Treasury Department

Lynn Eddy, associate chief information officer at the Treasury Department’s HR Connect, earned kudos from the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management and others for her success in improving the program’s efficiency and effectiveness.

HR Connect is a part of the Human Resources Line of Business. In fiscal 2006, the HR Connect program returned $1.6 million to its customers.

“Without question, Lynn Eddy has and continues to demonstrate that she is a top-notch executive who leads by example and deed,” said Ira Hobbs, Treasury’s former CIO.

Army

Richard Eva manages a workforce of 125 federal and contractor employees as the Army’s project director of acquisition, logistics, and technology enterprise systems and services. He is responsible for developing and maintaining servicewide information technology systems that support 80,000 users.

“He demonstrated perseverance and management acumen in accomplishing an aggressive agenda,” while building close relationships at all levels, said Kevin Carroll, who leads the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems.

“He’s the ultimate communicator and resource manager,” Carroll said.

Hewlett-Packard

Greig Fields, director of enterprise solutions architecture at Hewlett-Packard, understands the power of community.

“He’s a consensus-builder,” said Lawrence Gross, associate chief information officer for e-government at the Treasury Department. Gross called on Fields to fill gaps in Treasury’s identity management program, encryption initiative and other technology efforts.

Fields has served as president of the HP African-American Leadership Forum. He is also a member of the Industry Advisory Council, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Black Data Processing Association and the IT Senior Management Forum, which fosters executive talent among black information technology professionals.

“His leadership style is to plan and execute,” Gross said. “If you want to make it happen, you put him in there.”

U.S. Agency for International Development

Lisa Fiely thinks globally when it comes to financial management. As chief financial officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development, she oversaw the agency’s installation of the Global Financial Management System in 2006. The system standardizes account and management processes worldwide. For the first time, the agency can accurately track and report its spending and financial obligations.

“Lisa has been the visionary, executive sponsor and driver behind the implementation,” said Donna Morea, president of CGI for the United States and India.

Army

Lt. Col. Mike Fravell was instrumental in developing and deploying the Joint Patient Tracking Application. Not many software applications receive endorsements from three-star infantry generals, but Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, lent his endorsement to JPTA.

Vines said he relied on JPTA to track the condition and location of evacuated soldiers and identify the particular beds they occupied at the Landstuhl Regional Army Medical Center in Germany, a process that previously required as many as 30 phone calls.

Fravell pushed the deployment of JPTA to more than 20 hospitals throughout the Military Health System and hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Fravell is now on detached duty as a senior fellow.

General Services Administration

James Ghiloni, acting director of the General Services Administration’s governmentwide acquisition contract programs, helped the agency make large strides in the management of GWAC programs, particularly Alliant. He led a team of GSA experts to develop clear program objectives.

The team developed a request for proposals for the two Alliant contracts and pushed them through the initial stages of procurement. Ghiloni is credited with getting Alliant back on track — not just hitting the major milestones but winning praise from industry.

“He is an excellent leader and has been able to translate the vision of the [Information Technology Services] portfolio into the Alliant contract,” said Steven Kempf, acting deputy assistant commissioner of ITS at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

Homeland Security Department

Lawmakers and various government agencies oversee most large government programs. But the $2 billion SBInet program at the core of the Homeland Security Department’s controversial Secure Border Initiative gets special attention.

Gregory Giddens, executive director of the initiative, had to steer his way through an oversight minefield while applying his day-to-day organization and management skills to moving SBInet forward.

It’s easy for DHS people to become isolated, said Mark Rushing, portfolio leader for the Justice and Homeland Security departments at Capgemini Government Solutions.

“What we needed on SBInet was someone who could both be a driver and have the ability to coalesce people around him and the project,” Rushing said.

White House

Joseph Hagin led the upgrade of one of the most important communications systems in the federal government.

Recognizing that the Office of the President was relying on substandard communications capabilities in locations where the president frequently spent time, Hagin led a team of experts from the Defense Information Systems Agency, the White House Communications Agency and other departments through a $327 million, five-year project to upgrade voice, video and data communications systems on Air Force One and at Camp David and other off-site presidential venues.

“He brings together other organizations that potentially provide capabilities to the president and helps force decisions to ensure interoperability among those organizations,” said Col. Jim Lien, White House Communications Agency commander. “He is hands-up a leader [who] lets you do your thing but keeps a pulse on it to make sure it is happening the way it is supposed to.”

Department of Health and Human Services

Charles Havekost, chief information officer of the Department of Health and Human Services, is an ever-present leader in the federal information technology community. He served as federal chairman of the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health benefit event, sponsored by AFCEA International’s Bethesda chapter. Havekost also participated in the CIO Council’s executive committee.

Havekost’s leadership was behind the creation of Grants.gov. When it was only a concept, he brought together the grants community from 26 agencies, identified major decisions to be made and created the necessary governance structure and consensus.

Sheila Conley, HHS’ deputy chief financial officer, said Havekost “has the knack of being able to bring people together to make decisions where others can’t.”

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Patrick Howard, chief information security officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, led efforts to meet more than 90 percent of security requirements on the congressional score card, which rates how agencies comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act.

He also was instrumental in correcting the department’s information security problems, enabling HUD to achieve a green rating in e-government on the President’s Management Agenda.

“Pat Howard is a superstar among the [chief information officer] community, that rare individual who is a superb, dedicated leader and manager, and is also a true subject matter expert in IT security,” said Lisa Schlosser, HUD’s CIO.

New York State Police

Lt. Col. Bart Johnson, assistant deputy superintendent of the New York State Police, is vice chairman of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative and chairman of the Global Intelligence Working Group. The initiative benefits law enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels by implementing service-oriented architecture, Extensible Markup Language and data privacy concepts to enhance public safety.

“I would call him a pioneer in the concept of fusion centers before they were called fusion centers,” said Vance Hitch, chief information officer at the Justice Department. A fusion center is a group of law enforcement organizations that agree on rules and standards for sharing information.

Johnson is an effective leader in information-sharing activities because he understands the value of rules and standards and has the right characteristics, Hitch said. “He is an experienced law enforcement officer, and he brings that experience along with good interpersonal skills and management skills, and a willingness to speak up.”

Office of Management and Budget

Kim Johnson, policy analyst and e-government portfolio manager at the Office of Management and Budget, played an instrumental role in the Information Systems Security Line of Business initiative by offering a strategy for standardizing security awareness training and Federal Information Security Management Act reporting governmentwide.

“Kim was diligent and collaborative, and most importantly, she was effective,” said Tim Young, OMB’s associate administrator in the Office of E-Government and Information Technology.

Defense Information Systems Agency

Sharon Jones, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Office of Small Business Programs, is largely responsible for DISA’s exceeding its federally mandated small-business goal of 23 percent in 2006. In her role as program manager for the Defense Department/DISA Pilot Mentor-Protégé Program, Jones broadened the technical and managerial capabilities of small businesses.

“What makes her successful is her perseverance,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Croom, DISA’s director.

Croom is quick to point out that Jones doesn’t run a charity. “We don’t give dollars to small businesses,” he said. “It’s more than just spreading money around. It’s targeting [small businesses that] are good for America. It’s a passion for her.”

Defense Department

The Defense Department decided last year to implement a portfolio management for the entire department. Ronald Jost, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications, space and spectrum, got his organization ready to participate in planning President Bush’s fiscal 2008 budget request.

Jost initiated an approach to portfolio management by establishing a partnership between DOD’s Office for Networks and Information Integration, the Joint Staff and the Strategic Command.

“He had already put a lot of energy into investigating an enterprisewide approach to implementing technologies in the DOD,” said Linton Wells, principal deputy assistant secretary of Defense for networks and information integration.

“He’d done a lot of work toward cross-program synchronization,” Wells said. Portfolio management led to significant improvements in IT management, he said.