Announcing the 2023 FedScoop 50 award winners

FedScoop 50 2023

Kiran Ahuja

Director, OPM

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

After more than two decades in public service and executive nonprofit work, Kiran Ahuja became OPM Director in June 2021 and is the first Asian American woman to lead the agency, which touches over 2.1 million workers at every federal agency and department. Ahuja served as OPM Chief of Staff from 2015 to 2017, leading inter-agency efforts to engage federal workers, attract skilled talent into government, and expand opportunities in federal service to every American. She also worked to strengthen OPM’s internal operations as an agency and provide stable leadership at a challenging time. Ahuja told FedScoop in October that the OPM is nearing the release of a proposal centered on improving pay for federal cyber and IT workers that will be “far-reaching” and said it will focus on where pay needs to be and “flexibilities” that the government can incorporate.

FedScoop 50 2023

Sonny Bhagowalia

CIO, U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Nearly four decades into his career as a federal official and technology executive, Sonny Bhagowalia has spent the past four years leading a $1.8 billion IT portfolio for U.S. Customs and Border Protection as chief information officer, enhancing the nation’s security through innovation, intelligence, collaboration, and trust. In this role, Bhagowalia oversees a staff of 2,200 federal employees and 3,900 contractors to support CBP’s 24-7 mission. Before this, he spent three years as CIO of the Treasury Department and had a short stint as a senior adviser on tech and cyber with the Bureau of Fiscal Service. Prior to joining the Treasury, Bhagowalia led IT teams at various levels around government, including stints as CIO of the Interior Department and the state of Hawaii, and as a deputy associate administrator with the General Services Administration.

FedScoop 50 2023

Robin Carnahan

Administrator, General Services Administration

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Robin Carnahan has led the General Services Administration since June 2021 after founding the state and local government practice at 18F, GSA‘s tech consultancy, from 2016 to 2020, having previously been Missouri’s secretary of state. She also co-founded the State Software Collaborative as a fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center. When she was at GSA during the Obama administration, Carnahan helped state and local governments improve their digital services while cutting costs. As Missouri’s secretary of state, Carnahan modernized online services for hundreds of thousands of customers related to both elections and securities. Carnahan said last year that improving citizens’ digital experience, as set out in the President’s Management Agenda, is a key priority for the Biden administration, and that her agency is deeply “focused” on delivering this policy goal.

FedScoop 50 2023

Chris DeRusha

Federal CISO, Executive Office of the President

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Chris DeRusha is closing in on his three-year anniversary as the Federal Chief Information Security Officer, a position in which he’s responsible for chairing a 25-member council of his federal CISO peers and overseeing everything across agencies from the implementation of phishing-resistant multifactor authentication to identity and access management capabilities. In his capacity as deputy national cyber director, DeRusha oversees cybersecurity programs for more than 100 federal executive branch agencies, with a yearly IT spend of $87 billion. DeRusha said during the Google Public Sector Forum in October that now is the time for the government to prepare for “massive” long-term challenges. “And we’re taking a swing and making” progress, he said.

FedScoop 50 2023

Ann Dunkin

CIO, Department of Energy

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Department of Energy Chief Information Officer Ann Dunkin has worked to support IT modernization across the agency. She has led the department in digital transformation for over two years, and overseen cybersecurity efforts while enabling department-wide collaboration. Before joining Energy, Dunkin served as the CIO of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration and other roles where she served in other leadership roles focused on IT, engineering, software quality and more.

FedScoop 50 2023

Kelly Fletcher

CIO, State Department

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

After serving as the principal deputy CIO at the Department of Defense, Fletcher moved over to the Department of State last year to be its CIO and assistant-secretary level head for the Bureau of Information Resource Management. In her current role, Fletcher oversees the department’s $2.5 billion IT and cybersecurity portfolio. Fletcher’s government career has focused on technology and strategic resourcing domains. Before DOD, she was the deputy director for program analysis and evaluation at the Department of Homeland Security. When talking to FedScoop about the department’s IT strategy in May, Fletcher said the agency is “hungry for technology,” data and data analytics, and is looking for “a lot of experimentation” on emerging technologies.

FedScoop 50 2023

Eric Hysen

CIO and Chief AI Officer, DHS

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Eric Hysen, the Department of Homeland Security CIO since February 2021, added a new title to his CV in September: chief artificial intelligence officer. His expanded DHS portfolio includes the promotion of innovation and safety in the agency’s AI use cases, in addition to advising DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other DHS leadership on the technology. In the rollout of new AI policies from DHS in September, Hysen — who previously served as executive director of DHS Digital Service and was part of the Biden-Harris transition’s Technology Strategy & Delivery team — noted that the agency’s moves would ensure that its “use of AI is free from discrimination and in full compliance with the law, ensuring that we retain the public’s trust.”

FedScoop 50 2023

La’Naia Jones

CIO, CIA

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

La’Naia Jones is a veteran technology official in the intelligence community. Before she became the CIA’s top IT official in March 2022, she served as deputy CIO of the National Security Agency and its information-sharing and safeguarding executive. Jones was also previously the acting CIO within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. As the chief information officer for the CIA, she has responsibility of the agency’s IT systems in addition to its communications network.

FedScoop 50 2023

Rob Joyce

Director, Cybersecurity, NSA

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Serving as the NSA’s Director of Cybersecurity, Rob Joyce is tasked with overseeing the agency’s Cybersecurity Directorate, an effort to prevent and wipe out cyber threats to the Department of Defense, National Security Systems and the Defense Industrial Base. Joyce’s tenure with the NSA dates back to 1989 and includes roles such as Associate Deputy Director, Counterterrorism and Special U.S. Liaison Officer to the U.S. Embassy in London. In an interview with CyberScoop last year, Joyce spoke of the importance of intel sharing among cyber professionals, noting that “it doesn’t do anybody any good if we know a thing and don’t do something. Doing is really the focus in the cybersecurity area. And if you’ve got secrets and understanding and you don’t operationalize those, they don’t count.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Clare Martorana

Federal CIO, Executive Office of the President

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

As the federal chief information officer and administrator of the Office of E-Government at the Office of Management and Budget, Martorana has overseen the Biden administration’s most important policies on cybersecurity, customer experience, cloud security and AI. She has spent roughly seven years working on digital and IT goals in various federal government roles, including as the Office of Personnel Management CIO and as a member of the U.S. Digital Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Martorana also has deep experience in the healthcare sector, having served as president of Everyday Health and senior vice president and editor-at-large at WebMD before her time in government. At a May event in London, Martorana said U.S. digital transformation is focused on being “simple, seamless, and secure” with cybersecurity, customer experience, data, and IT modernization as priorities.

FedScoop 50 2023

André Mendes

CIO, Department of Commerce

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

As the Department of Commerce CIO, André Mendes is responsible for oversight of agency-wide technology systems along with associated bureaus. Mendes has called for CIOs across the federal horizon to modernize IT and digital services through a streamlined, simple approach to encourage customer accessibility and ease. In his current role, Mendes led a bureau-wide transformation, making the International Trade Administration the first federal agency to be completely cloud-based, and in turn, reduced operating costs to less than 11% of the administration’s appropriations.

FedScoop 50 2023

Arati Prabhakar

Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

An engineer and applied physicist, Prabhakar has deep experience leading key government science and technology roles. She’s currently the director of the White House Office of Technology Policy and is the president’s chief advisor for science and technology. Prabhakar previously directed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was the first woman to lead the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST). In addition to her public sector experience, Prabhakar spent 15 years working as an executive and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. At OSTP, Prabhakar has been a leader in the Biden administration’s efforts to regulate and harness the power of AI. At a congressional hearing in September, Prabhakar underscored the importance of managing AI’s risks but also noted that “used responsibly, AI can help us deliver better outcomes and create new possibilities for the American people.”

FedScoop 50 2023

John Sherman

CIO, Department of Defense

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

Since becoming CIO of the Department of Defense in December 2021, John Sherman has overseen major shifts in the department’s IT portfolio, notably in the move to the cloud, the adoption of a zero-trust security architecture and software modernization. Sherman previously served as the Intelligence Community (IC) CIO from 2017-2020 and served from 2014-2017 as the Deputy Director of the CIA’s Open Source Enterprise (OSE), where he helped transform Open Source Intelligence. In a 2022 op-ed for DefenseScoop, Sherman explained the need to get IT modernization “right” for the DOD. Sherman has worked to lead a new era of cloud computing for the DOD under the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability, which he has called a “game changer.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Kemba Walden

Interim National Cyber Director, The White House

Golden Gov: Federal Executive of the Year

After an eight-month stint as the first-ever principal deputy national cyber director, Kemba Walden was called to the White House in February to take on the position of acting national cyber director in the Office of the National Cyber Director. She hit the ground running in her new role, leading the development of the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy, overseeing the implementation of President Joe Biden’s executive order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity and contributing to the drafting and release of the National Cybersecurity Strategy. Walden, who spent nearly a decade as an attorney at the Department of Homeland Security, returned to the federal government in 2022 after three-plus years at Microsoft, finishing her time there as assistant general counsel in the company’s digital crimes unit.

FedScoop 50 2023

Gundeep Ahluwalia

CIO, Department of Labor

Federal Leadership

Since assuming the role of Chief Information Officer in October 2016, Gundeep Ahluwalia has led information technology growth and transformation at the U.S. Department of Labor. He provides strategic leadership for IT capital planning, project initiatives, talent acquisition and enterprise-wide services—ultimately advancing the Department’s mission-critical work. In his role, Mr. Ahluwalia engages and collaborates with senior DOL leadership, DOL agency leaders, the Office of Management and Budget, and other key stakeholders to formulate IT strategies, governance policy, budget, and IT investment processes. Ahluwalia brings more than 20 years of experience in building and implementing enterprise-wide IT capabilities, including as Deputy Director for the Office of Business Informatics at the Food and Drug Administration, where he facilitated information sharing across diverse, global stakeholders to enhance drug quality and safety.

FedScoop 50 2023

Dr. Gil Alterovitz

Director, National Artificial Intelligence Institute, Chief AI Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs

Federal Leadership

Dr. Gil Alterovitz has brought together more than 20 offices from across VA to create the agency’s first Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which has helped guide the agency in conducting research in a strategic and ethical manner. Alterovitz is also a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School and is a best-selling author, producing more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and three books in his research field. Alterovitz’s work has gained international recognition through his collaborations with government, industry, and academia to bring together leading minds in AI to develop solutions for veterans and the American people. In an interview with FedScoop earlier this year, Alterovitz explained how he helped establish an Artificial Intelligence Institutional Review Board and an AI Oversight Committee charged with evaluating the fairness and transparency of using AI tools within the VA.

FedScoop 50 2023

Darren Ash

CIO, Department of the Interior

Federal Leadership

Darren Ash has served as a chief information officer at the Department of the Interior since last fall. In this role, he’s focused on developing an IT strategic plan, transitioning the agency to a more cloud-based approach, and modernizing IT systems. Before joining Interior, he worked at the United States Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of the Treasury. Between 2007 and 2016, he served as chief information officer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

FedScoop 50 2023

Ken Bible

CISO, DHS

Federal Leadership

After nearly eight years as a cyber and IT official in the Marine Corps, Bible joined the Department of Homeland Security in January 2021 as its top information security official. While with the Marine Corps, Bible served first as a chief technology advisor and later rose to deputy CIO. At times he also served as acting CIO. Before working for the Marine Corps, Bible served in the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command for almost two decades. His roles there included networks engineering division head and assistant program executive officer for enterprise information systems for SPAWAR. Under his leadership, DHS completed its first-ever formal bug bounty program, “Hack DHS,” in 2022. Speaking to the DailyScoop Podcast, Bible called the program, which identified 122 vulnerabilities, a “rewarding experience.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Sheena Burrell

CIO, National Archives and Records Administration

Federal Leadership

After a more than two-and-a-half-year run as the National Archives and Records Administration’s deputy CIO, Burrell in August 2022 was elevated to the agency’s top IT role, where she’s charged with overseeing the safeguarding of information and digital and natural digital records for the federal government. A former IT official at NASA and the Social Security Administration, Burrell is leading NARA at a time when the agency has embarked on a bold plan to digitize 500 million pages of government records by 2026. She’s also exploring how best NARA can integrate artificial intelligence into the agency’s work, telling FedScoop in August that she’s focused on leveraging AI with natural language processing, search and addressing NARA’s backlog reduction efforts. “We’re trying to focus on AI use cases that will benefit researchers, our archivists, and the American public,” she said.

FedScoop 50 2023

Guy Cavallo

CIO, OPM

Federal Leadership

Guy Cavallo has been the Chief Information Officer of the Office of Personnel Management since July 2021. As OPM CIO, he also leads its modernization program, launching OPM’s major cloud initiative in 2021, which is now in production. Before joining OPM, he previously served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Small Business Administration. He was a key leader in helping SBA leverage the cloud to quickly implement the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs. Prior to joining SBA, Cavallo served as the Executive Director for IT Operations at the Transportation Security Administration. Before joining TSA, Cavallo served as a Senior Government Adviser at Microsoft for over nine years.

FedScoop 50 2023

Amira Choueiki-Boland

Lead, Federal Customer Experience, Office of Management and Budget

Federal Leadership

As the first Federal Customer Experience Lead at the Office of Management and Budget, Amira Choueiki-Boland began her responsibilities by dedicating her agency to reshaping how citizens interact with the government. Earlier this year, Choueiki-Boland joined the efforts for agency leaders to modernize online interactions with Americans, making it clear that OMB would focus on design processes to serve citizens better. Her experience spans over a decade and includes responsibilities as Deputy Director for the General Services Administration’s Office of Evaluation Sciences and as Executive Secretary for the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.

FedScoop 50 2023

Sean Connelly

TIC Manager & Sr. Cybersecurity Architect, CISA

Federal Leadership

Serving as the Trusted Internet Connections Program Manager at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Sean Connelly oversees the program’s initiative to support the federal government’s efforts to protect government networks that connect to both the internet and cloud providers. Connelly has served the agency within the Department of Homeland Security since 2013 and has since overseen enhancing network security for federal agencies. Previously, Connelly has been an author on both the 2017 “IT Modernization Report to the President” and the 2019 NIST publication about “Zero Trust Architectures.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Kurt DelBene

CIO, Department of Veterans Affairs

Federal Leadership

Managing a budget of over $4 billion for the Department of Veteran Affairs, Kurt DelBene oversees the department’s digital transformation as the Chief Information Officer and Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology. Most recently, DelBene has held an integral role in transforming digital services through a new VA Health and Benefits app. Before his appointment as CIO, DelBene oversaw Microsoft’s Business Division as its Senior Vice President for just under a decade.

FedScoop 50 2023

Matthew Graviss

Chief Data Officer, State Department

Federal Leadership

At the State Department, Matthew Graviss has the dual responsibility of leading the agency’s work with data and artificial intelligence. Since taking on that role in 2020 — he’s the first person to hold the full-time chief data officer position — he’s focused on expanding the use of data within the department. Among other responsibilities, Graviss also leads the Center for Analytics, which is meant to inform the decision-making of the State Department’s tens of thousands of employees. He’s also taken the helm of an AI enterprise strategy.

FedScoop 50 2023

Jason Gray

CIO, US Agency for International Development

Federal Leadership

Jason Gray is currently the chief information officer at the United States Agency for International Development. In this role, he’s responsible for overseeing systems that are used by thousands of people in USAID offices across the world. Before joining USAID last year, Gray served as associate chief information officer of the Department of Transportation and as the chief information officer of the Department of Education, where he was in charge of supporting an environment for managing a more than $1 trillion loan portfolio. He previously worked at Lockheed Martin, the Miami VA Healthcare System, and the National Naval Medical Center.

FedScoop 50 2023

Jamie Holcombe

CIO, USPTO

Federal Leadership

Since 2019, Jamie Holcombe has served as chief information officer at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In this capacity, he’s invested in modernizing IT systems and building and deploying new software systems for the agency, while also looking at ways to improve security and adopting zero-trust capabilities. Holcombe has actively encouraged his agency — as well as others — to look for ways to deploy artificial intelligence. Holcombe previously worked in the private sector and served as an officer in the US Army.

FedScoop 50 2023

Ted Kaouk

Chief Data Officer, OPM

Federal Leadership

As chief data officer and deputy director for human capital data management and modernization at the Office of Personnel Management, Ted Kaouk has worked on boosting data skills within the federal government, increasing access to OPM data, and building new dashboards, including for the agency’s annual federal employee viewpoint surveys. Kaouk is also the chair of the Federal Chief Data Officers Council, which focuses on improving the ways the government uses data. Before 2021, he served as the Chief Data Officer for the Department of Agriculture.

FedScoop 50 2023

Jeff King

Deputy CIO, Department of the Treasury

Federal Leadership

Jeff King, the Treasury Department’s deputy chief information officer since September 2022, took a 90-day hiatus from the agency this year to serve as acting CIO of the IRS, where he launched a multi-year, stem-to-stem technology modernization push intended to narrow the tax gap, improve taxpayer service and provide the agency’s workforce with better tools to more efficiently perform their duties. Back at the Treasury, King is part of the leadership team that oversees the department’s $3 billion IT portfolio, which encompasses everything from cybersecurity to enterprise technology governance.

FedScoop 50 2023

Krista Kinnard

Digital Transformation Culture and Communication Lead, NASA

Federal Leadership

Krista Kinnard may be new to NASA — she joined this past September — but she’s far from new to helping the federal government adopt new technology. Kinnard came to the space agency from the Department of Labor, where she was the director of innovation and engineering. There, she led efforts to deploy automated tools to improve efficiency and better procurement processes, ultimately winning a Service to America Medal. “It starts with responsibility – engaging with people and understanding what it is their challenge is before bringing technology to the table, and ensuring that the technology is solving the problem,” she said last year.

FedScoop 50 2023

Ann Lewis

Director, Technology Transformation Services, General Services Administration

Federal Leadership

Ann Lewis serves as the Director of Technology Transformation Services for the General Services Administration and chairs the Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee, which was established earlier this year. Lewis oversees the committee’s mission to provide recommendations to both the GSA administrations and federal agencies for cloud computing use. Prior to her appointment as director, Lewis served as a software engineer for various companies and then served as Director of Engineering for Pedgago. She also worked as a Chief Technology Officer at Next Street and a Senior Advisor for Technology and Delivery for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

FedScoop 50 2023

Karl Mathias

CIO, Department of Health and Human Services

Federal Leadership

Mathias took the lead overseeing the Department of Health and Human Services’ IT policy and $7 billion IT portfolio in March 2022. But his role as CIO isn’t his first in government. Before HHS, Mathias was CIO at the U.S. Marshal’s Service for over seven years. He also served in IT roles in the Air Force and the Pentagon, including deputy CIO for Headquarters Air Force and executive director of the 844th Communications Squadron. Mathias retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2007 before entering the Civil Service. During his tenure at HHS, Mathias has worked to create a “zero trust” scorecard. In remarks at a June AFCEA Bethesda event, Mathias said that was developed with the goal of better understanding “where should the resources go.” Mathias has also overseen HHS’s growing adoption of AI, which it disclosed over 160 use cases for within the agency.

FedScoop 50 2023

Adele Merritt

CIO, U.S. Intelligence Community

Federal Leadership

With two decades of experience supporting cyber and national security operations, Adele Meritt now serves as the Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Intelligence Community. Merritt started her career at the National Security Agency and aldo held positions in the intelligence community within entities like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Council at the White House during the Obama administration. Merritt now oversees the Intelligence Community’s modernization efforts to transform the community’s Information Technology Enterprise.

FedScoop 50 2023

Drew Myklegard

Deputy Federal CIO, Executive Office of the President

Federal Leadership

Drew Myklegard joined the Office of Management and Budget as its deputy federal CIO in January 2022 after serving in various roles in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for over eight years. While at the VA, Myklegard was executive director of product engineering and led the rollout of VA’s Lighthouse Application Programming Interface Platform, which allowed veterans to share health and benefits data with third parties. Myklegard has also served as an intelligence and operations manager in the U.S. Army and is an active member of the Army Reserves. When asked by FedScoop in September about what he sees as the administration’s greatest IT achievements, he pointed to its “zero trust” architecture, saying they’re “seeing on-the-ground change.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Vu Nguyen

CISO, Department of Justice

Federal Leadership

As chief information security officer for the Department of Justice, Vu Nguyen has a passion for cybersecurity that has developed over his decades serving the public as a cyber executive with the federal government. His experience has been crucial to the creation of a zero-trust implementation plan for Justice, ensuring that his team had the resources and tools necessary to create a streamlined process toward enhanced cybersecurity. His understanding of the complex federal landscape and agencies’ needs has allowed his team to create a suite of services utilized by the department’s customers for essential mission activities. Through these efforts, Nguyen has provided the federal government with cost-saving and dynamic solutions for the challenges represented by the different agencies.

FedScoop 50 2023

Lakshmi Raman

Director of AI, CIA

Federal Leadership

Lakshmi Raman, Director of Artificial Intelligence for the CIA, has been a part of the agency since 2002 when she entered as a software developer. Now, as director of AI, she has led the efforts to establish guardrails and utilize AI’s capabilities for intelligence agency missions. This includes the creation of a common platform for shared, digital services. Raman has consistently led the charge in communicating the threats and vulnerabilities along with the positive opportunities of AI in federal agency usage.

FedScoop 50 2023

Melinda Rogers

CIO, Department of Justice

Federal Leadership

Melinda Rogers has helped lead the IT policy at the Department of Justice for over a decade. She has served as the agency’s CIO for more than three years and was previously its deputy CIO and chief information security officer. As DOJ’s top IT official, Rogers oversees a roughly $3.5 billion portfolio. Prior to her roles at DOJ, Rogers worked in the financial services industry. She was assistant vice president at Equifax and NationsBank. In June, Rogers told FedScoop she was eyeing an overhaul of the department’s IT service desk, using generative AI tools to improve the customer experience. “My desire is to take our service desk to a place of elegance,” Rogers said.

FedScoop 50 2023

Denice Ross

Deputy U.S. CTO, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Federal Leadership

Denice Ross was appointed Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year. As a known data and technology policy expert, Ross’s career has spanned over a decade and included positions such as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow, and Senior Advisor for Community Solutions at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Before her recent appointment, Ross served as the U.S. Chief Data Scientist for just over a year.

FedScoop 50 2023

Camille Stewart Gloster

Deputy National Cyber Director for Technology & Ecosystem Security, The White House

Federal Leadership

Camille Stewart Gloster was already a big name in cybersecurity when the White House appointed her in July 2022 to the role of deputy national cyber director for technology & ecosystem security. Before joining the Office of the National Cyber Director, Stewart Gloster worked as Google’s global head of product security strategy, served as a senior policy adviser on international cyber and critical infrastructure at the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration and co-founded #ShareTheMicInCyber, an initiative to make the cyber field more diverse. With the ONCD, Stewart Gloster played a critical role in the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, an ambitious plan that she said during a February CyberScoop event would attempt to “rearchitect our digital ecosystem” so “that we are creating future resilience.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Simchah Suveyke-Bogin

Chief Customer Experience Officer, USDA

Federal Leadership

Department of Agriculture Chief Customer Experience Officer Simchah Suveyke-Bogin has led multiple changes that are still in use throughout the agency for user-centered digital practices and innovative solutions. Suveyke-Bogin previously worked in GSA’s Technology Transformation Services and supported the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Communications to optimize contact center operations. She leads the agency in integrating human-centered design in services, having acknowledged various barriers customers may face in accessing needed services.

FedScoop 50 2023

Eileen Vidrine

Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer, Department of the Air Force

Federal Leadership

After more than five years of service as the Air Force’s Chief Data Officer, Eileen Vidrine received a title change this year, officially adding AI to her CV. In the updated role, Vidrine is charged with developing and implementing strategies for analytics, digital transformation, enterprise data management and responsible AI use in all Air Force missions and operations. Vidrine, who enlisted in the Army in 1986, previously served in multiple roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She also completed a one-year detail in 2022 as the senior strategic advisor for data to the federal CIO, telling FedScoop in an interview about the experience that “tactical to strategic, it’s all about the art of the possible and then scaling data-driven decisions across the federal government.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Stuart Wagner

Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Department of the Air Force

Federal Leadership

Fresh off of winning a DefenseScoop 50 award, Stuart Wagner was voted an honoree on this year’s FedScoop 50 awards list as well. As chief digital transformation officer at the Department of the Air Force, Stuart Wagner pushes innovation and digital application development across the Air Force and Space Force. One of the more notable efforts Wagner leads is the Air Force’s BRAVO hackathon series to address the Department of the Air Force’s challenges with data and create operational prototypes as solutions. Ahead of the third event earlier this year, he told DefenseScoop they want to scale the event to include the entire Pentagon and intelligence community. “The cool part about these events is we really don’t know what’s going to get developed,” Wagner said on the DefenseScoop Podcast. “We bring the data, we bring the environment and we let people run wild with their imagination.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Gary Washington

CIO, USDA

Federal Leadership

As the chief information officer of the United States Department of Agriculture, Gary Washington is responsible for leading the agency’s work on IT operations, governance, and budget formulation policies — along with working with leaders representing the department’s nearly 20 component agencies. His accomplishments include overseeing an IT workforce representing thousands of employees, cloud adoption efforts, and the IT modernization centers of excellence, which are meant to serve as technology incubators for the federal government. Before joining USDA, he worked for the Office of Management and Budget and the Food and Drug Administration.

FedScoop 50 2023

Oliver Wise

Chief Data Officer, Department of Commerce

Federal Leadership

As Chief Data Officer at the Department of Commerce, Oliver Wise has focused on developing more efficient ways to take advantage of the data created by the agency, including standardizing data, developing a new action plan, and pushing for more automation. “[T]here’s so much more we can do to realize the Department’s full potential to apply data to power the American economy,” he wrote in a post this past April reflecting on his first year in the position. Before joining Commerce, Wise founded and directed the City of New Orleans Office of Performance and Accountability.

FedScoop 50 2023

Elaine Beeman

Chief Leadership Officer & Civilian Portfolio Lead, Accenture Federal Services

Industry Leadership

Elaine Beeman is the Chief Leadership Officer and Civilian Portfolio Lead for Accenture Federal Services, supporting federal civilian agencies like the Department of Education, Commerce, USPS, Amtrak, GSA, OPM and many others to achieve their strategic, operational and technology goals for mission-critical operations. With a remarkable career spanning over two decades, she possesses extensive expertise in leadership development and strategy execution. Her work centers on enabling government agencies to optimize their operations, innovate, and deliver exceptional services to citizens. As the Chief Leadership Officer, she is at the forefront of developing top-tier talent and shaping the leadership culture within Accenture Federal Services, furthering their commitment to excellence and transformation in the public sector.

FedScoop 50 2023

Rob Carey

President, Cloudera Government Solutions

Industry Leadership

A former Department of the Navy CIO and Department of Defense Principal Deputy CIO, Rob Carey now leads the public sector team at Cloudera Government Solutions. Recognizing that digital transformation, cybersecurity and the hybrid data movement are of ultimate importance to accelerate objectives in the federal government, Carey uses his over three decades of federal experience to deliver solutions supporting federal agencies’ mission success. He supports Cloudera’s customers across the U.S. public sector by providing technology solutions and insights that allow the respective agencies to navigate data-driven challenges and work to meet mission-critical objectives.

FedScoop 50 2023

Cameron Chehreh

Vice President & General Manager Public Sector World Wide, Intel

Industry Leadership

As the vice president and general manager of the public sector across the world for Intel, Cameron Chehreh is a disrupter, leading a large team “to use technology to advance human progress” — whether that’s diagnosing cancer earlier, protecting national security or providing better services to American citizens. Leading Intel’s public sector business, Chehreh serves as an adviser to the government in modernization, digital transformation and unlocking the value of existing IT investments to help organizations reimagine their IT capabilities on-prem, off-prem, in the cloud, and at the edge. He works closely with customers across civilian and defense agencies to deliver a higher level of citizen service and keep ahead of near-peer adversaries. Chehreh also serves as an evangelist for the importance of U.S.-based semiconductor production and a resilient supply chain.

FedScoop 50 2023

Casey Coleman

SVP, Digital Transformation, Global Public Sector, Salesforce

Industry Leadership

Casey Coleman is the Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation for Salesforce’s Global Public Sector branch. With a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors, she is a dynamic leader in the fields of technology and digital transformation. Coleman brings a wealth of experience to her role at Salesforce, having served as the CIO of the General Services Administration and worked with various government agencies in other industry roles, driving innovation and modernization. At Salesforce, she spearheads initiatives to empower government organizations with cutting-edge technology solutions, enabling them to better serve their constituents. Her work plays a pivotal role in revolutionizing the public sector, ensuring efficient, citizen-centric services, and promoting digital transformation worldwide.

FedScoop 50 2023

Karen Dahut

CEO, Google Public Sector

Industry Leadership

Just over a year into her role as CEO of Google Public Sector, Karen Dahut is setting the guiding vision to bring more choice into the federal cloud marketplace and translate the innovative mindset that Google is known for around emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to government use cases. Prior to joining Google in 2022, Dahut was president of Booz Allen Hamilton’s global defense portfolio. Speaking with FedScoop recently, Dahut said “it is critical and important that our public sector customers look to consumer products. First of all, these consumer products are used by billions — with a ‘b’ — users in the world with ease and with security built-in. How do our public sector missions leverage these consumer products at an enterprise level to really help support and drive mission outcomes that are fast, effective and more efficient in its use?”

FedScoop 50 2023

Mike Daniels

Senior Vice President of Public Sector, UiPath

Industry Leadership

Mike Daniels is the Senior Vice President of Public Sector at UiPath, a leading robotic process automation company. With a distinguished career in the technology and government sector, previously leading teams at Celonis, Google Cloud and Salesforce, he is a visionary leader in digital transformation. Mike plays a pivotal role in UiPath’s mission to empower government agencies with automation solutions, streamlining operations, reducing costs, and enhancing citizen services. A driving force in shaping the future of government automation, Daniels’ work focuses on leveraging RPA and AI to drive efficiency and innovation in the public sector, ultimately helping agencies to better serve their constituents and achieve their missions.

FedScoop 50 2023

Carl DeGroote

Area VP for U.S. Federal, Cisco

Industry Leadership

Carl DeGroote is the Area Vice President for U.S. Federal at Cisco, a global technology leader. With a successful career in the private sector and nearly two decades at Cisco, DeGroote is a seasoned executive in the field of information technology. In his role, DeGroote leads Cisco’s initiatives in the U.S. federal sector, overseeing the development and implementation of cutting-edge networking and security solutions for government agencies. His work is pivotal in strengthening the cybersecurity and digital infrastructure of the federal government, facilitating secure communication and collaboration, and ensuring mission-critical operations.

FedScoop 50 2023

Ken Kartsen

Senior Vice President of Public Sector, Trellix

Industry Leadership

As Senior Vice President of the Public Sector for Trellix, Ken Kartsen oversees the sales and operations for the company’s largest theatre and verticals inclusive of Federal, State, Local Government, Higher Education, and Healthcare. On top of that, Kartsen has sales and operations responsibility for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and National Service Providers routes to market. Before joining McAfee, which since became Trellix, Kartsen also held roles with Palo Alto Networks and IBM, successfully leading double-digit growth through business development and sales efforts within several Public Sector entities, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the Intelligence Community.

FedScoop 50 2023

Dave Levy

Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services

Industry Leadership

Dave Levy joined Amazon Web Services in 2017 after leading government sales for Apple for more than a decade. Now at AWS for more than six years, Levy leads the company’s entire global public sector portfolio as vice president, driving the delivery of cloud services to the federal government. In 2021, Levy, writing on FedScoop, said: “As cloud computing becomes more ubiquitous, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the potential of the cloud is not in the technology or apps themselves; it’s in how the cloud is harnessed and utilized to help organizations fulfill their missions more effectively. AWS stands ready to help federal agencies and their partners by leveraging our unrivaled experience to support workforce development and mission delivery.”

FedScoop 50 2023

Candice Ling

Senior Vice President, Federal, Microsoft

Industry Leadership

Candice Ling serves as the Senior Vice President of Federal at Microsoft, a role she took over earlier this year. With a distinguished career in the technology industry, Ling is a dynamic leader specializing in government engagement and digital transformation. Before joining Microsoft in 2018, Ling spent nearly 20 years with CGI in a variety of senior leadership roles. In her new role as SVP, Ling is instrumental in strengthening Microsoft’s partnerships with federal agencies, delivering innovative technology solutions, and driving the adoption of cloud services, AI, and cybersecurity measures. Her work aims to enhance the digital capabilities of government organizations, improve citizen services, and ensure the security and compliance necessary for federal operations.

FedScoop 50 2023

Chris Townsend

Vice President, Public Sector, Elastic

Industry Leadership

Chris Townsend serves as the Vice President of Public Sector at Elastic, a renowned data search and analytics company. With a distinguished career in the technology industry, he is a visionary leader in helping government agencies harness the power of data. Before joining Elastic in 2022, Townsend led UiPath’s public sector portfolio and served in roles with Symantec and Intel. Townsend is pivotal in Elastic’s mission to provide advanced search and analytics solutions to public sector organizations. His work focuses on empowering government entities to unlock actionable insights from their data, improve decision-making, enhance security, and provide better services to citizens. Townsend’s leadership is instrumental in shaping the future of data analytics and search capabilities for the public sector.

FedScoop 50 2023

Garrett Yee

Vice President and General Manager, GDIT

Industry Leadership

Garrett Yee joined General Dynamics Information Technology in 2022 as a Vice President and General Manager after a celebrated career in the U.S. military that culminated as a major general in the U.S. Army and as deputy director for the Defense Information Systems Agency. Now at GDIT, Yee plays a pivotal role in the company’s mission to provide cutting-edge IT solutions for government and defense agencies. His work encompasses managing and delivering innovative technologies and services, enabling mission-critical operations, cybersecurity, and modernization.

FedScoop 50 2023

Zero Trust and Software Application Acquisition Reform

U.S. Army

Innovation of the Year

As the entirety of the Department of Defense positions itself to adopt zero trust for cybersecurity by 2027, the Army’s Zero Trust and Software Application Acquisition Reform effort represents a significant shift in cybersecurity and procurement strategies. Zero Trust is a security model that assumes no implicit trust, even within a network, and requires continuous verification of users and devices. This approach prioritizes data protection and minimizes vulnerabilities. Simultaneously, the Software Application Acquisition Reform effort aims to streamline and modernize the Army’s software procurement process, ensuring cost-efficiency, security, and rapid adaptation to evolving technology. These initiatives collectively enhance the Army’s cybersecurity posture, ensuring that trust is never assumed, and software acquisitions are agile, secure, and cost-effective.

FedScoop 50 2023

Sanja Basaric

Director, CDAO Action Group, DOD Chief Digital and AI Office

Most Inspiring Up & Comer

Before joining the DOD to direct the action group of its Chief Digital and AI Office, Sanja Basaric served as the AI program lead at the Department of Health and Human Services for almost two years. Prior to her more recent government service, she founded SVB Consulting LLC, where she worked for more than seven years and was a management consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. Early in her career, Basaric also worked for the National Institutes of Health as a health policy analyst.

FedScoop 50 2023

Jess Berrellez

Executive Officer, Office of Digital Transformation, FDA

Most Inspiring Up & Comer

Jess Berrellez’s biography on the Food and Drug Administration’s website describes her as “the right-hand to the CIO.” As the executive officer for the FDA’s Office of Digital Transformation, Berrellez is the leader for strategic communications, organizational development, and the functioning of the office. Before her current role, Barrellez was a senior adviser to the principal deputy commissioner and directed program evaluation and process improvement.