Page 78 - FCW, August 2021

Clair Koroma
Bureaucracy Hacker, Defense Digital Service
Defense Department
Obliterating objections. Koroma played a key role in ensuring that DOD systems could support mass telework at the onset of the pandemic by making sure key stakeholders
had access to critical systems as a stop-gap solution. Those stakehold- ers included the executive commu- nications team in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She also led DDS’ project team at the DEF CON 28 Hacking Conference, brokered contracts to create an immersive virtual reality environment, and over- saw the design and implementation of 10 remote aviation and aerospace workshops. Colleagues attribute her success to her attitude that there is always a way to get to yes.
Christopher Krebs
Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Department of Homeland Security
The election protector. Krebs
led CISA while it rose to national prominence for its role in ensuring the integrity of the 2020 elections. During his tenure, which ended a
few weeks after the elections, CISA helped state and local governments across the country safeguard their election infrastructure. He also led the development and deployment of the Rumor Control website CISA used to debunk misinformation from both inside and outside the United States about the security of election infra-
structure and related processes. His efforts sought to bolster the public’s confidence in the electoral process and our democracy. Krebs was CISA’s first Senate-confirmed director and also led its predecessor organization, the National Protection and Programs Directorate. He is now founding part- ner at Krebs Stamos Group.
Rick Kryger
Deputy CIO
Labor Department
New tools for the new normal.
Kryger tackled the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic head-on. He immediately scaled necessary tools
to prevent workforce disruption and continues to implement new tech- nology so the department can serve America’s wage earners, job seekers and retirees. As 95% of staff tran- sitioned to working remotely, his team invested in new collaborative technology, including Cisco’s Jabber and Microsoft’s Teams and OneDrive. Thanks to his efforts, Labor became one of the first agencies to imple- ment split tunneling to increase VPN performance and conserve bandwidth access, allowing the department to support a 79% increase in daily connections.
Samuel Leitner
Data Scientist and AI Program Manager
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Decoding the “black box.” Leitner’s background in the hard sciences, data science, software development and consumer finance makes him uniquely
qualified to help the bureau ensure that consumer financial markets oper- ate transparently, efficiently and fairly. In 2020, he helped the bureau team tasked with understanding and assess- ing machine learning-based credit models to identify potential risks
to fair lending and other consumer protections. In particular, he sought to verify the accuracy of the reasons that lenders gave for denying credit. He supported those efforts by analyzing data, policies and other information provided by lenders and also by edu- cating the bureau’s lawyers, econo- mists and analysts about machine learning.
Eric Markow
Director, Web Applications Program Management Office
Internal Revenue Service
Speeding relief to taxpayers. Mar- kow’s deep understanding of cus- tomer service allows him to consis- tently deliver meaningful results for the highest-profile applications at the IRS. In 2020, he led the delivery of Get My Payment, which gave Americans the ability to confirm bank informa- tion for faster access to much-needed stimulus payments during the pan- demic. Thanks to his leadership, the IRS was able to create and deploy the app in about three weeks. Markow pioneered new solutions for perfor- mance testing, go-live support, infra- structure and bandwidth to prepare for an unprecedented level of traffic. In its first three weeks, the app dis- seminated nearly $160 billion to 89.5 million individuals.
2021 FEDERAL 100
Clair Koroma Christopher Krebs
Rick Kryger Samuel Leitner Eric Markow
76 August 2021 FCW.COM