Cost-Effective IT in the Age of Mounting Cyber Threats

August 23rd, 2011 at 12 PM Given the current state of the economy, there is increasing pressure to achieve efficiencies across the enterprise. However, in a tim...

August 23rd, 2011 at 12 PM

Given the current state of the economy, there is increasing pressure to achieve efficiencies across the enterprise. However, in a time of cutting back, how do organizations keep their IT systems and networks ahead of the negative actors? CIOs grapple daily with an array of complex investment issues and at the same time, CISOs are trying to prevent attacks while fending off existing threats. What are cost-effective IT investments that deliver the cybersecurity needed for optimal protection?

Panelists:
Susie Adams– Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal’s Civilian Business
David McClure, Ph.D.– Associate Administrator, US General Services Administration Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies
Caryn Hollis– Principal Director for Counternarcotics and Global Threats, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Tom Pyke– Former CIO, US Depts. of Energy and Commerce Executive Advisor, Booz Allen Hamilton


Moderator: Catherine Nelson – Senior Vice President Booz Allen Hamilton


About the Panel:

Catherine Nelson
Senior Vice President
Booz Allen Hamilton

Catherine Nelson leads Booz Allen Hamilton’s justice and law enforcement business, focused primarily on the US Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. She is also a key leader in the firm’s business analytics capability practice, focused on strategic planning, financial management governance and operations, advanced business analytics, and audit readiness. She currently chairs Booz Allen’s 700+ member Integrated Financial and Resource Management Community of Professionals.

A recognized expert in public sector financial management and business analytics and the federal Chief Financial Officer (CFO) agenda, with 30 years of experience, Ms. Nelson is responsible for developing and delivering a broad array of services and capabilities targeted to the strategic, tactical, and operational responsibilities of federal CFOs to include:

  • Performance Analytics and Budget-Performance Integration
  • Integrated Cost Analysis and Management
  • Mission efficiency, affordability and optimization
  • Accounting and reporting
  • Internal control, risk management, and compliance
  • Financial/Resource management process transformation
  • Business systems/technology analysis and modernization

Ms. Nelson is an active member of several related professional associations, including the Association of Government Accountants (AGA), serving as the firm’s liaison to AGA’s Corporate Partner Advisory Group, the American Society of Military Comptrollers, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association, and Women in Homeland Security.

Ms. Nelson is a Certified Government Financial Manager and certified Project Management Professional. She is a frequent speaker on CFO related topics, including CFOs as strategic leaders in their organizations.

Ms. Nelson holds an MBA in finance and accounting and a B.A. in economics, both from Duke University.


Susie Adams
Chief Technology Officer
Microsoft Federal’s Civilian Business

Susie Adams is the Chief Technology Officer for the Microsoft’s Federal Government business. Susie joined Microsoft Federal Sales in 1999 and has held several leadership positions in Microsoft as the Director of the Reston Technology Center and most recently the CTO of the Federal Civilian Business. In her present role as CTO she oversees and assists with the direction of the technical strategy for Microsoft’s Federal business. Prior to Microsoft, Susie spent over 15 years in the Government Consulting arena working with Public Sector customers. As a graduate of George Mason University she began her career as a software developer for Navy systems and has held numerous technical leadership positions for consulting firms including BAH, McGladrey and Pullen and Spectrum Technology Group where she was the Director of Web Development. Susie was named as a Federal 100’s award winner in 2011 and has authored several books on the topics of software integration and web development over the past decade.


David McClure, Ph.D.
Associate Administrator
US General Services Administration Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies

David McClure was appointed as the Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) in the General Services Administration on August 26, 2009. The Office of Citizen Services fosters public engagement by using innovative technologies to connect citizens to government information and services. As part of this effort, OCSIT runs the award-winning USA.gov, the official website of the federal government. His office is rapidly becoming a leader in the use of new media and Web 2.0 technologies to bring government to citizens and citizens to government. Through its websites, call centers, publications, and other programs, OCSIT facilitates more than 200 million citizen touchpoints a year. OCSIT is also facilitating government-wide capabilities to support the President’s Open Government Directive, such as idea management and challenge solutions. In addition, McClure is involved in implementing OMB’s government-wide cloud computing strategy via Apps.gov and other avenues.

McClure most recently served as the managing vice president for Gartner Inc.’s Government research team. There, he managed the global government research agenda and analyst support and was lead researcher on government information technology management practices. McClure also served on the Obama-Biden Transformation, Innovation, and Government Reform Transition Team, which examined federal agency IT plans and status for the incoming administration.

Before working at Gartner, McClure served as vice president for e-government and technology at the Council for Excellence in Government. Previously, McClure had an 18-year career with the Government Accountability Office, where he conducted wide-ranging IT management reviews in almost all major Cabinet departments and agencies. He was instrumental in starting and creating GAO’s “best practice” guidance for IT investment and capital planning, IT security, IT performance management, and IT architecture. He also served as ex-officio member of the Federal Chief Information Officer Council from its inception in 1996 through 2001.

McClure provided key input on major federal government IT reform legislation, such as the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 that created federal government CIOs and IT business case requirements, and the e-Government Act of 2002. He is a three-time winner of Federal Computer Week’s “Top Federal 100” (1998, 2001, and 2004) for impact on government IT directions and improvements. Because of notable impact on government management reforms, he was elected as a Fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration in 2009. He also serves as a Member of the Commissioner’s Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel at the Social Security Administration.

Most recently McClure was presented the 2010 AFFIRM Leadership Award for outstanding executive leadership in government-wide information resource management.

McClure received his Bachelor of Arts degree and a master’s in political science from the University of Texas, and a doctorate in public policy from the University of North Texas.


Tom Pyke
Former CIO
US Depts. of Energy and Commerce
Executive Advisor
Booz Allen Hamilton

As an Executive Advisor at Booz Allen, Tom Pyke is a senior advisor to the Department of Commerce, the National Cancer Institute, and other Federal agencies on information technology management and cyber security. Before joining Booz Allen Hamilton, he was the Chief Information Officer of the US Department of Energy, and, previously, Chief Information Officer of the US Department of Commerce. At both Energy and Commerce he led the revitalization of cyber security programs.

Mr. Pyke has over 40 years experience managing information technology within the Federal Government. He led information technology research, consulting for Federal agencies, and standards development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), as Director of the Center for Computer Systems Engineering and Director of the Center for Programming Sciences and Technology.

He was then responsible for the Nation’s weather satellite program, the Landsat satellite remote sensing program, and the national environmental data centers, as Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (leader of NOAA NESDIS). He created and led NOAA’s High Performance Computing and Communication Program, and he created and led an international environmental science and education program, working directly for Vice President Al Gore. This program is now active in over 50,000 schools in 110 countries. He was also NOAA’s first Chief Information Officer.

He received a BSEE from Carnegie Tech and an MSE from the University of Pennsylvania, and he has received numerous Federal awards, including the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and the Commerce Gold Medal, as well as a Federal 100 Award and the Executive Excellence Award of the Interagency Committee on IRM. He is Listed in Who’s Who in America, and is a senior member of the IEEE (former Computer Society Governing Board member), and a member of ACM, AAAS, Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, and ODK, and he is a Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Academy’s Engineering Science Award.


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