As the Interior Department’s federal enterprise architecture advocate, Suzanne Acar encourages agencies to manage data as a departmentwide asset.

She has also worked with the Office of Management and Budget to demonstrate the importance of enterprise architecture in eliminating redundant systems.

"Suzanne is an example of the highest-caliber architect we have in Interior,” said W. Hord Tipton, Interior’s chief information officer. “She is a leader not only in Interior but all of government in the area of data architecture. She is ‘four aces all the way.’ ”

OMB recognized Interior’s enterprise architecture with the highest rating in the federal government.

Robert Albicker has been called a master architect of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax processing systems, which handle about $2.1 trillion in tax returns each year.

The IRS is known for its decades-old systems, but Albicker has helped modernize those systems.

He developed an integration testing environment and a secure online infrastructure for systems applications and projects such as “Where’s My Refund?” on the IRS’ Web site.

“His combination of keen agency knowledge, in-depth technical expertise and the ability to shift seamlessly between the big picture and program details has enabled him to oversee one of the largest and most complex information technology endeavors in the world — modernization at the IRS,” said W. Todd Grams, chief information officer at the IRS.

The Agriculture Department asked Yvette Alonso to revamp its National Agricultural Library, one of the world’s largest agricultural library networks.

She led the redesign of the department’s 68,000 public Web sites to fit USDA style guidelines and a new content-based approach to information presentation. Her deadline was Dec. 31, 2005, and she received no additional resources.

Alonso accomplished all that by Dec. 1. She also created a new team-based approach to Web development and provided library users with quicker, easier access to information.

“She had the leadership skills to make it happen — the drive, the commitment, the energy,” said Susan McCarthy, senior analyst for strategic scientific initiatives at USDA.

As the senior financial adviser to Army chief information officer Lt. Gen. Steve Boutelle, Diane Armstrong is responsible for planning, programming and budgeting more than $7 billion worth of information technology programs. So when the Army asked her to lead one of the most complex portfolio management projects in government, people paid attention.

The project was initially confined to the CIO’s office, but Armstrong saw the possibilities of expanding IT portfolio management servicewide. Portfolio management signals a major change in the way the Army handles IT investments by improving governance and forcing stakeholders to act more strategically.

The project has generated a tremendous response and limited resistance, said John Cimral, chief executive officer of ProSight, because of Armstrong’s articulate commitment.

Capt. Jeffrey Arsenault knows firsthand that during war and disasters, reliable communications can be a matter of life and death. Within 12 hours of getting the call, Arsenault had sent his Deployable Initial Communications Equipment team to New Orleans to aid Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Arsenault needed less than a year to transform what had been a slow-moving concept into the first option for communications support, said Maj. Andrew Ryan, commander of the 31st Combat Communications Squadron.

“It needed someone to kick start this,” he said. “Capt. Arsenault saw the value of it and took it upon himself to test the system and get it operational.”

John Atkins has given the State Department and the rest of the federal government a boost in biometric technology.

Atkins helped create one of the world’s largest facial-recognition data processing facilities, which assists homeland security initiatives.

“Its flexibility for data sharing across agencies has been transformational,” said David Boyd, government task manager of systems engineering at State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Atkins has also led an effort to test the viability of fingerprint scans that use all 10 fingerprints for use with visa applications. And his biometrics expertise also helped efforts to identify missing tsunami victims.

Although many people talk a good game when it comes to data sharing, Bryan Aucoin possesses the expertise and commitment to gather the necessary elements for the federal enterprise architecture’s data reference model (DRM).

The last stages of DRM Version 2.0 most likely would not have come together as fluidly without Aucoin’s leadership, said Susan Turnbull, the CIO Council’s architecture and infrastructure representative to the DRM Working Group.

“Where he really shone was in those last few rounds of development, when we had just 10 days to reconcile some 500 to 600 comments," Turnbull said.

Aucoin’s election to represent the intelligence community in DRM deliberations was critical to reaching such a quick resolution, Turnbull said.

John Baake is the guardian angel of pension benefits for 44 million U.S. workers. As deputy chief technology officer of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Baake worked to improve PBGC’s online services in 2005, expanding the agency’s Web site and Web services for its customers.

Because of his work, participants can now access their benefits accounts, apply for benefits, designate a beneficiary and submit a request for benefit estimates — all online.

“Through his efforts, Mr. Baake helped PBGC exceed their strategic goals to provide exceptional service to customers and stakeholders,” said Margo Fitzpatrick, vice president of Global Information Technology at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Reginald Bagby, a former master sergeant, knew how to get things done in the military when he returned to work for the Army as a civilian.

Bagby planned and managed the Radio Frequency In-Transit Visibility network, a global network of more than 2,100 radio frequency identification in 30 countries. The network track supplies and equipment for warfighters.

Inheriting a system with a low-level capability, Bagby built it into a global network, said Col. Tom Hogan, deputy program executive officer for enterprise information systems. Bagby fought tenaciously for the necessary resources. “His No. 1 asset is perseverance,” Hogan said. “He simply he will not give up.”

Under the leadership of its president, Zoë Baird, the Markle Foundation quickly organized Katrina-Health.org, a nationwide online service that lets health professionals access the electronic health records of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

KatrinaHealth.org formed through the collaborative efforts of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the American Medical Association and companies such as SureScripts, a provider of electronic pharmacy services, and RxHub, which collects and delivers patient-specific medication histories.

Charlene Underwood, director of government and industry affairs at Siemens Medical Solutions, said such collaboration is a hallmark of Baird’s leadership at Markle. The foundation’s Connecting for Health projects link multiple partners to create electronic health care systems. Katrina-Health.org demonstrated the power of collaborative technology efforts, she added.