AFFIRM recognizes IT leaders
OMB's Tim Young and HUD's Lisa Schlosser were among those honored at the organization's annual ceremony.
Tim Young and Lisa Schlosser are considered game changers in government. They are federal employees who have significantly improved the way agencies meet their missions. Both also are about to experience life-changing events. Young’s wife, Michelle, is about to have the couple’s first child. Schlosser, the Housing and Urban Development Department’s chief information officer, will deploy to Iraq as an Army reservist. Young, the Office of Management and Budget’s associate administrator for information technology and e-government, and Schlosser also have one more thing in common: They were among a small number of federal employees recognized June 20 by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management for their work during the past year. AFFIRM honored Schlosser with the Executive Leadership Award and Young with the Leadership in e-Government award. “Lisa does exceptional work and makes people perform better,” said Richard Burk, AFFIRM’s outgoing president and OMB’s chief architect, at the organization’s annual awards luncheon in Washington. “Few folks have had the impact that Tim has in advancing the administration’s e-government agenda.” AFFIRM gives the Executive Leadership award annually to a federal employee who exhibits exceptional management of IT. Schlosser credited HUD’s leadership team and those in the CIO’s office as major contributors to her success, which includes getting green scores on e-government under the President's Management Agenda and raising the agency's Federal Information Security Management Act score to an A+ from a D, which means HUD's systems are more secure. “I’m really proud to be a part of the IT community, and sometimes in the day-to-day pressures, we forget about how far all of us have brought IT and e-government in the last five year,” she said. At OMB, Young oversees the day-to-day management of 25 e-government initiatives, nine Lines of Business projects, SmartBuy and other cross-agency programs. “When I was hired four years ago, I was very excited, and since then that excitement has remained,” Young said. “This is by far the most challenging and most rewarding job I’ve ever had. The credit goes to the dedicated OMB staff and agency CIOs for making these things happen.” AFFIRM also honored:
AFFIRM also named new officers for 2007-2008:
- John Johnson, the General Services Administration’s assistant commissioner for Integrated Acquisition Services in the Federal Acquisition Service with the Leadership in Acquisition and Procurement Award. “His success in contracting is a model for the rest of the federal government,” Burk said.
- Mary Dixon of the Defense Department, Carol Bales of OMB, Bill McGregor of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, David Temoshok of GSA and Owen Unangast of the Agriculture Department for their work on Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12. “They are the unsung hero[es] who made this initiative possible,” said Chris Niedermayer, incoming AFFIRM president and USDA’s deputy CIO.
- Ken Heitkamp, the Air Force’s associate director for life cycle management, for his work in developing and implementing a secure desktop configuration for Microsoft Windows. “What OMB is putting out in their guidance is good for government,” Heitkamp said. “I hope agencies take the more than 5,000 hours of work we have done and use it in their agency.”
- Ed Meagher, the Interior Department’s deputy CIO, for his work in assisting hundreds of returning veterans and integrating them back into society.
- Linda Gooden, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin, for her leadership as an industry partner in implementing cross-agency initiatives.
- President — Neidermayer.
- Vice president — Jacquelyn Patillo of the Transportation Department.
- Co-vice presidents for programs — Peg Hosky of Hosky Inc., Pool Roy of Vencal Global Systems, Lesley Field of OMB and Peter Tseronis of the Education Department.
- Co-secretaries — Ed Reniker of GSA and Rosemarie Franz of REZ Associates.
- Co-treasurers — Gary Washington of the Food and Drug Administration and Leslie Barry of GTSI.
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