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This program will discuss critical issues facing government and industry leaders in the area of Continuity Of Operations and disaster recovery and then issues around teleworking. We will then explore the idea of telework as a means of addressing continuity of operations planning.

Main topic themes:

• It’s been said that it may be impossible to protect against every possible threat and perhaps we should focus on the resilience issue, that is , plans to quickly return to a steady state?
• The national infrastructure protection plan is now out in draft form — over 80% of the nation’s critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector. How are industry/government coordinating on these efforts?
• In a data center manager’s survey, it was pointed out that COOP plans are difficult because it takes personnel from the entire company or agency to really complete and without support at the top, progress is slow. Are we getting the attention of the leadership?
• “Who’s in charge” when it comes to coop planning within government agencies?
• Telework seems like such an obvious “good idea” and appears to have taken off quite well in the private sector. Yet it seems we are always trying to re-energize this issue to get more widespread adoption in the federal government? What is holding it back?
• Telework as a means of COOP. With IP converged telecommunications rapidly proliferating, it seems a likely next step could be home offices as a means to reconstitute a workplace after a disaster.

Panelists:

Ira Hobbs – CIO Treasury
Barry West – CIO FEMA
Glenn Schlarman – OMB
Jack Penkoske – DISA
Lou Anne Brossman – Juniper Networks

Moderator: Jim Flyzik – Flyzik Group

About the Panel:

Jim Flyzik
President
The Flyzik Group

Jim Flyzik is the President of TheFlyzikGroup www.theflyzikgroup.com . The company specializes in Strategic Business Consulting, Performance Based Contracting Consulting and Training and Thought Leadership media events. The company assists small, medium and large companies in providing world-class government services. Jim also serves as the Chairman of the Information Technology Association of America Committee on Homeland Security. Jim also hosts the monthly radio program, The Federal Executive Forum on WFED 1050 AM and www.federalnewsradio.com .

Jim served over 27 years in the federal government. He served as Senior Advisor to Governor Ridge in the White House Office of Homeland Security (OHS). He provided advice to OHS on the National Strategy and Information Management in support of the OHS mission. From February 1998 until December 2002, Jim also served as the Vice Chair of the Federal Government CIO Council overseeing numerous governmentwide IT initiatives. He was also a member of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board.

Prior to this, from August 1997 until April 2002, Jim was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Systems and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Department of the Treasury. He provided oversight, strategic planning and management direction on over $3.0 billion in annual information technology and information infrastructure programs within Treasury and its fourteen Bureaus. Jim also served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Management for the Treasury Department from January 20, 2001 until February 8, 2002. In that role he provided oversight of all Treasury bureaus and served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on matters involving the internal management of the Department and its bureaus. Jim received the Secretary Certificate of Appreciation on February 12, 2002 for his efforts during this transition period.

Prior to his Treasury positions, Jim worked for 15 years at the U.S. Secret Service where he held key IT management positions, including the Chief of the Communications Division, providing world class telecommunications in support of Secret Service tactical and operational requirements.

Jim served as Team Leader on Vice President Gore’s National Performance Review (NPR) Information Technology Team. Following this assignment, he was selected as Chairman of the Government Information Technology Services Working Group, to implement the NPR Information Technology recommendations and coordinate the government services portion of the National Information Infrastructure (NII). He was given the prestigious Eagle Award as the government information technology executive of the year in 1994, a Meritorious Presidential Rank Award in 1995, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Award for Excellence in Information Technology in 1996, the AFFIRM Award for Outstanding Service to the Citizens in 1997, the Industry Advisory Council Award for Special Achievements and Leadership in 1997, the AFFIRM IRM Executive of the Year Award in 1998, and the Distinguished Rank Executive Award from President Clinton in 1999. In 2001 the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils presented him the John J. Franke award for outstanding government service. In March 2002, Jim was selected by the Federal CIO Council to receive the Azimuth Award as the Government Executive of the Year.

Jim has extensive public speaking experience and frequently serves as a featured speaker at industry events. He has developed, and currently teaches part-time, a graduate level course on Information Systems Security and Risk Assessment at the University of Maryland. Jim was given the Stanley J. Drazek Excellence in Teaching Award in 1998 by the University of Maryland.

Jim has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Computer Science and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland with an area of concentration in Information Systems Management.

Lou Anne Brossman
Director of Marketing
Juniper Federal Systems

Lou Anne Brossman is Director of Marketing with Juniper Federal Systems, responsible for vision, strategy and development of integrated advertising, branding, marketing communications, PR and channel marketing. Brossman brings over 25 years of high technology marketing experience within the federal market space. Prior to joining Juniper, she was with EMC Corporation where she managed all federal marketing activities.

She’s held senior marketing and management positions with MainControl Corporation and SAGA Software. Brossman was also Territory Manager with Tech Data Corporation where she was responsible for all distribution channel sales initiatives for the federal system integrator community. Brossman sits on the boards of the immixGroup and AFCEA International and has won numerous awards in the industry for her work. She was most recently awarded the 2004 Women in Technology “Heroines in Technology” award, the 2005 “IAC Commitment to Making a Difference Award” and IPIC 2005 President’s award for outstanding contribution.

IRA L. HOBBS
CIO Treasury

Ira L.Hobbs was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury on May 27, 2004. In this role, Mr. Hobbs serves as the principal advisor on information technology (IT) issues to the Secretary of Treasury, the Deputy Secretary, and other senior management throughout the Department.

As CIO, Mr. Hobbs is responsible for the acquisition and management of information resources and for providing broad leadership in planning, budgeting, acquiring, and managing Treasury’s IT resources. This includes formulating policies and programs to maximize the value of IT investments and managing investment risks across the Department. As the CIO, Mr. Hobbs also represents Treasury’s IT interests with external stakeholders, including other Federal agencies, Congress and private and corporate entities. Mr. Hobbs brings to the job a strong background in information resources (IRM) as well as administrative management.

Prior to joining the Department of the Treasury, Mr. Hobbs served for seven years as Deputy Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). As Deputy CIO, Mr. Hobbs shared responsibility for the overall management of USDA’s information and IT assets, including the direction and management of a staff of 260 IRM professionals and 1.7 billion dollars in physical assets.

Mr. Hobbs is co-chair of the Federal CIO Council’s Workforce Committee which is working to improve the recruitment, retention, and skills of the Federal Government’s IT workforce. For his leadership role, Mr. Hobbs has been voted to Federal Computer Week’s list of the top 100 leaders who have made a difference in Federal IT for five consecutive years and was recently inducted into their Hall of Fame. He has received numerous other awards including the President’s Award for Outstanding Public Service presented by the American Society for Public Administration National Capital Area Chapter (2004), the John J. Franke Outstanding Executive Award (2003), and Outstanding Individual Government Contributor of the Year, presented by the Industry Advisory Council (2001).

Mr. Hobbs has also served as a member of the President’s Committee for Purchase from People who are Blind or Severely Disabled; is a member of Leadership Washington, Class of 1996; the American Society for Public Administration; the Conference of Minority Public Administrators; and former President of the Association for Federal Information Resources Management (AFFIRM).

Mr. Hobbs is a native of Tallahassee, Florida. After a three year tour of duty in the United States Army, he received a B.A. degree in political science from Florida A&M University and earned a master of public administration degree from Florida State University. He resides in Mitchellville, MD, along with his wife Deborah and his son, Ira Lynn.

Barry C. West
Chief Information Officer/Director Information Technology Services Division

Barry C. West was appointed FEMA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Director of the IT Services Division in October 2003. In this position, Mr. West manages and directs FEMA’s information technology and telecommunications systems, and provides enterprise-wide IT coordination for FEMA’s 10 geographical regions. He has overall responsibility for IT disaster-wide support in addition to IT policy and guidance, computer security, enterprise architecture, strategic planning, engineering and e-Government initiatives for FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal, state and local agencies. Prior to joining FEMA, Mr. West was the CIO of the National Weather Service. As the CIO, he had overall responsibility for information technology systems, services, policies and operations. He was also responsible for managing, coordinating and integrating all aspects of Information Technology for the National Weather Service.

Previously, Mr. West served as the Deputy Director for the Office of Electronic Government at the U.S. General Services Administration, where he was the technical lead on the FirstGov.gov web portal. He was also chairperson of the Federal Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Business Working Group and spearheaded the first annual government-wide PKI conference for government and industry. Earlier in his career, Mr. West served as Associate Director for Production Services at the National Technical Information Service and as a systems manager at the U.S. Bureau of the Census, where he was a key player in the 1990 Decennial Census. Mr. West also served as a weather specialist in the U.S. Air Force, where he was named Weather Specialist of the Year. Early in his career Barry worked for Tab Books, Inc., where he led an effort to convert the company from a manual-based operation to a completely automated system solution.

A native of Smithsburg, Md., Mr. West has a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from Northern Michigan University, a Master of Science Administration degree from Central Michigan University and an Executive Master of Science in Information Technology degree from the University of Maryland. Mr. West has completed the Chief Information Officers Executive program at the University of Maryland and is president of the American Council for Technology (the largest IT government association in the United States). Barry lectures throughout the country and teaches as an adjunct assistant professor in the graduate school at the University of Maryland, University College.

Mr. West also serves on the State of California Information Technology Council, on the advisory board for the University of Maryland, University College and as the U.S. Country representative for the yearly International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration (ICA) conference.

Jack Penkoske
Director for Manpower, Personnel, and Security
DISA

Jack Penkoske is the Director for Manpower, Personnel and Security for the Defense Information Systems Agency and is responsible for providing core service support operations; developing and providing oversight for policy pertaining to civilian and military personnel and reserves, systems management, travel and transportation, organization and manpower, professional development/visual information, security, and real estate, facilities, and supply services.

He graduated from Rockhurst College, Kansas City, MO, in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Relations. In 1985, he received his Masters in Business Administration from Mount Saint Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, MD. He is a graduate of the Department of the Army’s Personnel Management for Executives Course and the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Executive Institute. He also participated in the Defense Leadership and Management Program.

From 1972 to 1974, he served in the U.S. Army, and was a member of the 572nd Military Police Company at Fort Ritchie, MD. In September 1974, he entered government civil service as a personnel management specialist intern with the Department of the Army at Fort Ritchie. After completing the intern program, he served as the Branch Chief in the Civilian Personnel Office from April 1981 to August 1985, where he administered the recruitment and placement, technical services and non-appropriated fund personnel programs.

In August 1985, he moved to the U.S. Army Information Systems Command at Fort Huachuca, AZ, where he served as the Major Command Senior Staff Advisor for all staffing and placement programs through June 1990. He has also served as the Civilian Personnel/Human Resources Officer with the Department of the Army in Panama, June 1992-94; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC, June 1994 – February 1996; and DISA from February 1996 through December 2000. In January 2001, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service, and as DISA’s Director for Manpower, Personnel, and Security.

He has received two Commander’s Awards for Civilian Service, the U.S. Army Information Systems Command Leadership Award, three Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, and the DISA Civilian Leadership Award. In 2005, Jack received the Presidential Rank Award, which is the highest recognition that career senior executive service members can receive.

(Current as of January 2006)

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