Page 61 - FCW, November, December 2018

OKI MEK
Chief Product Officer, Division of Acquisition, Department of Health and Human Services
Oki Mek is behind a blockchain proof of concept that could revolutionize how government agencies handle procurement. By providing new visibility into Department of Health and Human Services acquisition data, Mek
is helping the agency leverage its buying power to save billions of dollars a year.
Mek spearheaded a distributed-ledger solution that gives acquisition teams real-time information on pricing, terms and conditions in 10 categories of purchases. The project, called HHS Accelerate, also incorporates artificial intelligence to highlight relevant data and streamline the procurement process. Although planning started in the spring, development and initial deployment took just six weeks this summer.
“Oki has been instrumental in this project since he is
a security expert and has been able to communicate the benefits of blockchain...to the larger HHS enterprise,” said Jose Arrieta, HHS’ associate deputy assistant secretary for acquisition. “Oki has adopted the idea of human-centered design, and he has been able to make it work in a complex environment with lots of different stakeholders.”
Before joining Arrieta’s division in April, Mek was a senior information system security officer at HHS, with
a focus on cybersecurity management. He started his government career in the military and then moved to the private sector, where he worked for GTI Federal on behalf of the Energy Department for seven years before coming to HHS.
“He’s extremely motivated,” Arrieta said of Mek. “He will be an executive someday.”
TAYLOR C. ROBERTS
Cybersecurity Advisor, Office of Management and Budget
Taylor Roberts joined the Cybersecurity and National Security Unit in the Office of the Federal CIO in mid-2017, and his impact was almost immediate. He had just returned to the U.S. after three years at the University of Oxford’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, but he jumped right into the security authorization process that has continued to constrain agencies’ efforts to be “cloud smart.”
In addition, he has worked with the federal CIO Council, CISO Council and Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to improve Federal Information Security Management Act metrics, and he contributed
to Revision 5 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Special Publication 800-53, “Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations.”
Roberts has also been a key member of the team that is working to better prioritize cybersecurity investments across the executive branch and seeking industry input to make cybersecurity a priority throughout the system development life cycle.
An OMB colleague called Roberts “an excellent example of an employee we want to continue to develop as a leader within the federal community.”
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