Matthew T. Cornelius

Managing Director- Federal Industry – Workday (Speaker)

Matthew is the Managing Director for Federal Industry, where he helps lead go to market strategy, communications, and planning for Workday, one of the world’s leading cloud-based enterprise software companies. Prior to joining Workday, he served as a Senior Professional Staff Member for Chairman Gary C. Peters on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), covering a wide array of IT modernization, budget, appropriations, regulatory, and government operations matters. Before the Hill, he was the Executive Director of the Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI) – a coalition of customer-focused commercial companies helping to shape government IT modernization efforts through effective advocacy and thought leadership. Cornelius also served nearly a decade in the Executive Branch as a Senior Advisor for Technology and Cybersecurity Policy at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and as the Senior Advisor for Cybersecurity to the Administrator of the General Services Administration.

Rowan Miranda

Sr. Managing Partner-Government Strategy – Workday (Lead Instructor)

Rowan is a senior executive at Workday where he supports public sector sales and delivery efforts related to digital transformation. Prior to Workday, Rowan was a Managing Director at Accenture Federal Services where he led their CFO Advisory Practice. Rowan has designed and implemented shared service centers in state/local and federal governments. He has also served on the graduate faculty of several universities, most recently at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

Joshua Shapiro

Vice President, Ascella Technologies, Inc.

Joshua Shapiro applies his more than 19 years of combined Federal IT systems consulting and U.S. Federal Government financial management systems experience and subject matter expertise to analyze, identify, develop, and implement financial management solutions for government agencies and organizations. Mr. Shapiro is currently a Vice President with Ascella Technologies, Inc. (Ascella) where he manages several portfolios of accounts, leads client relationship and engagement efforts, supports financial management system shared services migrations, and implements Ascella’s GovCycle® budget formulation and execution solution. Mr. Shapiro specializes in federal financial management and acquisitions systems, and has an in-depth understanding of the data and systems associated with the U.S. Federal Government budget and spending life cycle, including how the information in this data can be unlocked through data analytics to support data-driven decision-making. Prior to joining Ascella, Mr. Shapiro served as the Financial Systems Manager and as the Acting Budget Director for a U.S. Federal Government agency as a GS-15 where he managed and executed agency-wide financial system upgrades, enhancements, maintenance, and operations activities. Prior to entering federal service, Mr. Shapiro was a Senior Consultant and Project Manager with CGI Federal (CGI) and served as a financial systems subject matter expert for CGI’s Momentum® solution. Mr. Shapiro graduated from The College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Operations and Information Systems.

Steve Nulter

Senior Business Analyst and Acquisition Advisor in the Financial Management Quality Service Management Office (FM QSMO), within the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Mr. Nulter joined the FM QSMO effort shortly after Treasury’s pre-designation by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in early 2019 and served on the team that developed the 5-year Implementation Plan leading to its formal designation as the QSMO for Core Financial Management in June 2020. In partnership with the General Services Administration (GSA), Steve led FM QSMO efforts to establish the government-wide acquisition solution which provides agencies with access to the commercial solutions and services of the FM QSMO Marketplace and currently manages the associated functions.

Mr. Nulter has over 15 years of federal procurement experience. Prior to joining the FM QSMO, Steve managed Fiscal Service’s internal bureau procurement operations within Treasury’s Administrative Resource Center (ARC). He has been directly involved in providing shared services to a variety of agencies, supported several procurement policy initiatives, and has led multiple Treasury strategic acquisition initiatives to increase the efficacy of fulfilling common needs across the agency.

Mr. Nulter holds a Level III Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) from the Federal Acquisition Institute and was Treasury’s 2015 Small Business Contracting Officer of the Year. Steve is a graduate of Ohio Valley University and resides in Parkersburg, West Virginia with his wife and 3 children.

Robert Wuhrman

Director of the Shared Services Policy Implementation Office, Office of Government-Wide Policy, GSA

Robert Wuhrman is Director of the Shared Services Policy Implementation Office in the Office of Government-Wide Policy at GSA where he leads a team engaging Federal agencies and industry to advance decision-making on priorities, planning, policy, and best practices needed to support agency modernization through a marketplace of shared solutions and services in areas such as Financial, Grants, and Real Property Management, Human Capital, Travel, IT, and Cybersecurity.  His team partners with agency and policy leadership across these functions to identify and address modernization opportunities and challenges in areas such as technology, funding, agency readiness, governance, procurement, workforce, and data. Among other things, these partnerships include coordinating with Quality Service Management Offices and the Shared Services Governance Board, collecting feedback on and publishing the Federal government’s Modernization Framework (M3), and advancing a government-wide program to obtain agency agreement and participation in Federal-wide mission-support business and data standards used in procurement, cost transparency, and technology modernization.

Prior his arrival at GSA, Rob served 6 years, culminating as Chief Information Officer, in delivering a technology portfolio servicing a small agency of 600 law enforcement, audit, analyst, and attorney personnel across 45 regional and field offices.  Mr. Wuhrman also served 10 years at the American Institutes for Research, a non-partisan evidence-based behavior research firm, designing and deploying shared data platforms, information center technologies, and public-facing digital services to advance public health communications priorities across HHS components on topics such as heart disease, high blood pressure, infectious diseases, opioid abuse, childhood obesity and physical activity.  Robert has a bachelor’s degree in management, cum laude from Harvard University Extension School and is currently completing his Master’s degree in the same.

Andrea Sampanis CGFM

Grants QSMO Solutions and Services Lead
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Andrea Sampanis is the Solutions and Services Lead for the Grants Quality Service Management Office (Grants QSMO). The Grants QSMO seeks to drive standardization and modernization efforts of end-to-end Federal grants management systems government-wide. As Solutions and Services lead, Andrea leverages her 20 years of public and private sector experience to mature the QSMO Marketplace with both federal and commercial providers, improve the grant applicant/recipient experience through multiple Customer Experience (CX) initiatives, and provide data insights through federal grants ecosystem analysis. The CX work done by the Grants QSMO led to their selection as a 2023 Service to the Citizen Award Winner.

Prior to joining Grants QSMO, she supported the Navy’s SAP implementation across the Naval enterprise and served as a Program Manager at GSA’s Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement (OSSPI) for the President’s Management Agenda goals for Sharing Quality Services and Results-Oriented Accountability for Grants. Before joining public service, Andrea was a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting where she was the Chief of Staff for their Shared Service offering and served clients at DOD, DHS, and IRS.

Andrea earned her Masters of Public Administration from George Washington University and her bachelor’s from Providence College.  She is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), is SAP ERP certified, and has her COR Level II certification.  Originally from Missouri, Andrea now lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, Peter and is a proud mother of Tristan and Isabel.

David A. Peters

USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) – Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC)

David Peters was selected as Associate Chief Information Officer (ACIO) of USDA OCIO’s DISC organization in October 2020. In this role, David leads all enterprise hosting/cloud, network services, and enterprise applications solutions development. Leveraging his prior business leadership and solutions development experience, David transformed the DISC organization to a more customer-centric IT Solutions provider within USDA through the implementation of the Cloud Working Group, Customer Quarterly Profile Meetings, and unified customer teams, processes, and tools to enable complex solution support across cloud, low code, and legacy platforms while also implementing customer experience metrics.

Prior to joining USDA, David served as the Deputy Executive Director, GSA Centers of Excellence (CoE) where he led all engagement operations from concept to completion.  Under David’s leadership, the CoE initiative doubled agency engagement. David joined the GSA Technology Transformation Service (TTS) Centers of Excellence in November 2018 and led the CoE lighthouse engagement with the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this role, David led six IT Modernization teams comprised of 150 staff, contractors, and USDA detailees to drive enterprise transformation via cloud adoption, data analytics, contact center consolidation, and increased customer experience management. The CoE initiative was launched with the sponsorship of the Office of American Innovation (OAI).

Prior to TTS, David split his career between government and private sector where he led multiple solutions development and solutions management/marketing teams. In an earlier position at GSA, David led telecommunication supplier engagement responsible for $3.5 billion annual in federal government purchases. As the leader of GSA’s Enterprise Mobility program and FSSI-Wireless, David was the Federal Government’s first Mobile Category Manager and was a 2014 Federal 100 award winner.

David joined GSA in 2010 after spending nearly 14 years with Verizon and AT&T. He continues to leverage his commercial background in his approach to program development and management where customer-engagement is the most critical ingredient for success. David also served on the board for the Washington DC/Federal Government Chapter of the Independent Telecommunications Pioneers Association (ITPA) from 2015-2019 and received the 2018 ITPA Federal Government Excellence award.

David has an MBA with concentrations in marketing and information systems from Penn State and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He lives in Fairfax Station, Virginia, with his wife and three sons and enjoys coaching baseball and basketball.

Jd Walter

Executive Director, Human Capital Programs​

Jd is a proven subject matter expert designing and implementing organizational transformation, workforce optimization and human capital modernization strategies that elevate the employee experience, enhance performance and productivity, and meet emerging organizational demands. He served on active duty in the U.S. Navy (1995-2005) managing public affairs programs for multiple commands and was a civil servant with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2013-2018) responsible for strategy design and implementation, customer engagement, performance management and communication for the department’s shared service provider. As a defense contractor, Jd has supported U.S. and International Armed Forces domestically, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa as a psychological operations, civil affairs, and effects assessment subject matter expert, providing media and propaganda analysis, campaign planning, operations performance assessment and project development support.​

He has a Bachelor’s in English (American Military University), a Master’s in Organization and Management (Capella University), a Master’s in Public Administration (Walden University), and a Doctorate in Public Policy and Administration (Walden University). Jd is also a Certified Executive Coach (CEC) and Genos Emotional Intelligence (EI) Practitioner.

Lisa Zellers

Chief Strategy Officer
Viatrie

Lisa Zellers’ almost 20 years of professional experience spans multiple technology verticals and horizontals across more than 10 federal agencies. A strong leader and collaborator, Lisa develops, recommends, and implements technical and process-oriented solutions to support customer business goals. She designs and executes enterprise-wide solutions, implementing Agile, Code Quality, and DevOps methodologies to enhance service delivery, specifically in software engineering management. She has run product and platform teams at both small and large companies. Lisa creates and manages transition plans for large-scale transformations, incorporating organizational change management (OCM) methods throughout the project lifecycle. As a Co-founder of ViaTrie, Lisa serves as a Chief Strategy Officer and manages technical delivery for enterprise-level client projects.

Lisa received a B.S in Business Information Technology with a concentration in Decision Support Systems and a second major in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech, and a M.S. in Management of Information Systems from George Washington University. She volunteers and leads projects in many public-private partnership organizations in the government technology community, including ACT-IAC, Shared Services Leadership Coalition (SSLC) and Professional Services Council (PSC).

Mary Sprague

Mary Sprague has over 30 years’ experience in mission support functions including human resources, finance, budget, procurement, facilities, fleet and information technology. She began her career as a Presidential Management Fellow working for the Defense Information Systems Agency as a Financial Management Specialist.

During her career, she has successfully managed nationwide projects and programs at six different federal agencies, demonstrating her ability to respond to varying environments, recognizing the needs of organization and successfully supporting the mission of the organization.  Mary has held the position of CFO at three different federal agencies. Her varied professional experience includes serving as an executive in organizations with 250 to over 6,000 employees and overall annual budgets ranging from $40 million to almost $9 billion.

Mary has over 11 years of professional experience in the Department of Transportation (DOT). Mary began working at DOT as the Associate Administrator for Planning, Administrative and Financial Management at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since 2018, Mary has been providing executive leadership with the Office of the Secretary, Office of Administration (OST-M). A few initiatives Mary has led as the Director for Management Services, include:  Project Executive for the New Volpe Center scheduled to be completed in 2023; partnering with MARAD and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on campuswide initiatives for the Academy; co-leading DOT’s efforts on Robotic Processing Automation; and establishing the Office of Grants and Financial Assistance.

Mary is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute, Leadership in a Democratic Society. She also has a Bachelor’s degree from Coe College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Colorado. Since her time at DOT, Mary has received three Secretarial achievement awards. Mary is also a proud Army veteran.

Tiffani Herendeen

Managing Consultant, ES&I
Guidehouse

Tiffani has served 14 years as a Public Servant in the Federal Sector. She has supported agency-wide Disaster Grant Programs, from pre-award through OIG and GAO audit resolution. Served as an SME that deployed to programmatically administer grants and work directly with recipients to develop grant applications and supported the entire grant life cycle. Served as an Audit Coordinator, working as the primary liaison between OIG/GAO and FEMA Recovery Leadership. Maintained a national portfolio of audits, leading the Recovery engagements from entrance briefing through the corrective action plan process to resolve all open audit recommendations.

Utilized past performance of federal awards to create comprehensive analytical analysis to support the development included in national agency policy. Tiffani led a compliance team of Financial Grant Management Specialists who performed procurement reviews, financial reviews, internal control reviews, OIG/A-123 audit responses, and Validate as You Go (VAYGo) reviews. In this role, she was able to support team growth and expansion of skills regionally by executing a range of policies, procedures, and deliverables in a long-term project plan. The team conducted over $1 billion in procurement and financial reviews with some reviews being leveraged to resolve OIG and OMB requirements. Developed and trained staff on the federal debt collection procedures to trace project level funds through the Treasury for compliance, recoupment, and resolution of questioned costs to closeout grants identified as 100% complete in performance of the award. Coordinated directly with the CFO and Treasury to comply with formal debt collection procedures.

In her current role, she is supporting the modernization of DOT’s portfolio of grant systems and standing up the Grants and Financial Assistance Office at the departmental level with equity planning as a priority. Leveraging a diverse set of grant management experiences to support DOT’s goals of transparency and modernization initiatives across the grants and financial assistance landscape.

Yasmeen Burns

Director of Customer Experience (CX) and Solution Designer
The Clearing

As the Director of Customer Experience (CX) and Solution Designer, I bring over 20 years of experience helping organizations transform, from reacting to customer requests to anticipating customer growth. My expertise is in helping leaders and their people anticipate growth, align their priorities, plan strategically, and coordinate their actions.

I have successfully helped leaders launch and implement Lean Startup concepts such as the minimum viable product (MVP), agile development, and design thinking. Most recently, I helped cross-agency efforts by establishing the concept of an MVP culture throughout the public sector.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration in Organization Development from Johns Hopkins University. I am currently a doctoral candidate in the Doctorate in Organization Development and Change at the Allen W. and Carol M. Schmidthorst College of Business at Bowling Green State University.

Additionally, I am a former Board Member for the Organization Development Network (2012 to 2015), the 2017 award winner for Service to the OD Network, and was part of the convening team for the Organization Development Gathering from 2017 to 2019. I am currently an Advisory Board Member for the Customer Experience Program at the University of Richmond and on the Organization Development Review (ODR) Board for the Organization Development Network.

Raed (Rod) Masoud

Principal,  Deloitte Consulting LLP

Raed leads Deloitte’s US TMT (Technology, Media, & Telecom) Restructuring and Value Creation Services practice. He advises Fortune 100 executives on their large-scale transformation, restructuring and margin improvement, transaction, and scalable growth initiatives.

With 25 years of advisory and direct industry experience, Raed’s career initiatives span global, large-scale program management, executive stakeholder alignment, strategy formulation and business model redesign, value creation and capture, capability development, process re-engineering and optimization, large scale and multi-platform technology implementation, and the redesign of highly complex organization structures.

Raed is committed to helping his clients realize value from their enterprise transformations and growth initiatives.

Jim Williams

Co-Chair of the Chief Acquisition Officer’s Council
Partnership for Public Service

Mr. Williams has 40 plus years of successful public and private sector experience, including 30 years in the US Federal Government, with over 18 years as a federal senior executive.  He was the U.S. General Services Administration’s Acting Administrator under President George W. Bush and GSA’s first Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner. He led the Presidential Transition for GSA in 2008-2009.  Mr. Williams was also the first Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s US-VISIT Program, which was successfully implemented at DHS to track the entry of foreign visitors with biometrics after 9/11. Earlier, Jim was the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) leader of their Procurement and Program Management organizations, and co-chair of their Shared Services Design Team. He was the federal government’s computer procurement expert for the US-Japan 1990 Supercomputer Procurement and the US-Japan 1992 Computer Procurement Trade Agreements. He is the Co-Chair of the Chief Acquisition Officer’s Council at the Partnership for Public Service and he has held several other leadership positions for private sector industry associations. He has received numerous awards, including two Presidential Rank Awards and four Federal Computer Week FED100 Awards. He has an MBA from The George Washington University and a B.S. in Business from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Topher Marshall

Human Factors Engineer, ViaTrie

Topher is a human factors engineer focused primarily on user experience and in-depth user research, working to ensure that end products meet the needs of stakeholders and users and that all solutions seamlessly integrate within existing ecosystems. Topher’s experience spans multiple disciplines including IOT device development, large scale systems, and government solutions. He is currently working at USDA to enable enterprise cloud vendor management to drive cost savings and technical efficiencies across the department.

Troy D. Edgar

Partner
IBM, US Federal Finance & Supply Chain Transformation Leader

Troy Edgar is an IBM executive in the US Federal consulting business serving as Partner leading Finance and Supply Chain Transformation.  He brings together the IBM service lines and practice areas to our federal market clients and helps IBM better understand the voice of the customer and reinforce the eminence of our brand. He is also the host of the Ameritocracy podcast that promotes guests and empower listeners in their pursuit of merit and success.

Edgar was previously the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for the $90 billion budget, financial systems modernization, and financial operations for all DHS management and operations. Edgar is a U.S. Navy veteran with more than 25 years of consulting, corporate and public sector experience as a senior executive delivering consulting services to over 40 Fortune 500 companies across many industries including government, aerospace and defense, logistics and technology.

He started his consulting career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) after nearly a decade with Boeing as the CFO for the company’s $3 billion military aircraft logistics and C17 USAF/Boeing Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership (GSP) business. He later founded Global Conductor (GC), a $130 million boutique consulting firm specializing in F500 business transformation, corporate consolidations, restructuring, acquisition integration, shared services, and systems integration. GC was named one of Consulting Magazine’s Fastest Growing Firms in 2016 and 2017.

Edgar holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Jamie M. Krauk

Acting Executive Director of the NASA Shared Services Center

Jamie M. Krauk is Acting Executive Director of the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC), where she provides executive leadership for all of NASA’s business and technical shared services, including financial management, human resources, enterprise services, procurement, and agency business support.

Ms. Krauk’s position of record is the Deputy Associate Administrator for Mission Support Integration, Strategy and Transformation leading the integration and transformation efforts across NASA’s mission enabling services. There, she focused on improving integration across mission services and with customers in centers and missions. She led mission support’s capability areas of risk, performance, and change management, and provided frameworks and tools for improving service implementation and transformation.  She also managed process transformation capabilities, including tools and communities of practice that help employees and managers eliminate unneeded work, optimize valuable work, and automate wherever possible.

Prior to joining NASA, Jamie first worked in the Shared Services world in establishing the first multi-function shared services organization at a Cabinet-level agency.  She served as Deputy Executive Director for the Department of Commerce’s Enterprise Services Program, where she led an organization of 200+ people and $60M+ that provides HR, IT, and Acquisitions services to Commerce’s 47,000 federal employees.

Ms. Krauk joined Enterprise Services after fifteen years at NOAA (one of Commerce’s Bureaus) where she served in numerous leadership capacities, including Deputy CFO/CAO for NOAA’s Research Line Office, senior advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary, Legislative Assistant in the U.S. Senate to Senator Inouye of Hawaii, and multiple scientific and communications positions.

Organizational change, and the ability to propel mission work – in both the scientific and mission-enabling arenas – are a hallmark. A scientist by training, with a keen eye for policy and strategy, Krauk studied biology at Bucknell University and has a Master’s in Environmental Microbiology from the University of Maryland. She conducted research from a field station in Solomons Island, Maryland on Catalina Island, CA and in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean basins.

Jamie also exercises her heart for community and public service as Co-Chair of the Community Relations Advisory Board for the city of Greenbelt, Maryland. In this capacity, she is able to continuously keep an ear to the ground for local needs and work with City Council to drive change, including recent efforts in the area of police and community relations. 

She lives with her husband, David O’Brien, their daughter Fiona, their pet cat Disco and pet dog Basil. When not working, Jamie enjoys supporting Fiona’s gymnastics, cooking, walking Basil, and boating with her family.

Dr. F. Stevens (Steve) Redburn

Professorial Lecturer, The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration
George Washington University, United States

Dr. Steve Redburn, Professorial Lecturer, The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University. International consultant on budget process, author, and lecturer with 3 decades of government experience. Formerly Study Director, National Academy of Sciences; Project Director, National Academy of Public Administration; Senior career executive, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Adjunct Professor, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University, Adelaide, Australia.

Thomas Mulhern

Director, Human Resources Remote Operations Center
YRCI

Thomas Mulhern currently serves as the Director of the YRCI Human Resources Remote Operations Center, (HRROC).   He joined the YRCI team in November of 2021 as is primarily focus of the execution of YRCI operational service delivery to YRCI clients in shared service delivery model leading a shared service organization of over 200 individuals.

Prior to joining YRCI, Thomas served 35 years supporting federal human resources finishing his career as member of the Federal Government Senior Executive Service.  He served in executive human resources positions with 3 federal agencies serving law enforcement, security, land and natural resources and agriculture mission areas. He has a strong background in providing subject matter expertise and leadership across many functional human resources activities and is an advocate for federal human resources transformation and maximizing technology to support transactional processes providing value added service delivery through shared service environments.

Thomas completed his graduate work at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a MA in Industrial Relations and undergraduate degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. 

As a native of the Washington DC area, he currently resides in Germantown MD, with his wife Kathleen and children Kaitlyn, Abigail  and Matthew.  He is an active member of St. Rose of Lima, in Gaithersburg, MD and is active in Germantown, MD community associations and coached little league baseball and basketball for several years.

His hobbies include, travel, reading, marathon running, golf and active senior league softball player. He is an avid fan of the Washington Nationals baseball, Washington Commanders football, and University of Maryland and Villanova University basketball.

Kenneth L. Newton

Director, Service Delivery Directorate
NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) 

 Ken Newton serves as the Director, Service Delivery for the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) in Hancock County, Mississippi. As the Director for Service Delivery in an Agency-wide effort to stand-up a shared services center, Mr. Newton’s duties include: managing more than 100 civil servants in the Service Delivery Directorate; serving as the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative for the NSSC Service Provider Contract; serving as the Transition Manager responsible for effectively and efficiently leading the change effort involved in transitioning activities in Financial Management, Human Resources, Procurement, and Information Technology; and, implementing a Customer Contact Center that utilizes the latest technology for customer relationship management, automated call distribution, and integrated voice response. Mr. Newton is responsible for interfacing with stakeholders and customers on all matters regarding technical integration and operational readiness. 

Prior to becoming the Director for Service Delivery, Mr. Newton served as Deputy Director for Service Delivery since August of 2006. Prior to the NSSC, Newton served as the Operations Integration Manager (Oct. 2004 to July 2006), Budget Operations Lead, and Executive Officer for the NSSC Project at NASA Headquarters. In the role as Budget Operations Lead, he was required to promote collaboration at all levels of the financial community ranging from the Chief Financial Officer to institutional budget and finance leaders. 

His ability to communicate operational, financial, and budgetary impacts effectively has helped to facilitate the necessary organizational and policy changes to implement such a centralized service delivery model for the first time in the Agency’s history. NASA in more recent years has strived to achieve management and institutional excellence comparable to its technical excellence. The development and implementation of the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) was intended to help to achieve this challenging strategy. 

Mr. Newton began his NASA career at the Kennedy Space Center where he last served as an Independent Assessment Engineer in the Assessments Division of the Safety, Health, and Independent Assessment Directorate. Prior NASA experience includes: Lead, Logistics Engineering Management in the Joint Performance Management Office, Logistics Operations Engineer in the Logistics Operations Directorate, and Shuttle Operations Engineer in the Shuttle Operations & Management Directorate. 

Mr. Newton graduated from the University of Florida in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He joined NASA in September 1989. Mr. Newton will be appointed to the federal Senior Executive Service (SES) effective March 25, 2012. 

For information about the NASA Shared Services Center, visit: http://www.nssc.nasa.gov 

Rachel McIlvaine

Consultant
Guidehouse

Rachel McIlvaine is a consultant in Guidehouse’s Environment, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice. She is most interested in projects which bring together a multitude of stakeholders, improve government service delivery, and equitably improve constituent quality of life. Rachel has experience working in city, county, and federal governments, as well as in the nonprofit sector. Throughout her career, Rachel has worked in organization design, the development and implementation of grant programs, public-private partnerships, economic development incentives, DEIA program audits, vacant land use planning, internal process evaluation, written communication, survey result analysis, and research. She is passionate about sustainable and equitable urban development.

Prior to joining Guidehouse, Rachel worked in economic development in Lansing, Michigan. She supported business attraction and retention efforts, real estate development projects, and worked with the Mayor’s Office to execute economic development priorities. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she designed and implemented three small business grant programs, deploying over $6 million into the Lansing community. These programs were innovative in their focus on equity, inclusion, and stakeholder engagement and served as an example to grant programs across the region.

Rachel has also authored and co-authored published research articles about feminism and urban planning, respectively, and presented her work on drones and public administration at the 2022 American Society for Public Administrators (ASPA) Annual Conference.

In her current role, Rachel supports the Department of Transportation Office of the Secretary Office of Administration as they stand up a new department-wide Office of Grants and Financial Assistance. She leverages her experience working with a multitude of diverse stakeholders and managing grants at the local and regional levels to support DOT’s goals to modernize grants and financial assistance and increase equity throughout the grants lifecycle.

Jeffrey Schramek

Executive Director
Administrative Resource Center
Bureau of the Fiscal Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Jeffrey (Jeff) Schramek was appointed the Executive Director of the Administrative Resource Center (ARC) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) on November 7, 2021. Mr. Schramek directs a staff of nearly 1,200 people and provides leadership, direction, and guidance on shared services, accounting functions, data transparency, and innovative solutions to ensure Federal financial management is more efficient, transparent and customer oriented. Additionally, Jeff provides leadership to ARC’s financial management, procurement, travel, and human resource shared service lines.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Jeffrey Schramek served as the Deputy Commissioner for Financial Services and Operations (FS&O), Fiscal Service. In that role, Mr. Schramek directed a staff of nearly 1,700 people in seven locations and was responsible for the oversight of a number of support organizations including six Federal Reserve Banks (fiscal agents) and 80 financial institutions (financial agents). Mr. Schramek was responsible for providing oversight to the federal government’s collection and disbursement of funds, delinquent debt collection, and the financing of the Federal government through both wholesale and retail services.

Mr. Schramek joined the federal government in 1991 when he joined DMS just after its inception and continued to advance through the ranks of that organization. He started his career in the Debt Services Division in Washington, D.C. and soon became the Director. He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 2006 as the Director of DMS’s Operations Center in Alabama. In July 2009, he was promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner (2009-2011) and stayed in that position until receiving his appointment as Assistant Commissioner in July 2011. In February 2018, Mr. Schramek returned to Washington, D.C. as the Deputy Commissioner of FS&O. Mr. Schramek understands the importance of integrity, accountability, collaboration, learning and excellence. He has strong relationships with his Assistant Commissioners, directors, managers, and employees, as well as senior leadership at Treasury and other Federal and state agencies and organizations.

Quan M. Boatman

Deputy Director. Interior Business Center
U.S. Department of Interior

Quan M. Boatman is the Deputy Director of the Interior’s Interior Business Center. She serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Risk Officer to ensure effective planning and management of IBC services, operations, and resources. She is also responsible for guiding IBC’s strategy, risk, and performance management functions while supporting IBC’s three customer-facing shared service areas of assisted acquisition, financial management, and human resources/payroll.

With nearly 20 years of professional career experience (11 with the federal government), she is recognized as an expert in cost reduction and program efficiencies which result in improved management of organizational and budget resources to eliminate waste, streamline processes, and implement continuous improvement processes.

Prior to the IBC, Quan held various leadership roles with the U.S. General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). In the Office of Customer and Stakeholder Engagement, she served as the Director of the Vendor Engagement and Training Division, overseeing execution of two national programs: Voice of the Supplier Program Management Office (PMO) and federal acquisition workforce training; and Branch Chief of the National Account Management Strategy Division, overseeing a national customer engagement team supporting DoD and civilian agencies’ procurement contracting activities. In the Office of Enterprise Management, Quan served as the Acting Branch Chief for the Category Management PMO and Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) PMO, responsible for the $460M government-wide procurement obligations, program delivery, management controls, and performance oversight.

Quan began her federal career as a Team Lead at the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Office of the Chief Procurement Officer where she led enterprise management of acquisition spend valued at $11B for sustainable operations for information technology (IT) services, professional services, office supplies, software licenses, relocation, financial management, and logistics management. In 2013, she was selected for a detail assignment with the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a policy analyst with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy supporting OMB’s Government-wide Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI).

Before the federal government, Quan worked for the private sector, state government, and non-profit organizations and held various professional positions, gaining extensive experience in project management, business process improvement, supply chain management, and cost reduction management for global and geographically separated organizations. Quan holds a Master of Business Administration from Strayer University, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Tech, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®). She is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and currently lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with her husband, Johnny, and they have three adult children.

Byron M. Adkins, Jr.

Director,  Interior Business Center
U.S. Department of the Interior

Byron M. Adkins, Jr., is the Director of the Department of the Interior’s Interior Business Center. He came to IBC with over 17 years of public and military service (U.S. Army). As the IBC Director, Byron is responsible for leading the delivery of shared services to support Interior offices and bureaus, as well as over 150 other federal agencies. He oversees a workforce of 900+ personnel charged with the mission of providing business support services to client agencies so they may focus on achieving their missions.

Prior to IBC, Byron served as the Director of the Office of Facilities and Environmental Quality (OFEQ) in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce. In this position, he oversaw Departmental policy, programs, and operational functions. Before his appointment at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Byron served as the Deputy Director of the Eastern Business Service Center, at the USDA Agricultural Research Service overseeing the facilities management, acquisitions, and information technology directorates.

He has also served in senior leadership roles both at the Department of the Interior’s IBC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Operations. At IBC, Byron served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, responsible for assisting with day to day enterprise operations and IBC’s transformation activities. At USDA’s Office of Operations, he served as a budget analyst and project manager supporting the Office of the Director. Prior to the USDA, Office of Operations, Byron also had the opportunity to serve as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill.

Byron started his career with the City of Richmond (Richmond, VA), Department of Public Utilities as an electrical engineer and was later commissioned into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where he served in a number of assignments located around the world. After completing his of military service, he joined the private sector and supported the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command as a project manager.

Byron holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and is a certified Project Management Professional. He is an alumnus of the Harvard University Executive Education Program for Senior Executive Fellows and has received an MPA from Troy University and an MBA from George Washington University. Byron is married, and he has two children.

Jennifer Melchior

Partner, Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice
Guidehouse

Jennie is a Partner in Guidehouse’s Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice. She has 18+ years of experience helping agencies improve their delivery of mission support functions, especially within the financial management community. She’s led transitions to new systems (e.g., core financials, acquisitions, property, travel, charge card) and new ways of working (e.g., integrating robotic process automation, leveraging data analytics); facilitated organizational analysis and design; optimized processes, policies, and procedures; and enabled improved risk identification and mitigation functions (e.g., ERM, A-123) to help federal leaders meet strategic objectives, while implementing solutions that serve the workforce and customers.

Jennie holds a B.A. in Economics and a B.A. in German Language & Literature from the University of Virginia. She is a Certified Government Financial Management (CGFM), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP).

Vince Micone

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations
U.S. Department of Labor

Vince Micone is a 32-year veteran of the federal civil service.  Mr. Micone is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management. In this role, he provides day-to-day management to more than 770 employees in the national office and six regional offices. He has overall leadership responsibility for policy and operations encompassing business operations, procurement, human resources management, civil rights, emergency management, security, administrative services, and employee safety and health. He most recently served as Executive Director for Enterprise Services at the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this role, he led a comprehensive shared services program providing customers with world-class IT, acquisition, HR, and financial management solutions.

Mr. Micone previously served Principal Deputy Special Inspector General and COO for a federal law enforcement and independent audit agency at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He served in several executive leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security including Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Senior Counselor, and Chief of Staff for Management. He also served as the 2016 DHS Presidential Transition Officer. Mr. Micone also served as the Partnership for Public Service’s Vice President for Development. He began his federal service at the U.S. Department of Justice through the Presidential Management Fellows program.  Mr. Micone is a graduate of Arizona State University (BA) and the University of Southern California (MPA).  He was elected a Fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration in 2016.

James Sheire

Branch Chief, CISA
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

James (Jim) Sheire serves as a Branch Chief at CISA, directing the Cybersecurity Shared Services Office (CSSO). The CISA CSSO serves as the government marketplace of high-quality cybersecurity services that align with federal requirements while reducing costs. In federal government, Jim previously served as Division Director, Identity Assurance and Trusted Access of the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) at the General Services Administration (GSA), as a Senior Advisor at NIST, advancing the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), and as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (OR). Jim also worked in the information technology industry, managing cybersecurity government engagements for NXP Semiconductors and Philips Electronics.

Iman Aquil

Partner, IBM Consulting

Iman Aquilis a Partner with IBM Consulting and leads its Public and Federal Finance Transformation practice with a focus on financial management, process improvement and audit readiness, while promoting innovative solutions such as intelligent automation and mobility. He leads numerous financial management and business system modernization efforts in the Federal sector. Mr. Aquil received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.B.A from George Mason University.

Hilton C. Robinson II

Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting

Mr. Robinson focuses on transforming and optimizing business operations to help clients achieve strategic goals, improve customer service, reduce costs, and improve operational performance. He has more than 15 years of international experience in the public, private, non-profit, and higher education sectors helping clients navigate the full lifecycle of shared services and enterprise service delivery.

Tracey Trautman

Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director, Office of Administration
HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

Tracey Trautman is the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director of the Office of Administration (OA) within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Her responsibilities include oversight and management of all administrative functions within the ASPR including human capital, budget and finance, contracting and grants, information technology, and facilities.

Prior to her position at ASPR, Tracey served as the Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Federal Assistance Management (OFAM) at the Health Resources Services Administration within HHS. In this role, she provided leadership and accountability for over 13,000 open and active grants totaling over $18 billion dollars in Fiscal Year 2021. She was responsible for strategic leadership of OFAM’s four operational divisions, which included grants management services, independent review of grant applications, grants policy work, and financial integrity and auditing functions.

Before coming to HHS, Tracey served as Principal Deputy Director for the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) within the U.S. Department of Justice. In this capacity, she provided oversight for all grants management activity within BJA, including policy development, application review, award processing, direct liaison with grantees, performance measurement and programmatic grant monitoring. These programs represented focus areas across the criminal justice enterprise including law enforcement, forensics, crime victims, corrections, and technology initiatives. She also served as the Designated Federal Official for the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global), which is a standards-based electronic information exchange to provide the justice community with timely, accurate, complete, and accessible information in a secure and trusted environment.

Prior to her position at the DOJ, she worked at the Department of Homeland Security’s Grant Programs Directorate within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the Deputy Assistant Administrator, with responsibility for the oversight of all programmatic and financial activities for over 50 DHS/FEMA disaster and non-disaster grant programs totaling over $7 billion dollars annually. These grant programs included state-based homeland security grants, Urban Area Security Initiative, critical infrastructure grants, and specialized packages for border security and nonprofits. She coordinated and led stakeholder engagement activities to include partnering with state and local representatives, including Homeland Security Advisors, State Administrative Agencies, private sector representatives, elected officials, and association representatives.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from North Dakota State University, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from George Mason University in Virginia, and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College. She is a veteran of the Army National Guard of the United States.

Robin Gardner

Director, CGI Federal

Robin Gardner has been working in the IT industry for over 25 years, with a focus on the Federal Government.  Currently a Director at CGI Federal, Ms. Gardner is responsible for business development within the Regulatory Agency Programs (RAP) business unit, helping various sectors grow and develop relationships with their government counterparts.  She has been active within the IT community in a variety of capacities focused on government and industry collaboration.  Currently, Ms. Gardner is a VP for Programs with AFFIRM, a non-profit whose overall purpose is to improve the management of information, and related systems and resources, within the Federal government. She has been a leader within ACT-IAC in a variety of capacities and is an IAC Fellow.  She is a member of the PSC Vision conference team, having led teams and presented findings at the Vision conference in the past.  Ms. Gardner believes that participation and collaboration are two ways individuals and organizations can best find solutions to challenging problems, bringing forth innovative thinking.

Sylviane Haldiman

Senior CX/EX Consultant, The Clearing

Sylviane Haldiman was born in New Haven, Connecticut, with a love of all things New England.  She is first generation French, born to two wonderful parents who taught her the love of country and family values. Her journey commenced at the University of New Haven, where she not only pursued her academic studies but also took her first career steps at the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Sylviane’s early years at the SSA were marked by hands-on experience. She worked directly with the public, administering SSA programs, truly embodying the essence of being “boots on the ground.” Her commitment and versatility shone through as she transitioned through various roles across the Boston region, accumulating over 25 years of diverse experiences.

The year 2008 marked a pivotal turn in Sylviane’s career when she was selected for the Senior Executive Service. This new chapter took her to Maryland, where, over the next 15 years, she immersed herself in the leadership of three critical components of the SSA: the Office of Operations, the Office of CIO/Systems, and the Office of Hearings Operations. Here, Sylviane’s focus was twofold: driving culture change and spearheading transformational initiatives.  This included championing customer and employee experience.

Sylviane was the visionary behind the creation and implementation of mySocialsecurity.gov. This digital transformation, including the integration of more than 15 services behind a robust authentication system, marked a significant leap in the agency’s service delivery and the public’s experience. Her efforts in building a strong fraud and cyber posture further fortified the agency’s integrity.

In her tenure, Sylviane navigated through significant leadership roles, working directly under three political appointee CIOs. She adeptly bridged the gap between agency business needs and IT technical staff, managing a large $1.4 billion IT budget. Her approach was not just about managing resources but instilling a culture of innovation, agility, and the use of product management framework.

One of Sylviane’s notable achievements was her instrumental role during the COVID-19 pandemic. She adeptly led the daunting task of transitioning over 65,000 employees to telework, ensuring the agency’s operational readiness, and focusing on employee wellbeing. This period, challenging yet rewarding, highlighted her resilience and adaptive leadership.

The culmination of Sylviane’s federal service career was her tenure in the Office of Hearings Operations. Here, she continued her legacy of transformation, focusing on modernizing IT needs, reengineering business processes, and enhancing employee engagement. Even in the face of regulatory challenges, she pioneered advancements with mandated in-person hearings by fast tracking and building trust with the public in the use of telephone and video technologies.

On January 2, 2023, Sylviane retired as a senior executive, marking over four decades of exemplary federal service. Retirement, however, did not dim her passion for public service. She remains committed to contributing her vast experience and insights. 

In May 2023, Sylviane brought her experience and love of public service to The Clearing, a successful management consulting firm that helps business & government leaders tackle big challenges using people-centric leadership strategies. She works as a senior CX/EX consultant providing experience and knowledge in culture change and transformation.  Her journey is not just a tale of personal achievement but a testament to her unwavering servant leadership to clients and the countless lives she has impacted through her work.

In her personal time, Sylviane loves to garden, travel, and playing with her rescue Pitbull mix, Magic.  She enjoys time with her extended family and friends here and in France/Switzerland.  She is a huge football and baseball fan with a passion for the Boston Red Sox.

James (Jim) Sheire

Branch Chief, CISA

James (Jim) Sheire serves as a Branch Chief at CISA, directing the Cybersecurity Shared Services Office (CSSO), which includes the Cyber Quality Services Management Office (QSMO). The CSSO serves as the government marketplace of high-quality cybersecurity services that align with federal requirements while reducing costs. In federal government, Jim previously served as Division Director, Identity Assurance and Trusted Access of the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) at the General Services Administration (GSA), as a Senior Advisor at NIST, advancing the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), and as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (OR). Jim also worked in the information technology industry, managing cybersecurity government engagements for NXP Semiconductors and Philips Electronics.

Jeff Pollack

Program Manager, Human Resources Line of Business (HRLOB)
U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Jeff Pollack is the Human Resources Line of Business (HRLOB) Program Manager at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In this capacity, Jeff supervises a team of customer service-driven, HR-minded individuals who interpret HR policy, write standards, and help agencies with HR implementations to improve the efficiency and interoperability of HR service delivery across the Federal Government. This diverse team strives to operationalize the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council vision and strategy.

Jeff chairs two cross-agency committees responsible for delivering on their mission. One is the Multi-Agency Executive Strategy Committee (MAESC) which is made of CFO Act agencies, as well as the Small Agency Human Resources Council (SAHRC) who meet monthly to discuss Human Capital Information Technology (HRIT), as well as other relevant topics. The other is the Multi-Agency Policy Advisory Council (MPAC) which was created to bridge the gap of OPM policy writing and service provider interpretation and implementation. HRLOB is also responsible for maintaining HC standards models, operational guides, and many other products.

The HRLOB resides within OPM’s Human Capital Data Management and Modernization (HCDMM) directorate, which Jeff helped stand up. Jeff has been with HRLOB since joining OPM in 2016. Previously, Jeff was a federal contractor for over 16 working primarily with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and OPM as an IT Project Manager.

Tashona Beale

Customer Experience (CX) Strategist and leader within the Department of Defense (DoD) Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) Field Activity

Tashona Beale is a Customer Experience (CX) Strategist and leader within the Department of Defense (DoD) Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) Field Activity. Since joining WHS in 2012, she has assumed the role of CX Strategist in the WHS Customer Experience Office, where her focus lies in mitigating customer pain points, orchestrating service recovery, and strategically planning for the evolving needs of both the organization and its customers. Tashona is at the forefront of implementing innovative CX initiatives across WHS services.

In her current capacity, Tashona aspires to achieve three key goals: Firstly, she aims to foster creative collaboration, bringing diverse stakeholders together to develop CX strategies that yield measurable outcomes. Secondly, she is dedicated to instilling human-centered design practices into the organizational culture, ensuring that all stakeholders benefit from this approach. Thirdly, Tashona strives to build cross-functional coalitions of resources and support to optimize the utilization of the Shared Services Model. Notably, she holds a CX Certification and is recognized as a Certified Practitioner of Human-Centered Design.

Before her tenure in the WHS CX Office, Tashona built a rich background in the private sector, followed by an impactful journey in federal government acquisitions. During this phase, she ascended to the role of Contracting Officer and Team Lead, leading major acquisition and collaborative efforts across WHS and various Federal Agencies, managing extensive customer portfolios. Tashona’s expertise encompasses a seamless blend of private sector acumen and federal government experience, making her a trusted CX expert and leader in her field.