Page 34 - FCW, October 2016

Loftin has gone on to stay up-to-date on benefits Nick M. Murray providers.
tackle the use of agile for non-major investments at DHS and will track agile adoption at the project level. She also planned and hosted an Agile IT Expo that featured more than
a dozen exhibits of DHS programs and projects that are successfully using agile development techniques.
— Mark Rockwell
Walter Maikish
Although Walter Maikish has worked with NASA and the departments
of Agriculture, Energy, Commerce and Interior, his work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has been one
of his most important undertakings.
After a rough start for HealthCare.gov, it was crucial that CMS have strong communications channels between it
and doctors, third-
party experts, patients, insurance companies and other stakeholders. Maikish spearheaded the development of a collaboration platform that allows CMS to communicate easily with those groups and with larger audiences.
Thanks to his leadership, CMS is now able to more easily communicate changes in the programs among its multiple stakeholders, including doctors and insurance companies. The platform also helps people
information and better understand the open- enrollment process.
Not only did he quickly grasp the nuances of
CMS and its complex communications needs, but he also worked seamlessly with partner Lockheed Martin, which oversees the system’s day- to-day operations.
In addition, Maikish helped the Department of Veterans Affairs implement an overarching strategy for unified communications
so it could streamline its communications efforts across the agency.
That project enabled VA headquarters to open up lines of communication between executives and the agency’s vast network of medical centers and hospitals, resulting in
a 35 percent savings in operational costs and speeding decision-making processes that can result in better care for veterans.
Maikish also led the redesign of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s data center. The new platform enables more dynamic application development and makes it easier for people to apply for patents and trademarks.
His managers say
his uncanny ability to
see the big picture at federal agencies and
then understand how technology can transform that vision is his greatest strength.
— Mark Rockwell
If you asked Nick Murray what his life plan was in college, fostering a stronger and smarter government
IT environment would not have been on his list.
While at Emory University, he planned to put his political science degree to work on Capitol Hill and eventually go to law school. But after a brief and disappointing internship on the Hill,
a friend suggested that Murray apply for an analyst job at SRA International.
He hasn’t looked back. The die-hard Washington Nationals fan quickly rose through the ranks at SRA, and for two-and-a-half years, he’s been wowing his coworkers.
In the past year, he has helped incorporate Splunk technologies into complex architectures across the federal government, and he spearheaded an effort to lend Splunk’s support for the government’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program.
“[Murray’s] efforts led to Splunk being selected as the standard for CDM data integration for all 23 of the largest civilian departments and agencies across government,” said Kevin Davis, vice president of the public sector at Splunk.
In addition, Murray oversaw Splunk’s accreditation under
the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program for cloud
“The minute Nick joined the team he had a vision
on how to successfully execute the extraordinary challenge of working with the government, systems integrators and technology partners to build a complex data integration Splunk architecture for CDM,”
said Chaz Hazzan, an area vice president at Splunk. “What has most impressed me about Nick is how tirelessly he worked to turn that vision into reality. Even when facing some major setbacks, he was dogged, and it was in those moments [that] he redoubled his efforts and was able to reposition and pivot to ensure success.”
— Sean D. Carberry
32 October 2016 FCW.COM
Kathryn M. Palmer
Kathryn Palmer leads
the General Services Administration’s application rationalization project, which is a fancy way of saying she hunts