Page 18 - FCW, April 15, 2016

14 April 15, 2016
FCW.COM
When presented with 100 of anything, it’s natural to look for patterns. What are the big trends among this year’s winners? Are up-and-comers clustered in particular corners of government? How do the defense winners stack up against those at civilian agencies? What about industry versus feds?
For those who are so inclined, those questions (and more) can be parsed in the profiles that follow. Federal activity in shared services produced a heavy concentration of overachievers. Cybersecurity was once again central, and there were important success stories amid all the breach coverage. There were more winners from the intelligence community than in years past — though whether that’s because of increased innovation or a grow- ing transparency about great work that’s long been done is something of an open question. An unusually large number of winners have switched jobs since making their mark in 2015.
That list could go on and on. But the more time we spent learning about this year’s winners — and that’s hundreds upon hundreds of hours in all — it became increasingly clear that big-picture patterns are beside the point. This is a celebration of great work by 100 individuals, and each winner’s story stands on its own.
Federal IT, after all, is driven by people far more than it depends on any particular technology. And government would not function without the women and men featured on the pages that follow.
So as we charge forward in an especially turbulent year — with a presidential transition looming, politics surging and high-tech disruption accelerating at a daunting rate — having great individuals in key positions is more important than ever. The best way to make sense of the Federal 100 is one winner at a time. In 2016 and beyond, we’ll be grateful to have each and every one of them.
— THE EDITORS