pilot that expanded nationally,” said GSA’s Laura Stanton, the assistant commissioner for the Office of IT Category in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. “Federal workers across the country will benefit from her expertise.”

And she isn’t stopping anytime soon — Nedd continues to push program modernization and innovation, particularly through new, emerging identity technologies like kiosk services, for which Nedd led an industry day and is planning a pilot rollout. 

Kiosk services would allow those enrolling to do identity proofing without an in-person registrar, establishing another point of service and delivery, something that is especially important in remote and hybrid work environments. It also has the potential to enable better customer experience with a faster process

“Shermaine Nedd has an unwavering work ethic and exhibits creative thinking when developing identity management technology concepts — which benefit the entire federal community,” said Stanton.