GovCIO Media & Research Podcasts

Digital services veteran Dave Zvenyach, new Director of GSA's Technology Transformation Services — also a lawyer by trade — wants to make digital modernization easier for government. That means modern acquisition and evangelizing great tech practices. Zvenyach discusses the legal history that led to his public service, and how coding and lawyers coming together can bring meaningful change in IT.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been undergoing an agency-wide modernization journey, with IT and data being supporting stars. Among the leaders behind these initiatives is Infrastructure Operations Executive Director Reginald Cummings, a veteran himself who came to the agency from the private sector. Cummings has a personal mission to drive change at VA, and he takes lessons learned in Dev...

The new Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management Office at the Internal Revenue Service, once just a procurement pilot, is incorporating innovative acquisition methods for technology and embracing customer experience principles to ramp up IT modernization efforts and reduce administrative burdens. Senior Advisor Mitch Winans, who helped stand up this office, discusses the progress made over t...

The Food and Drug Administration has played a large role in the COVID-19 response and is also amid widespread digital transformation. Chief Technology Officer Vid Desai joined the agency two years ago and brings private-sector experience from the health technology industry. Desai observes the similarities of FDA's tech focus with those in his private industry experiences, discusses how he's drivin...

An attorney by trade who saw opportunity to improve the lives of veterans nationwide, Veterans Experience Office's Barbara Morton applies human touches to all aspects of a veteran's journey with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Morton discusses the digital technologies and user-centered research her office applies toward the development and measurement of tools that support benefits, health car...

In celebration of Black History Month, our HBCU Spotlight Miniseries aims to profile the impacts that historically Black colleges and universities have on health IT and the opportunities to bring that innovation to the federal government. John Rosenthall and Jen Johnson from the Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation discuss the ways they are helping these institutions with the resou...

A government acquisition leader, Florence Kasule is the U.S. Digital Service's new director of procurement. She returns to the agency after spending time at the Defense Digital Service and contracting at the Defense Department. Kasule candidly describes the state of government procurement and how relationships are key for federal agencies to bring smartly designed products and services to the Amer...

Taking successes from the private industry to support government tech efforts is a widespread trend. With data, that's no different. Acxiom wants to take its experience in data practices in the commercial world to support government agencies in being able to make smart and actionable decisions for the public good. Vice President of Government and Public Sector Asya Smith and Chief Data Ethics Offi...

Indian Health Service CIO Mitchell Thornbrugh describes the opportunities that technology brings to Native Americans and Alaska Natives, who reside in geographically dispersed locations and are susceptible to ongoing health disparities. With a unique funding challenge at the agency, Thornbrugh advocates for improved digital support and awareness of health challenges.

With a strong attention to agency mission, Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Randy Reeves and Veterans Affairs CIO Jim Gfrerer discuss the initiatives behind the agency's digital endeavors that led to the creation of a digital memorialization platform, the pivot during the pandemic, a new financial system and more. The leaders look ahead at what this means for future technical developments for...

The Department of Education is undergoing a modernization journey that ramped up when CIO Jason Gray joined in 2016. Gray discusses the progress since then, which resulted in FITARA score improvements, cloud development, pivots during the pandemic and an increasing focus on data security to protect student and financial aid information.

Joe Stenaka's background in cryptology helps him strategize modern-day cybersecurity issues that Veterans Affairs continues to face. Data privacy, securing electronic health record efforts and integrating emerging technology for safeguarding information continue to be top priorities at the agency. Stenaka discusses how the workforce places a crucial role in security toward serving the nation's vet...

With a NASA career that began with an interest in robotics and prior role as CIO at Langley Research Center, Acting CIO Jeff Seaton has a deep understanding of what it means to support the agency's numerous research and mission programs. Seaton discusses the importance the cloud has as the agency faces exponential increases in data collection and how the agency impacts daily life aside from space...

Rep. Michael Burgess, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health, discusses the pandemic's impact on various health technology initiatives like the 21st Century Cures Act and more. With telehealth likely to be a pivotal technology for American health care, Burgess explores the promise of health technologies on mental health, the economy and more.

As a microbiologist, Dr. Lloyd Hough from the Hazard Awareness & Characterization Technology Center at the Department of Homeland Security is leading research efforts during the pandemic to assist, inform and prepare the agency and public at large to best respond to the virus.

BARDA DRIVe Director Sandeep Patel brings health entrepreneurship to the agency, which is working to bring together leading experts to solve some of the nation's most pressing health and health security challenges. We discuss many of these efforts including having co-founded KidneyX and how ventures are helping tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

CIO Lytwaive Hutchinson discusses how she took the values from her 21-year military career and applied it to her roles in public service. As FEMA maintains an important position for the nation's disaster response efforts, Hutchinson is ensuring its IT capabilities are supporting the agency's data analytics, supply chain, infrastructure and security services during the pandemic and beyond.

In an ever-connected world, quick access to information is always expected. For the U.S. military, this means ensuring personnel are able to upload and analyze aircraft data, order parts, communicate with each other, among other functions, within maintenance hangars and airports even in the most remote and austere environments. ID Technologies' Jeff Panebiano and Commscope's John McDonald discuss...

A U.S. Navy veteran, USDA Chief Data Officer Ted Kaouk was recently appointed chair of the newly created Chief Data Officer Council. He got his start at the agency working loans and grants for rural housing, broadband, utilities, and community facilities. Today he leads USDA's overall vision for using data as a strategic asset. Kaouk explains data's important role in government and how he sees the...

Karen Evans was newly appointed CIO at Department of Homeland Security. Her prior leadership stems from a start at the National Park Service and spans across many cybersecurity areas at Department of Energy and beyond. She discusses how she will tackle the initiatives ahead at the agency, including its data center consolidation, workforce upskilling and modernizing its network.

A U.S. Army veteran with a previous interest in the medical field and having a few successful various initiatives throughout his career at DOD at large, Defense Health Agency CIO Pat Flanders has a personal approach to the systems he manages for the agency. Flanders provides a close look at how he's approaching IT oversight of the health care delivery systems that serve the 9.5 million beneficiari...

USDA CIO Gary Washington's career began in the Air Force. He then served in IT roles at various agencies including the Department of the Treasury, HHS and FDA. Washington discusses USDA being the "lighthouse agency" for GSA's Centers of Excellence and how it's influencing government at large in data management modernization and in using emerging technologies across its oversight in rural areas. Th...

Wanda Jones-Heath calls herself a "unicorn" at the Defense Department. That's because she sees her stature as chief information security officer at the Air Force, among her 30-year career in government, as rare for women. She discusses progress the agency is making with bug bounties and how the current pandemic has presented opportunities for further modernization. She discusses why thinking about...

Serving at the Department of Homeland Security since its inception (and even before), Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa is innovating how the department buys solutions to enable its national security mission. Correa's contracting background at the department plus elsewhere led to initiatives like the Procurement Innovation Lab to innovate government's purchasing processes. 

With a career that began with intelligence in the U.S. military, Rich Haley discusses the business and financial considerations of IT modernization and technology implications of the national security mission at the FBI. The Bureau has an important mission to collect, manage and analyze vast amounts of data to serve its workforce of investigators and technologists. Haley describes technology as be...