Page 66 - FCW, November/December 2019

Rising Stars
ever done at the VA is to say: How can we make VA tech [and] health tech
in general for veterans better? How can we make access to care better and [deliver] flexibility and convenience for the veteran?”
She started out editing, styling and formatting regulatory tomes — a feat in itself — and then led data collection efforts that resulted in seven key IT recommendations to Congress. She spearheaded two of them: establishing an exemption to Clinger-Cohen Act provisions and creating a pilot program that allows IT consultants to directly contract with DOD via an online marketplace.
“At every point, Ms. Johnson made the case for transforming the defense acquisition system into one that delivers lethality to the warfighter in time to meet current challenges while being adaptive enough to respond to emerging global threats well into the future,” Asch said.
helped lead a critical software integration that affected 150,000 users and involved CDC, the National Institutes of Health and four contractor organizations
— all of which were located in different geographical locations and driven by competing objectives.
Ultimately, the integration helped cut software development times in half.
At HHS, he integrated four of the department’s large offices
to stabilize the GrantSolutions. gov platform. After one manager left the project, Madarani took the reins in an environment full of frustrated users and worked hard to gain their trust. Instead of managing remotely, he opted for face-to-face meetings to address criticism and complaints head on.
He is now leading an $8 million transformation initiative for the Interior Department that will transition more than 20 agency units to Dovel’s SaaS platform.
MICHELLE JOHNSON
Communications Manager and Senior Research Analyst, Section 809 Panel, Defense Acquisition University
Reforming the Defense Department’s acquisition system is a daunting challenge, but Michelle Johnson has made the Section 809 Panel’s attempt to do that immeasurably easier. She has investigated how commercial
IT markets have developed and coordinated with industry partners, government agencies and academia to better understand and improve DOD’s IT acquisition strategy.
The panel officially completed
its mission in July, but Johnson’s contributions continue to resonate. The group’s recommendations were woven into the 2018 and 2019 defense policy bills and are expected to be incorporated into the upcoming 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
Lawrence Asch, who also served
on the Section 809 Panel, said Johnson’s knowledge and expertise grew steadily throughout the process.
SAMER MADARANI
Partner Account Director, Partnership Development, Dovel Technologies
Samer Madarani helps mediate the sometimes tense situations that arise when federal agencies seek to modernize legacy systems.
He has proven his patience
and mettle time and again as he works with agencies that use the Department of Health and Human Services’ cloud-based software-as-a- service GrantSolutions.gov platform.
For the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he
64 November/December 2019 FCW.COM