Ambassadors

Without trials and tribulations success is hard to achieve if not impossible. So goes with my Federal IT career of over 40 years from both the private and public sector perspectives. Just like a battle hardened soldier, I have scars to show while having been a humble recipient of over fifteen awards of excellence from some of the most prestigious Federal IT organizations and media.

My award winning SES public sector career as CIO/DCIO, CTO and Chief Innovation Officer at four different Federal Departments/Agencies was a testament to my long private sector tenure that successfully progressed from an entry level engineer to executive ranks of Director, VP, SVP and President/Board of Directors.

My near, mid and long term strategy based vision supported by a proven and robust three pillared platform of People, Processes and Technology has been the outcome of my long career. My passion for public service is still burning bright and along with my IT expertise I firmly believe in my abilities to bring the necessary steps forward to work across the whole spectrum of IT modernization from requirements to acquisition and budgets to implementation.

Technology is often used as driver of business and mission which leads to inefficient solutions. I firmly believe IT is an enabler to deliver specific mission goals better, faster and cheaper. This strategy requires a very close relationship and collaboration with the business leadership as well as the CFO for budgeting and the acquisition/contracts to structure the appropriate technology and integrator partner.

Having an in-depth knowledge of the workings and missions of respective federal agencies is also a very valuable asset I also have acquired over my four plus decade long career of working at the State Department, DHS (USSS, CBP, USCIS, ICE), Department of Commerce, HUD, US International Trade Commission, NASA, Department of Treasury (IRS, FinCEN, TIGTA, FMS), Department of Agriculture (APHIS), USAF, US Army, etc.

In Washington DC more often than not one’s career is driven by who you know rather than what you know. My career has strictly been built on my appropriate academics (BS Electrical Engineering/Exec. MS Technology Management) combined with my 40+ years of Federal IT experience and a passion for public service.

My wish is to now impart my in-depth Federal IT knowledge by on the job grooming of and training the next generation Federal IT experts while helping to instill operational excellence as basis for modernization

Ms. Emily Harman has 38 years of service to her country as both a Naval
Officer and civilian federal employee, retiring as a member of the Senior
Executive Service in May 2019. A trailblazer, Emily was in the sixth class of
women to graduate from the U. S. Naval Academy. Commissioned a
Supply Corps Officer, Emily was the first officer on the U.S.S, Emory S.
Land, AS-39 to qualify as a Supply Corps Surface Warfare Officer.
Recognized as a role model, Emily served as a Company Officer and
Leadership Instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy. She served on active
duty for seven years and retired as a Commander from the Naval
Reserves.

As a DOD civilian, Emily served in various roles of increasing responsibility
as a Contracting Officer. She has extensive experience in contracting for
professional services well as major weapons systems in support of Naval
Aviation. Emily’s last assignment was Director of the DON’s Office of Small
Business Programs (OSBP) where she served as the chief advisor to the
Secretary of the Navy on all small business matters. In this role, she was
responsible for policy, advocacy, execution, and advice pertaining to Small
Business Programs and personnel throughout the Navy and Marine Corps.
Emily is passionate about improving government – industry communication.
As Director of the DON’s OSBP, she lowered barriers to entry for
thousands of small businesses by interviewing senior acquisition decision
makers on Facebook live and enabling the audience to ask questions.
During her tenure, she required each of the DON’s 10 major buying
commands to publish and execute a Small Business Strategy and led the
DON to record-setting small business awards (over $15 billion annually).
Emily finds deep satisfaction in helping others achieve their goals and
realize their potential. As a mentor through Veterati, Emily volunteers her
time to help veterans and military spouses accelerate the path to career
readiness, job leads and career opportunities.

As the Founder and CEO of Emily Harman Coaching and Consulting, LLC,
Emily delivers expert, customized service to small businesses in the federal
contracting arena. She often serves as an accountability partner, keeping
business owners on target, providing another perspective, and assisting
small business leaders in addressing difficult situations with the federal
government.

Emily is the host of the Onward Podcast featuring authentic conversations
on facing adversity and moving forward. She’s also the founder of the
Onward Movement which seeks to inspire at least 10,000 people to release
fear of judgment and confidently move forward to pursue their dreams. The
Onward Movement is an engaged, compassionate community that offers
tools, resources, and support for its members as. They embrace their
authentic selves.

As a keynote speaker, Emily covers a range of topics from federal contracting and
leadership to overcoming adversity and embracing authenticity. When speaking
about overcoming adversity, Emily shares her personal story as she believes our
stories serve as connectors, enabling us to gain strength from our common
experiences.

Emily received her B.S. in Physical Science from the U.S. Naval Academy
and earned her M.S. in Acquisition and Contract Management from the
Florida Institute of Technology. She attended several Executive Level
Courses at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business
School. She’s Department of Defense Certified Level III in Contracting and
Small Business and a Certified Professional Contract Manager through the
National Contract Management Association.

Senior executive with over 36 years of experience in engineering, management, leadership, procurement, and program management with 17 years as a member of the Senior Executive Service. Skilled in planning and execution including requirements development, acquisition planning, budgeting, and execution for large programs addressing enterprise goals and objectives. Experience in establishing effective relationships with stakeholders across a broad spectrum including the White House, Cabinet Agencies, Congress, and the private sector. Senior manager with extensive experience in implementing change management/business management and control systems in a collaborative manner able to connect the dots between aspiration, inspiration, and results.

Greg is the Co-Founder and Partner of Potomac Ridge Consulting firm. Potomac Ridge has a deep understanding of government agencies critical mission needs, how to achieve their desired outcomes and the ability to help the private sector deliver their solutions to meet those agencies needs.

He served as the Principal Executive Director for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Modernization from April 2017 until his retirement in November 2017. The VA has over 370,000 employees and is dedicated to providing timely and quality service and benefits to our Nations 22M Veterans. Greg led the agency’s efforts to accomplish the Secretary’s overall modernization vision and to respond to the Presidents Executive Order and OMB’s memo regarding reforming executive branch agencies. This effort includes streamlining activities and programs for direct, indirect, and shared services as well as addressing governance, decision making, and organizational redesign.

Greg was appointed as the Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO) for the Department in April 2015 and also as the Principal Executive Director for the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction at VA where he oversaw almost $20B in spend. He led the effort to transform the medical surgical supply chain and realized over $370M in cost avoidance in the first 18 months. He also implemented strategic sourcing solutions improving service delivery cycle times and obtaining better value. He also drove decision making to the lowest appropriate level to increase speed of action and accountability and established a VA-wide program management framework that supports the implementation of the Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act (PMIAA).

He previously served as the Executive Director of VA’s Office of Policy and Planning, Enterprise Program Management Office. He led the start-up of a new office working directly with the Deputy Secretary to facilitate the planning and execution of the Department’s 16 most critical initiatives. Greg developed an enterprise strategy to generate business based IT requirements and streamline the procurement process to get contracts awarded. He also led the implementation of the strategy leading to the award of $800M of work – 98% of available funds. He also led the development and deployment of Lean Management principles across the VA.

Prior to joining the VA, Greg served in several executive positions at the Department of Homeland Security. He was the executive in charge of all horizontal (fence, barriers, earthen) and vertical construction and facilities management work at Customs and Border Protection with a multi-billion dollar portfolio.  He standardized designs and procurement strategies and reduced cycle times by 25% and costs by 30%. He also piloted IT solutions along the US Mexican border in support of border security efforts. At the Department level, he designed and implemented cross-agency and international efforts related to immigration and border security.

At the United States Coast Guard, he served in executive positions in acquisition and program management as the Coast Guard was recapitalizing its surface and air fleet with a $15B plus program. This included replacing the engines on the HH-65 helicopter fleet, design and construction of several classes of surface vessels, and the development of an integrated C4ISR system.

He began his career in the Department of Defense working as an Electrical Engineer for the Air Force. He had series of more responsible assignments in the field and at the Pentagon moving from engineering to program management and leadership positions. His last AF assignment was as the deputy for the Air Force’s E-3 Sentry program, ensuring the availability of assets for current operations while deploying critical mission enhancements for the Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft.

Greg is a member of the Senior Advisor to Government Executives (SAGE) for the Partnership for Public Service, a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), a Director of the Procurement Round Table, and is on the Board of Advisors for the National Contract Management Association (NCMA). He was selected to be a member of the Senior Executive Service in 2000 and has received several awards including the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive in 2005 and Federal Computer Week’s top 100 IT Executives Federal 100 award in 2007 and 2017. In 2017, Greg was also selected as the recipient of the Public Sector Partnership Award as part of the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards, ACT-IAC’s Janice K. Mendenhall Spirit of Leadership Award, and the Coalition for Government Procurement’s Lifetime Acquisition Excellence Award. In addition, he has attended and spoken at many leadership events including Harvard Business School, ACT-IAC’s Executive Leadership Conference, and the NCMA World Congress.

Greg holds a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, a Master of Business Administration from Georgia College, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology

Jim has thirty plus years of successful Federal Government experience designing, building, delivering and running outstanding critical and transformational programs, as well as acquisition operations in several government agencies.  He was responsible for delivering on enormous challenges, building successful multibillion-dollar operations and teams, forming strategic partnerships and significantly turning around troubled organizations.

Jim’s leadership skills and many accomplishments have been recognized through the receipt of numerous awards including:

• Two Presidential Rank Awards
• Four FED100 Awards
• Civilian Government Executive of the Year by Government Computer News
• Professional Services Council’s Marc S. Ross Award
• 2010 American Council for Technology John J. Franke Award.
• Public Sector Partner of the Year, Greater Washington Contractor Awards
• Service to America Finalist
• DHS Silver Medal (Highest Award in 1st Year)

Jim also has seen success in the private sector with worldwide responsibilities.  Other roles include Industry Chair of the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC); TechAmerica Homeland Security Committee Chair; SAGE, Partnership for Public Service; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy Advisory Board; Strategic Advisor, Government Technology & Services Coalition; GovLoop Mentor

Thomas E. Bush, III, served with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for over 33 years. He entered on duty with the FBI on September 8, 1975. Early in his FBI career, he worked in the Identification Division (now the Criminal Justice Information Services Division) and Information Resources Division.

He became an FBI Agent in September 1979. Following his agent training, he served at the Washington Field Office from January 1980 to February 1988 where he was assigned Bank Robbery and Fugitive matters. Upon his promotion, he returned to FBI Headquarters to work in the Criminal Investigative Division as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Fugitive/Government Reservation Crimes Unit of the Violent Crime and Major Offender Section.

In June 1990, he transferred to the Jackson Field Division as a Supervisor Special Agent until May 1996. His duties in the Jackson Division involved the supervision of Violent Crime, Drug and Civil Rights investigations.

He then relocated to the Atlanta Field Division upon his promotion to Assistant Special Agent in Charge and served in that capacity until July 2000.

On July 31, 2000, he became a member of the Senior Executive Service upon his promotion to the position of Section Chief, Programs Development Section, Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS), Clarksburg WV.

On August 13, 2002, he was appointed Special Agent in Charge, St. Louis Field Division.

On December 23, 2004, Director Mueller appointed him Assistant Director of the CJIS Division.

During his tenure with CJIS he was responsible for the day to day operation of the largest division of the FBI, over 2500 employees, and a yearly budget of approximately 1 billion dollars. Known for providing critical services in support of the criminal justice community, two significant IT projects, Next Generation Identification and N-DEx were awarded by CJIS with early increments delivered. He was also instrumental in establishing the interoperability of the FBI, DHS and DoD biometric systems.

Following his retirement on March 6, 2009, he established a consulting business, Tom Bush Consulting, LLC. In that capacity he has provided consulting services to clients seeking access to and support regarding opportunities across the Homeland Security community

• Former CIO
• FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (FAA)
• Former CIO, Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
• Former CIO, American Red Cross

Steve Cooper is a partner in the Mid-Atlantic practice of Fortium Partners. He brings a wealth of federal government insider knowledge and leadership experience to the firm, having served multiple organizations under several administrations including the Department of Commerce, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the American Red Cross and the Department of Homeland Security, among many others.

Leadership Roles

• Partner, The Strativest Group, LLC
• Owner, Strategic Information Concepts
• CIO Industry – Executive Advisor, Mason Harriman Group
• CIO, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Principal, Deep Water Point
• Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, FAA
• CIO for Information Technology and Services, FAA
• Deputy CIO, FAA
• CIO, Air Traffic Organization
• President, Fortified Holdings
• CIO & SVP of IT, American Red Cross
• CIO, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, White House
• CIO, Corporate Staffs, Corning, Inc.
• Director, Information Technology, Eli Lilly & Company
• Vice President, Maxima Data Systems
• Department Manager, CACI, Inc.

Mr. Cooper has been the recipient of Top 100 CIO in America – CIO Insight, Government Civilian Executive of the Year – Government Computer News, Titan of Technology – Northern Virginia Technology Council, Fed 100 Award – Federal Government Technology and Five to Watch – Washington Post.  Cooper holds a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, and was honorably discharged as a Naval Air Reserve petty officer following the Vietnam War

Ms. Karen Britton is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Management from Florida Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College and is a certified Program Management Professional.

Ms. Britton began her professional career with the Submarine Maintenance Engineering Procurement and Planning (SUBMEPP) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a General Engineer. In 1990 Ms. Britton joined the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Headquarters, Submarine Directorate where she served as project engineer for SSN688 Class submarines. In May of 1998, Ms. Britton was selected as the Assistant Acquisition Program Manager in the USS VIRGINIA Class Program Office. Early the following year Ms. Britton served as the Team Submarine Congressional Manager responsible for all public affairs and media inquiries.

In 2000, Ms. Britton was promoted to the position of Deputy CIO for IT Capital Planning. Ms. Britton then served as the Deputy Command Information Officer for Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) where she was responsible for managing Command-wide Information Technology planning, policy, and budget. Ms. Britton departed the Department of Navy in 2007 for an opportunity in the private sector and was selected for a Program Management position where she provided support to the Department of Energy for implementing capital planning and developing an enterprise architecture plan.

In July 2009, Ms. Britton joined the Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President as the Deputy Chief Information Officer. Subsequently, Ms. Britton received her Commission as Special Assistant to the President, Chief Information Officer. During her tenure at White House, Ms. Britton spearheaded cloud computing strategy, agile software development methodologies, and open-source approaches to deliver the President’s message to the American people in a variety of innovative ways. Ms. Britton directly supported the President’s vision of cybersecurity protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of unclassified information systems.

In her current role at e-Management, Ms. Britton assumes a broad range of responsibilities including the company’s expansion into the Department of Defense (DoD), federal civilian and intelligence agencies. In addition, Ms. Britton is responsible for developing strategic commercial corporate relationships.

Ms. Britton is a graduate of Excellence in Government Fellows Program. She is also a recipient of the Partnership for Public Service Leadership in Action; the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award; and the National Women of Color in Technology Award

Henry J. Sienkiewicz is the former Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Designated Authorizing Authority (DAA) for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), the provider of information technology services for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), its mission partners, and the Executive Office of the President (EOP). In that role, he served as the senior decision authority and was personally liable for the cyber security posture of the DoD’s enterprise level networks and computing services, to include the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) and the Situation Room. Henry is also a Fellow at the Department of Homeland Security’s Borders, Trade, and Immigration Institute, which is part of the University of Houston, and an adjutant faculty member at Georgetown University. Prior to joining federal service, Henry served as an executive with multiple technology companies, primarily in the travel industry. In 2013, ComputerWorld named Henry as a Premier100. Henry is a best-selling author in cyber security and philosophy; his works primarily concentrate on the intersection of technology and humanity. His most recent book is “The Art of Cyber Conflict,” an Amazon best-seller, is an unclassified, doctrinal piece that uses Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” as a baseline to understand cyber

As Virginia’s former secretary of technology, Don Upson was one of the nation’s first cabinet level officers whose job was to oversee the development of electronic government. Appointed by former Gov. Jim Gilmore in 1998, Upson’s authority over IT underscored the vital role technology would play in the delivery of government services and in the evolution of the state’s governance model. Under his leadership, Virginia became an international model for its e-Communities Initiative. Thanks to Don Upson, Virginia became the Silicon Valley of the East.

Enabling the government to be more technologically efficient and operate on the cutting edge to save valuable tax dollars, resources, time and human lives is in Don’s DNA. Don Upson doesn’t just understand key decision makers; elected, appointed and career civil service…he was and is one of them. Those in positions of authority – on both sides of the commercial and government world – count Don as a close confidant, trusted advisor and loyal friend. Thirty years of relationships with those at the highest level of government in the most strategic positions across agencies and Capitol Hill.

From 2002 to 2009 Upson built a successful marketing firm, ICG Government, where he served as president and founder.  Don served as Senior Vice President of PRC Inc, an $800 million company specializing in complex government technology solutions and applications. Don managed business development for civilian markets and built an industry-leading marketing strategy that supported the company’s growth and eventual acquisition by Litton Industries.  Don served in senior positions on Capitol Hill from 1977 to 1992, ending with a six-year stint as staff director of the House Government Operations committee: the investigative arm of the House of Representatives. He was a principal staff leader involved with a range of investigations and legislative initiatives that included the Inspector General Act, the Chief Financial Officers Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Procurement Integrity Act, others.   Don is a recognized subject matter expert on government management and acquisition and is a frequent speaker at national and international forums on these subjects.

He is a seven time recipient of the Federal 100 honoring the top 100 industry and government leaders in government technology, received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Marymount University and numerous other recognitions.

A highly respected and recognized strategic Energy Cyber Executive, Peter “Pete” Tseronis has served over twenty-five years in myriad progressive technology and leadership responsibility roles spanning four Administrations and three cabinet-level agencies. An accomplished thought leader with strong people and substantive technical skills sought after by mission stakeholders and executive management, Pete maintains a unique capability to keep pace with evolving technology advancements, demands, applications, risks, and threats.

Recently transitioned from the Federal Government, Pete is the Founder and CEO of Dots and Bridges LLC, whose mission is to discover, cultivate, and enhance relationships that catalyze business opportunities and enrich value. While collaborating with government, industry, laboratory, and academic ecosystems to unearth transformative innovation and enable today’s emerging technologies become tomorrow’s growth sectors, Pete’s fervor to triage the cybersecurity, analytics, and critical infrastructure domains in order to promote data driven insight and value creation remains his passion.

Appointed the Department of Energy’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Pete is deeply aware and appreciative of the skill sets and capabilities resident across the entire federal enterprise. Throughout his professional career, Pete has been sought out for ability to help others understand and balance existing and new priorities while facilitating mission alignment with technology investments. A strategic pathfinder and diligent initiator of short- and long-term opportunities for the public sector, Pete operates on a continuum of technical and mission enhancing activities, building strong partnerships, and leveraging information to promote data-driven insight and actionable policies. 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 eco-systems. Pete’s fervor for the research and development community resulted in the creation of an advocacy and technology exchange forum to streamline information sharing across public and private sectors.

Building on this success, Pete led the development and creation of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Information Technology Roadmap, promoting a formal, sustainable innovation program that connects the DoE’s federated service providers in a common effort to enable mission objectives, guides IT investments and fiscal forecasting, promotes interoperability, and advances the enterprise cyber portfolio. Bridging the innovation, analytics, and cybersecurity domains to promote the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure, Pete developed and grew the enterprise-wide approach to identity, credential, and access management. Establishing a cyber architecture as the foundation for trust and interoperability, Pete created an identity management framework to identify, authenticate, and authorize individuals (and machines) both within the Federal Government and with external organizations. This structure serves as a foundation to strengthening the protection of classified and sensitive information, helping to build confidence and trust so that such information can be shared with authorized users, and mitigating the consequences of infrastructure disruptions across all 16 critical infrastructure sectors at national, regional, and local levels. Understanding the technology landscape of the Federal Government’s stakeholders and mission enabled Pete to serve in key leadership roles, including Federal IPv6 Task Force chair, the Energy.Data.Gov co-chair, and the Cloud First Task Force chair – all of which afford broad exposure to the distinct operating environments and key Administration priorities. Pete’s demonstrated ability to clearly and concisely present ideas/opportunities, drive consensus/agreement with decisions, and direct the technology, acquisition, and marketing, segments have resulted in FAR amendments (IPv6), OMB mandates (FedRAMP), and Challenges (Apps for Energy). These experiences have refined Pete’s aptitude to successfully recruit and lead diverse experienced individuals and develop new and emerging talent by identifying raw potential and applying the appropriate degree of shaping and assistance.

Pete is an advocate for technological innovation and possesses the highest degree of effective communications and candor. Through his activism on intra- and inter-agency task forces, e.g. STAR METRICS, Geospatial Science Steering Committee, and Digital Government Strategy, Pete has been successful in promoting the use of best-in-class technologies and leveraging capabilities across boundaries; all of which have resulted in challenging the status quo and willingness of others to experiment with new approaches. Selling new ideas and anticipating customer needs resulted in a mission-enhancing Enterprise Search deployment at the DoE and a state-of-the-art Unified Communications implementation at the ED.

Prior to joining the Department, Pete served as the CTO and Director of Network Services for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). During his tenure as the CTO for the ED, Pete was responsible for a multi-million dollar budget to transform divergent voice, video, and data communications into an enterprise-wide collaboration platform. A self-proclaimed “Connective Tissue Officer,” Pete’s passion for connecting dots, building bridges, and fostering relationships contributes to assisting others understand and balance existing and new priorities while conveying technology’s value to the mission. This collaborative approach attempts to manage risk through collaboration and presents an environment where issues are shared outside their specific community of interest (e.g., security issues are shared with acquisition subject matter experts), allowing for multiple equities to be addressed, while addressing the underlying issues.

Pete received his B.A. in Communications from Villanova University and earned his M.S. in Information and Telecommunication Systems from Johns Hopkins University.

• Former Director, GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies
• Former Director for the Office of Strategic Programs, GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, General Services Administration

Martha has almost 34 years of government experience in acquisition, technical and program management to customer experience.  Martha has run many government organizations that build and deliver agency and citizen facing programs to deliver government services anytime, anywhere on any device.  Most recently, Martha led and managed GSA’s Office of Strategic Programs where she brought a customer-centric lens to the services and acquisitions they award.

​Martha has been active in the information technology community worldwide.  She has served as the Chair of the American Council for Technology (ACT) and numerous positions with the International Council for IT in Government Administration (ICA).

Martha’s efforts have been recognized through:

• Federal 100 awards in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2011
• Government Computer News Civilian Executive of the Year 2009
• Presidential Rank Award 2009
• ICA Distinguished Service Award
• Presidential Award for Management Excellence for USA Services
• Sammie Finalist for Citizen Services 2012
• Administrator’s Meritorious Service Award 2015
• Franke Award from ACT-IAC 2015

Martha served in areas within the U.S. General Services Administration from the Federal Acquisition Service’s IT programs and government-wide contracts to Office of Citizen Service and Innovative Technologies’ multitude of programs, platforms and communities to drive the transformation to a 21st century digital government.

As the Director of the Office of Innovative Technologies, programs under her leadership included FedRamp, Data.gov, and Challenge.gov.  These programs created a more open, secure, efficient and customer centric government.  Martha has been driving the focus on customer experience across government.  For over a decade, she led the Federal government’s direct service to the public through USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov, and the National Contact Center.  She increased the government’s use of social media to deliver services as well.  In addition, the Office of Citizen Services created communities of practice (CoPs), shared services such as DigitalGov Search and the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) that built capabilities within agencies to deliver digital services.

Martha evangelized customer experience within GSA and across government.  She advocated for the creation of the GSA Chief Customer Office and participated in it’s creation and early efforts.  She was an advisor to the Cross Agency Priority (CAP) goal on Customer Service from it’s creation through it’s first phase.  In addition, she drove the adoption of customer experience as a priority area for ACT-IAC and served as the first government co-chair.  She now serves as the industry co-chair of the ACT-IAC Community of Interest (CoI) where support was provided to the Department of Veterans Affairs during their creation of the Chief Veterans Experience Office and two CX summits which have been held to continue the government CX transformation.

She strives to give back to the government IT and CX communities through volunteer activities including co-coaching in the Excellence in Government Fellows Program at the Partnership for Public Service.

• Former CIO, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
• Former Deputy CIO, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Kimberly Hancher is a tech-savvy executive with an impressive record leading government IT organizations.  As an Ambassador with Government Marketing University, she enlists former Government executives to provide insights and understanding of the “Government Voice” to the marketing community.

She was the Chief Information Officer at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (US EEOC) and Deputy CIO at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),  Known for strategic sourcing, risk based decision making and progressive IT leadership, Mrs. Hancher is a trusted technical strategist for government to government data exchange, online digital services, software-as-a-service cloud systems, agile software development processes, and innovative “bring-your-own-device” technologies, policies, and programs.  After retiring from Federal service in 2016, Mrs. Hancher began a new career as a consultant with Deep Water Point helping IT product, service and solution companies navigate the Federal market.