Meet the 2010 Rising Stars

Twenty-four up-and-coming professionals in government information technology have been recognized this year in the annual Rising Star awards program, cosponsored by Federal Computer Week and its affiliate publications, Government Computer News (GCN) and Washington Technology.

See the slideshow of selected winners and follow links to all winner profiles.

This year’s winners from government and industry were selected from more than 100 nominations submitted by their supervisors and coworkers. An independent panel of judges from the government IT community selected the 24 finalists.

Now in its fifth year, the Rising Star awards program honors up-and-coming employees in the public and private sectors who have made an early — and substantive — mark in the government IT community. The program is an opportunity for agencies and contractors to spotlight some extraordinary achievements, both as a reward and as an example to others.

Phil Kiviat and the Young AFCEANs, from the Bethesda, Md., chapter of AFCEA International, first suggested this program and continue to support it.

The winners will be featured in August in the print and online editions of Federal Computer Week, GCN and Washington Technology. The winners will also be recognized at the GCN Awards Gala on Oct. 27.

Here are the 2010 Rising Stars:

Gena Alexa, Unisys Federal
Christopher Barnes, Lockheed Martin Corp.
James Carver III, Department of the Army
Kathleen Druitt, Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board
Justin Filler, Department of the Army
Douglas Haskin, Department of the Army
Andrew Heo, Department of the Air Force
Leslie Hurley, Department of the Navy 
Joy Laibl, NASA
Frank LaSota, National Government Services
Yosef Lehrman, New York Police Department 
Sara Mosley, State Department
David Parrish, Internal Revenue Service
Hoa Pham, CACI Inc.
Nina Preuss,TCG
Shane Sanders, Department of the Army 
Nick Saund, Defense Health Services Systems
Allison Scogin, Defense Information Systems Agency 
Donna Sheets, JACER Corp.
Wayne Speaks, Defense Department
Ryan Swann, Treasury Department
Pablo Vilaboa, Lockheed Martin Corp.
Martin Vozzo, Department of the Navy 
James Wenke, Department of the Navy

2010 Rising Star judges

Emma Antunes, Center Web manager and chief Web architect for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Phil Kiviat, president, Guerra, Kiviat Inc.
Tchad Moore, vice chairman, Young AFEANs
Anne Reed, president & CEO, Acquisition Solutions