The Geek Within

Today's guest is Kate Livis. She is the President of Livis Consulting, which is a small woman owned business specializing in IT consulting, agile management, and IT staffing. Kate and I go back over 20 years when I hired her as a developer at a small DOD consulting firm. We take some time to talk about the state of training staff and how many organizations overlook it and lose out. You can engage...

Today's guest is Arfa Syed. She is on the Growth and Strategy team at Leidos. Arfa graduated from the ACT-IAC Voyagers 2022; she sat on the Cybersecurity board at NOVA and was also a 2022 NOVA commencement speaker! On top of all of that, Arfa is also a freelance writer and speaker focused on IT, Cybersecurity, and digital media. And finally, Arfa was recently certified to teach yoga. I have known...

Today's guest is Jonathan Hamlet. He is a Senior Procurement Executive at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Jonathan has worked at six different federal agencies in his government career and did a stint at Booz Allen Hamilton. I met Jonathan when I worked at MCC and found him to be extremely knowledgeable in the acquisition space. Jonathan speaks to how important it is to get your customer's p...

Today's guest is Beth A. Martin. She is a UX Design and CX Subject Matter Expert in Digital Services at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Beth is also a board member of Federal Innovators Salon. We talk about our shared passion of mentoring for those early in their career and encouraging others to consider a career in government. Beth and I run into each other at networking events here in t...

Today's guest is Jordan Ottaway. He is a Marketing Project Manager at Dallas-based Mortgage company. Jordan is a journalist turned marketer, which I am looking forward to hearing about. Jordan and I discuss how there is a general mindset of fear that keeps organizations and people from taking risks and trying new ideas and solutions. You can engage Jordan here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/...

Today's guest is Aaron Pujanandez. He is the CEO of Delta Lima, a firm focused on data science and data analytics across the government. Aaron and I met through our shared love of networking within the GovCon space in Washington DC. We had a great conversation on organizations providing an allowance for experimentation and investing after showing successes. Aaron shares a bit about establishing an...

Today's guest is Alexa Tsui. She is the Chief Operating Officer for G2Xchange, growth tool suite for government and contractors. Alexa and I met through networking events in the Washington DC area. We had a great conversation on how we need to encourage math skills at a younger age. Alexa also shared how we need to better equip those early in their career by teaching them effective communicati...

Today's guest is Tarrazzia Martin. She is the Senior Advisor for Enterprise Technology Planning and Change Management at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Executive Director of USNIA Global Law Enforcement and Investigation Services. Tarrazzia and I discussed how organizations should consider programs to help amazing contributors become good managers and how to better col...

Today's guest is Doug Yates. He is a Consultant and Advisor for Intelligent Information Management at Konica Minolta Business Solutions focused on DocPoint Solutions. DocPoint is a well-known brand name within the Microsoft space, which is how Doug and I recently ran into each other at a Microsoft conference. We also talked about the lack of knowledge shared with students about all the interes...

Today's guest is Ratima Kataria. She is the Chief Strategy and Growth Leader for Health Analytics, Research, and Technology Solutions at ICF. Ratima was previously the Deputy Chief Information Officer at Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency under the HHS umbrella. We talked about her career journey and then examined the challenges women have in their career and how to expand...

Today's guest is Chuck Grindle. He is the Executive Advisor for Public Sector at Proofpoint. Chuck is an Army veteran and a previous Chief Information Officer. We talked a bit about the challenges around FedRAMP and the benefits for an organization to implement cloud technologies and how it can be a positive change agent. You can engage Chuck here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charle...

Today's guest is Chidilim (Okonkwo) Oconkwo, better known as Chi. She is the Director of the Agency Financials Systems Office at NASA. Chi is also an ACT-IAC fellow, which is how we came to know each other. You can engage Chi here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiokonkwocgfm/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu List of p...

Today's guest is Brett Fraser. He is the Executive Vice President of Technical Services at NSS, which is a women-owned small business technology solution and services company specializing in business automation and AI. Brett has sixteen years of experience in this space and has a passion for solving business challenges. You can engage Brett here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettfra...

Today's guest is Swamy Sriperumbudur. He is the Chief Digital Officer and Chief AI Officer at Expedite InfoTech, Host of the Leadership in Crisis podcast, and a fellow follower of emerging technologies. Episode 182 on YouTube - https://youtu.be/SFYY-QnoJAQ You can engage Swamy here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cswamy/ Nonprofit - https://www.vtsworld.org/ Podcast - https://podcaster...

Today's guest is Kyle Dodd. He is Vice President for Digital Modernization Capture at ICF. Episode 181 on YouTube - https://youtu.be/_Po4OLIlYt4 You can engage Kyle here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/doddkyle/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Jason Adolf. He is Vice President Global Public Sector at Appian. You can engage Jason here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonadolf/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Douglas Hubbard. He is the Manager of the Power Apps Centre of Excellence (PACE) for Transport Canada. Episode 179 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZhSVaaJgwDQ You can engage Douglas here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-hubbard-tc/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu List of past episodes: https://www....

Today's guest is Justin Fessler. He is Vice President of Public Sector at LogicMonitor and a mentor for YearUp. Justin and I have known each other for a few years through our networks here in the DC area. Episode 178 on YouTube - https://youtu.be/hjF59FRaWOw You can engage Justin here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-fessler/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platfo...

Today's guest is Gláucia Esppenchutz. She is a Data Operations Engineer at AiFi Inc. and a Committer and Release Manager of the Apache Wayang incubator project. Glaucia is also the author of the book Data Ingestion with Python Cookbook. Episode 177 on YouTube - https://youtu.be/fLlzJKyZLig You can engage Gláucia here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/glauesppen/ Twitter - https://twitter...

Today's guest is Brian Chidester. He is the Head of Industry Strategy for Public Sector at Adobe. Brian is the host of The Government Huddle podcast. He is also an advisor for the G20 Global Smart City Alliance. You can engage Brian here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/abchidester/ Podcast - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-government-huddle-podcast-with-brian-chidester/ The Geek W...

Today's guest is Karlene Stecchi. She is an Executive Vice President at Tantus Technologies, which is focused on digital transformation within the government space. Karlene has just stepped up to be the Quantum lead for the Quantum Knowledge Group for the Emerging Technology COI at ACT-IAC. Episode 175 on YouTube - https://youtu.be/_9ly5GDrMzY You can engage Karlene here: LinkedIn - https://ww...

Today's guest is Lauren Leulu. She is the Founder and CEO of Leulu & Company which is focused on providing proposal graphics, marketing, and branding services to government contractors and other adjacent businesses. You can engage Lauren here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenleulu/ Website - https://leuluandco.com/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - ht...

Today's guest is Sarah Jones. She is Principal Consultant at ShortList Recruitment Limited focused on their Microsoft Practice and Power Platform, BizzApps, and Azure. You can engage Sarah here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjonespermanentrecruiter/ Website - https://www.ontheshortlist.co.uk/us/events The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywor...

Today's guest is Jennifer Bonner. She is the Senior Vice President of Client Delivery at RIVA Solutions. Jenny is a graduate of the ACT-IAC Partners in 2023 leadership development program and was recently honored by OrangeSlices AI as a 2024 Engage Federal Citizen Services Honoree. Jenny and I met through the ACT-IAC fellows network. You can engage Jennifer here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedi...

Today's guest is Cody Mruk. He is the Senior Director of Business Development at ECS Federal. Cody both met through our interactions in the DC area through AFCEA and ACT-IAC. You can engage Cody here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-mruk-pmp-a8750354/ The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu List of past episodes: https://t...