Mitigating mainframe cyber blind spots through IT modernization

Jason G. Martin is the Vice Director of the Development and Business Center (DBC) and the Acting Director for the Cyber Development Directorate, Defense Information and Systems Agency (DISA).

As the Vice Director of the DBC he facilitates the development of DISA’s core services and capabilities supporting the Department of Defense mission partners. He assists the director of the DBC in mission partner engagement and requirements processes for the agency to include technical feasibility studies, new innovation, proposal development, portfolio management, and DOD test and evaluation.

As the Acting Director for the Cyber Development Directorate he oversees a portfolio of services which include Perimeter, Mid-Tier (Joint Regional Security Stack), Endpoint defensive cyber operational capabilities, Cyber Situational Awareness and NetOps Solutions, along with Enterprise Identity and Zero Trust solutions.

Previously he served as Services Directorate (SE) Executive at DISA. In this position he was responsible for the Cloud/Compute and Storage portfolio as well as the operation of the DISA Ecosystem data centers, providing Department of Defense Enterprise Services to 4.5M users, and led Mission Partner application cloud and data center implementations. Additionally, he operated and maintained the global DISA internal network for more than 16,000 users.

Other assignments at DISA include serving as the Deputy for the DISA Services Directorate and Deputy Program Executive Officer for Enterprise Services (PEO-ES). In both roles, he served as senior authority for delivering global and enterprise-wide capabilities to the DOD while providing policy, oversight, and guidance to enable information sharing government-wide.

Mr. Martin entered the Federal Service in August of 2009 when he was assigned as the DISA Customer Management Executive. Prior to entering Federal Service, he served as a Senior Manager for Deloitte Consulting supporting programs across the Department of Defense. Mr. Martin began his career as a Software Engineer for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) supporting MCI/Worldcom andGeneral Motors Europe.

Mr. Martin is a member of the Board of Directors for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Central Maryland Chapter. He is also a member of the Project Management Institute and certified as a Project Management Professional. Additionally, Mr. Martin is a designated DAWIALevel III Program Manager.

Mr. Martin received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. He also completed the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard University, KennedySchool of Government, in 2013.

Jason Gray was selected in May 2016 to serve as the U. S. Department of Education’s chief information officer (CIO). In this position he oversees an information technology (IT)portfolio of $689 million in programs. As the CIO, Gray serves as a principal advisor to the under secretary, deputy secretary, and secretary with respect to the astute use of IT to exceed the expectations of the Department's customers. He serves as the day-to-day lead for coordinating and managing the various functions within Office of the Chief Information Officer,coordinates with and provides advice to the Department's senior leadership regarding IT, information management, information assurance, and website activities management and operations.

Prior to his selection as CIO, Gray served as the associate chief information officer for the Department of Transportation (DOT), where he provided executive leadership on IT policy and oversight for information governance, compliance, and departmental policy, as well as managed DOT’s $3.5 billion ITportfolio.

Gray has held several leadership roles in the information technology and healthcare administration fields. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of technical solutions that address the needs of his customers in support of their missions.

Gray received his M.B.A. from Colorado Technical University, completed the Key Executive Leadership Certificate at American University, and holds a variety of technical and professional certifications, including the Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certifications.

Ryan Cote was named Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation by United States Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao. As the CIO, he is the principle advisor to the Secretary on all information technology related matters.

New to government, Ryan comes to the Department from Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner provides senior leaders across the enterprise with the indispensable insights, advice and tools they need to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the organizations of tomorrow. At Gartner, Ryan served as a CIO Executive Partner, advising global CIOs in its Executive Partners program. Gartner serves CIOs and Enterprise leaders around the world in more than 15,000 organizations in 100+ countries.

Prior to Gartner, Ryan’s career spans over 2 decades of IT leadership in the private sector. Ryan helped launch and successfully exited two tech startups, was a Senior IT Practice Consultant for IBM technologies, and held various IT Leadership positions for Surge Staffing, Contract Lumber, McGraw Hill Companies, and TRW/Northrop Grumman in Columbus, OH. He began his IT career at HP and was instrumental in both M&A and Y2K efforts at Digital Corp, Compaq and HP.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Ryan earned an Executive Masters in Technology Management from Columbia University and earned several degrees from Franciscan University in Ohio - an MS in Administration, a BS in History and Education.

Steve Steuart is Astadia’s CTO and Legacy Modernization expert, responsible for helping clients identify, eliminate, rejuvenate or modernize their mission critical applications to the cloud.

Steve is Astadia’s legacy modernization lead expert and offers over 30 years of mainframe expertise. He led the company’s first mainframe migration in 1994, and ever since then, he brings a wealth of expertise and real live experiences around legacy migrations. His passion for client success in due to the fact that he has led many clients over 90 mainframe migrations.

Along with is passion for mainframe modernization, Steve also carries over 25 years of experience in software and technology consulting to Fortune 500 companies. He has pioneered the development and evolution of several automated migration tool sets. Not only does he focus on his clients nationwide, but he also manages clients and business operations throughout Latin America and EMEA. His passion lies solely in getting his clients the business results they crave.

With 20+ years working with the public sector, Kevin Hansen focuses on driving forward the security and modernization of core business systems by developing and executing successful digital transformation strategies with federal, state, and local government customers.

Jason Miller is an executive editor and reporter with Federal News Network. As executive editor, Jason helps direct the news coverage of the station and works with reporters to ensure a broad range of coverage of federal technology, procurement, finance and human resource news.As a reporter, Jason focuses mainly on technology and procurement issues, including cybersecurity, e-government and acquisition policies and programs.