Page 9 - FCW, May 30, 2016

47,237 public-sector cyber incidents were logged in Verizon’s 2016 Data Breach
Investigations Report
DHS preps
for new wave
of IT hiring
The Department of Homeland Security is finalizing plans to implement an IT and cybersecurity job fair it hopes will draw candidates from nontraditional sources. The agency is also seeking the authority to hire workers on the spot.
DHS CIO Luke McCormack told FCW the event will be held in the Washington area in June or early July and that details would be final- ized soon.
Speaking at an April 28 Industry Day hosted by FCW sister publication Washington Technology, McCormack said DHS has more than 1,000 IT and cybersecurity jobs to fill.
He added that the fair is being tai- lored to attract talented IT profession- als who might not have considered
DHS or even the federal government as an employer.
Officials want to dispel the per- ception that the government is a for- bidding place to work that’s further complicated by long hiring and other processes.
Although DHS has had help with technological development and inno- vation from agencies such as the U.S. Digital Service and the General Ser- vices Administration’s 18F, McCor- mack said it needs more in-house IT professionals to move forward with its DevOps and agile development efforts.
— Mark Rockwell
Gonzalez steps into EPA CTO role
Robin Gonzalez is the Environmental Protection Agency’s new chief tech- nology officer. EPA CIO Ann Dunkin asked Gonzalez to step into the posi-
tion because Greg Godbout left the agency for the private sector at the end of April.
Godbout, who was digital services lead at EPA in addition to CTO, took a position at cBrain, an international provider of digital
workflow, knowl-
edge processing,
records manage-
ment and commu-
nication software
packages.
In an April 20
staff notice, Dunkin
praised Godbout as “the force behind a number of innovative efforts at EPA, including increased collaboration for the cloud-first strategy, developing an agile acquisition program and estab- lishing EPA’s Innovation Fellowship.”
She added that Gonzalez, a senior EPA official who recently served as Godbout’s deputy, will keep the agen- cy on the same innovative path.
— Mark Rockwell
Robin Gonzalez
EDITOR’S NOTE
Help us find the Rising Stars
Top leaders are important, but it’s the rank-and-file talent that makes agencies run. And for FCW’s Rising Star awards, we’d like your help
in finding the individu- als who are doing great things today — and who are likely to be filling the senior slots tomorrow.
The trick, of course, is knowing where to look
because these people
are often in the back-
ground, making their bosses look good.
Not sure what makes for a Rising Star? In many ways, it’s the same criteria used for the Federal 100 awards but focused on early-career
phenoms — those whose leader- ship, innovation and all-around extra effort are having a powerful and positive impact on federal IT.
Here are five points to remember:
1. Anyone in the federal IT community is eligible: mil- itary and civilian, career and political, contractor, academic and association expert alike.
2. Winners go above and
beyond — whatever their level
or rank. A fancy job title is not required, and just doing one’s job well is not enough.
3.You can make multiple nomina- tions. Do so early and often.
4. Impact matters.The judges need to know not only what a nominee did but also what all that work accomplished.
5. Age does not matter, but nomi- nees must be less than 10 years into their work in the federal community.
So if you know someone — or several someones! — who should be considered, please be sure to nominate him or her at FCW.com/2016risingstars. And please spread the word to your colleagues so we can get the best possible batch of winners.
—Troy K. Schneider tschneider@fcw.com @troyschneider
May 30, 2016 FCW.COM 9
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