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GSA, VA lose senior executives; a former DoE one finds a new job

Mark Day, the General Services Administration’s deputy assistant commissioner in the Integrated Technology Services office in the Federal Acquisition Service,...

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

November 2, 2015 4:24 pm

3 min read

Two longtime federal senior executives are calling it a career, while another found a new home.

Mark Day, the General Services Administration’s deputy assistant commissioner in the Integrated Technology Services office in the Federal Acquisition Service, quietly retired Oct. 30.

Kathleen Turco, the chief financial officer for the Veterans Health Administration, also announced her plans to retire as of Dec. 30.

Meanwhile, Pete Tseronis, the former Energy Department chief technology officer, is joining Deep Water Point consulting as a principal. He will lead a new venture to bring in leading edge or cutting edge companies to the federal acquisition process.

Deep Water Point announced Tseronis’ hire on Nov. 2, as well as the new business sector.

Tseronis, who left government in September after 24 years, including the last seven at Energy, will lead Deep Water Point’s effort to help its clients vet future investments, provide go-to-market advice for existing investments and assist with connections between key technologies and agency missions.

“Given his unique experience, Pete maintains a unique capability to keep pace with evolving technology advancements, demands, applications, risks and threats,” said John Przysucha, a Deep Water Point partner and a former DOE executive, in a statement. “As an innovation advocate for the technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property, Pete is an effective and credible collaborator across the national laboratory, government, industry and academic ecosystem. And as a strong advocate for technological innovation, he created the advocacy and technology exchange forum to promote entrepreneurship and innovation while streamlining information sharing across public and private sectors.”

Day and Turco could follow Tseronis into the private sector.

The rumor mill surrounding Day’s decision to retire has grown stronger over the last few months. Day denied any immediate plans to retire back in August, but over the last few months he decided it was time.

Day joined government in 1997 as the deputy CIO for IT and the director of the Office of Technology Operations and Planning at the Environmental Protection Agency. He also served as the chief technology officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he focused on the re-compete of HUD’s primary IT support contract.

Day came to GSA in November 2011 where he served as director of the Office of Strategic Programs and then as deputy assistant commissioner.

In his final role at GSA, Day led the effort to develop contracts to help agencies buy cloud services and more efficiently buy IT services.

Turco’s departure comes after almost 28 years in government, including 13 at the IRS and the last 2 1/2 at VHA.

Turco told Federal News Radio in an email that it was “time to move on and forward — I officially will retire from the federal government. I am looking forward to being in the private sector and making a difference for federal employees from the other side.”

FCW first reported Turco’s decision to retire.