Agencies crave new technology ‘for HR, not to HR’

Date: On Demand
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: No Fee

Federal agencies are at different stages of their HR modernization journeys, but in many ways, their challenges are quite similar.

They’re juggling several moving parts and multiple modernization efforts – all in an effort to bring the tools that their employees use to process everyday HR transactions into the 21st century.

The State Department had no problem convincing top leaders that it needed to devote serious...

Date: On Demand
Duration: 1 hour
Cost: No Fee

Federal agencies are at different stages of their HR modernization journeys, but in many ways, their challenges are quite similar.

They’re juggling several moving parts and multiple modernization efforts – all in an effort to bring the tools that their employees use to process everyday HR transactions into the 21^st century.

The State Department had no problem convincing top leaders that it needed to devote serious time and resources into modernizing its human capital systems.

“HR and IT both ranked at the very bottom of the department with our service delivery and customer service technology. There wasn’t any problem whatsoever at convincing anybody that we needed to do something different,” said Don Bauer, chief technology officer for global talent management at the State Department. “The next step, of course, was really introducing some technology that people felt like was going to meet their values… and was actually going to improve business processes.”

Both State and the U.S. Agency for International Development are deploying or already have rolled out new employee portals.

USAID is dabbling in robotics process automation, which has already saved 1,000 employee labor hours within the first few months of a test pilot, Bob Leavitt, the agency’s chief human capital officer, said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has deployed new performance management and case management systems, and it too is implementing and updating an employee portal with a ticketing system, where the workforce can submit inquiries and requests.

“I joke with my team sometimes that we have a lot of catch up to do,” Jamey McNamara, SEC’s chief human capital officer, said. “Sometimes I say, ‘Congratulations, we’ve made it to 2010, or we’ve made it to 2005.’ We’re high-fiving each other because we’re really pleased that in the year 2017 we’ve taken this step. But that’s OK. We have to do what we can do within financial constraints. We are trying to adopt cutting-edge technology wherever we can… and our staff really demand that.”

Some employees are craving change, but others may be resistant, Wayne Bobby, vice president for Workday Federal, acknowledged.

Organizations succeed when they inform the workforce about upcoming changes early and often, solicit feedback and give employees a chance to embrace the new tools, Bobby said.

“A lot studies show that people who come into a new process kicking and screaming, after four to six months, find that process isn’t that bad after all, and they would never go back to doing it the old way anymore,” he said. “You have to let that change play out.”

Learning objectives:

The intersection of IT and HR
Modernization strategies for HR
Change management

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Don Anderson is the Senior Vice President, Transformation Executive of the Federal Reserve System. In this capacity, he is responsible for the successful transformation of the finance, HR and procurement functions for 22,000 users.

Previously, Don served as CIO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and in 2017, was awarded the Boston CIO of the Year ORBiE award by the Boston CIO Leadership Association. He is a frequent speaker on Cyber Security, Financial Technology and Digital Transformation.

Prior to joining the Federal Reserve, Don was a senior consultant with Hewlett Packard (HP) Enterprise focused on the development and execution of IT transformation strategies for Fortune 500 companies. While at HP, Don successfully managed a number of multi-million dollar international programs.
He holds a BS degree from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Bentley University, serves on the Boards of the Advanced Cyber Security Center (ACSC), Wall Street Technology Association (WTSA), serves as Vice-Chair of the Boston CIO Leadership Association, and is an active member of the Dana Farber Leadership Council (DFLC).

Wayne Bobby leads U.S. Federal Government at Workday. Prior to joining Workday, Wayne spent eighteen years at Oracle leading key strategy and business development efforts for U.S. federal and state and local government. He draws from forty years of work experience in government program operations and enterprise software solutions. Wayne began his career in the Federal government where he was the Director of Financial Management Services for the U.S. Department of State. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Bob Leavitt serves as USAID’s Chief Human Capital Officer in the Office of Human Capital and Talent Management (HCTM). Mr. Leavitt has 25 years’ experience managing humanitarian and development assistance programs and national security policies.

Mr. Leavitt previously served as Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. From May 2016 until March 2017, Mr. Leavitt led the Agency’s Human Resource Transformation, which sought to best support our colleagues around the world as they advance the Agency’s mission.

From 2012 until 2014, Mr. Leavitt served as the USAID Executive Secretary and Senior Advisor for National Security Affairs, which followed his service as the Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House from 2009 to 2012. At the National Security Council, Mr. Leavitt led interagency processes, often staffing the President’s meetings and calls with African heads of state.

Mr. Leavitt joined USAID in 2001 as a Conflict Resolution specialist in the Bureau for Africa. He provided technical, operational, and strategic support in shaping and implementing U.S. Government policies, strategies, and programs in conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Leavitt served for a year and a half as the Agency’s lead representative to the Department of Defense for the initial planning and establishment of U.S. Africa Command.

Based in sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Leavitt worked with Catholic Relief Services from 1994 through 2000 where he managed humanitarian and development programs, often during complex emergencies, in Angola, southern Sudan, northern Uganda, Ethiopia, and Liberia.

Mr. Leavitt attended the U.S. War College at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, earning a Master of Advanced Military Arts and Sciences degree. He holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and English from the University of New Hampshire.

James McNamara was named the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chief Human Capital Officer and the Director of the Office of Human Resources in February 2019. He previously served as Acting Chief Human Capital Officer, and prior to that, was the Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer since July 2014.

As Chief Human Capital Officer, Mr. McNamara leads the strategic management of the agency’s human capital programs and policies, in areas including recruitment, staffing, retention, position management and classification, compensation and benefits, leadership and employee development, performance management, total rewards, labor relations, and work/life programs.

Prior to joining the Office of Human Resources, Mr. McNamara was the Managing Executive for the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets. He earlier served as Assistant Director for Planning and Budget; Budget Officer; and Branch Chief for Budget Formulation and Performance Management, all in the agency’s Office of Financial Management. He began his SEC service as a manager in the Division of Trading and Markets.

Mr. McNamara began his federal career at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he held positions in human resources management and budget formulation in the Department's Civil Division.

Mr. McNamara received his Bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Donald Bauer currently serves as Chief Technology Officer for Global Talent Management (HR) at the Department of State. Don is a former Navy Chief and Surface Warfare Officer. A Computer Scientist by trade, Don has spent the last 20+ years developing and managing Hsoftware for the government including an emergency de-orbit program for the space shuttle, managed satellite automation for NASA. In 1999 he co-founded QuickHire, the first commercial on-line job system for the Federal Government acquired by Monster.com in 2003. In 2006 he transitioned to a federal employee with US Customs and Border Protection leading a team to implement HR case management. In 2010, he served as Enterprise Technical Operations Director for DHS CHCO, responsible for Information Assurance and 508 compliance for all HRIT across DHS. Don left Federal service in 2011 and served in the private sector doing FOIA, Senior HR Advisor contracting, HR IT Assessments and Program management for enterprise HR platform implementation. Don joined the Department of State in September 2016 as Systems Oversight Division Chief, moved to Systems Development Division Chief in May of 2017 and was promoted to Senior Executive as CTO in March 2020.

Don currently oversees a team of ~340 professionals managing the Department’s HRIT programs with a portfolio of 67 applications including two PeopleSoft HCM personnel platforms supporting over 77,000 combined Civil service, Foreign service, and locally employed embassy staff. His team has been actively engaged in significant modernization efforts for the past 4 years.

Nicole Ogrysko is a workforce and personnel reporter for Federal News Network. She has been covering federal topics since 2013, starting out as a radio producer for 1500 AM. Prior to joining Federal News Network, Nicole was a digital writer for WTOP and a reporter for Radio Pennsylvania.

Agencies crave new technology ‘for HR, not to HR’

Panel of experts

Don Anderson

Wayne Bobby

Bob Leavitt

Jamey McNamara

Donald Bauer

Nicole Ogrysko

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