DOD makes progress in Fourth Estate IT consolidation

“Pat” Flanders is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and a Deputy Assistant Director for the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Mr. Flanders provides leadership for the continued development of an affordable, innovative, robust, and secure health information technology environment in support of the Combatant Commands, service members, veterans, and their families.

Mr. Flanders is a computer scientist and Department of Defense (DoD) certified acquisition professional with nearly 29 years of system automation, personnel, finance, and logistics experience. Prior to joining the DHA, he served as the Deputy Program Executive Officer for Defense Healthcare Management Systems, the Senior Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; and the Deputy Director of Investment for the United States Army. Mr. Flanders has full lifecycle Project Management experience across a variety of DoD systems including two of the Army's major Enterprise Resource Planning initiatives: the Global Combat Support System Army (GCSS-Army) and the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP), as well as, the Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Transportation Command’s, Integrated Data Environment/ Global Transportation Network Convergence program.

Mr. Flanders holds Master of Science degrees in Computer Science from the Naval Postgraduate School and in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University. He received his Master of Arts in Procurement and Acquisition Management from Webster University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clarkson University.

Frank Konieczny, a Senior Level executive, is the AF Chief Technology Officer, Office of Deputy Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He has primary responsibility is to advance the IT technology landscape of the Air Force. His current focus areas include the developing the future technical target baseline, mobility enterprise solutions, data management, ICAM access/claims management, mesh networks, artificial intelligence/quantum capabilities, cyber and technology innovation pathfinders and advancing the Joint Information Environment.

Mr. Konieczny has completed advanced degrees in computer science engineering and administrative science, and in 1987 he completed all coursework for a doctorate in computer science. He has extensive experience as a systems analyst and chief programmer, working with a variety of firms including Teledyne Brown Engineering, SAIC and General Research Corporation. He has supported the programming and analytical analysis for a wide spectrum of government projects including ballistic missile defense, network design, missile test analysis, radar systems analysis and simulation, and operations research and statistical analysis. Mr. Konieczny would go on to serve as a project manager, business unit manager, Chief Scientist and Chief Technology Officer. He has managed more than 20 significant government sector programs involving multiple large and small business subcontractors and academic institutions in areas of Army and Navy manpower, logistics, force structure, undersea warfare, real time statistical analysis, biometric authentication, enterprise architecture, work flow management, and simulation and modeling.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Konieczny was employed for 10 years with AT&T Government Solutions professional services business unit. He served as the CIO, CTO and Executive Director for Operations where he managed internal research and development efforts; multi-location infrastructure management and upgrade; process improvement and standardization; support organization coordination; and development of technical solutions for a wide spectrum of projects within the government sector.

Mr. Jamie Markol has served as the Chief Information Officer for Defense Contract Audit Agency since 2014. Mr. Markol leads business systems strategy, enterprise architecture, information management and security, policy and standards development, and IT capital investment management to ensure a secure and responsive information environment to support Agency goals and fulfil its critical role in defense acquisition. In this position, he has led the modernization of the Agency’s computing infrastructure, created a cybersecurity operations capability and is facilitating the Agency’s adoption of emerging business intelligence technologies to improve the audit process.

Prior to his position with DCAA, Mr. Markol served as the Chief Information Officer for Marine Corp Systems Command, where he managed the information technology environment of the Marine Corps principal procurement command. Other positions included Program Manager for Capital Planning and CIO for the Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management and a 23-year Army Officer career, specializing in multifunctional logistics and bomb disposal.

Mr Markol has a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering from West Point, a Masters in Management from Florida Institute of Technology, CIO Certification in Information Security from Defense Acquisition University, Masters in National Security Studies from the Army War College, and is a graduate of Leadership for a Democratic Society at the Federal Executive Institute. He also holds certifications in CompTIA Security+ CE, Information Technology Information Library Foundations, DAU Contracting Officer’s Representative program, and Level III Information Technology (DAWIA).

Don Means is the National Leadership Command Capabilities (NLCC) Executive, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

He oversees the Joint System Engineering and Integration Office (JSEIO), Compartmented Enterprise Services Office (CESO) and the NLCC Services and Infrastructure Office (NSIO) to provide unified services and technical authority for Presidential/Senior Leader Communications; Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3); Continuity of Operations/Continuity of Government (COOP/COG) Communications and Special Access Program (SAP) stakeholders.

He is responsible for establishing goals, priorities, and measures of effectiveness to ensure that DISA and Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer (CIO) driven information technology policy and objectives are achieved across the NLCC and SAP communities of interest.

Mr. Means served 15 years in various operational and staff assignments in both the Active Duty and Reserve forces. He began his career when he was commissioned as a Navy officer through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Program in 1989. After completion of Advanced Overwater Jet Training, he was designated a Naval Flight Officer and assigned to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron FOUR (VQ-4) in Patuxent River, Maryland, where he qualified as a Navigator, Airborne Communications Officer, Mission Commander, and an Instructor. Following that assignment, he served at the Pentagon in the National Military Command Center as a Communications Officer.

Mr. Means spent several years as a Senior Engineer and Analyst with Raytheon, where he planned and implemented Operational Assessments for DISA. He entered federal service in 2000 with DISA and has worked in various engineering and leadership capacities, most recently as the Deputy Director, JSEIO.

Mr. Means has numerous military awards including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1989, and his Master of Science Degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University 2009. He also completed the Senior Executive Fellows program at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, in 2010.

Ms. Danielle Metz is a member of the Senior Executive Service and serves as the Principal Director for the Deputy CIO (DCIO) for Information Enterprise (IE). In this role, she provides expertise in IT, including National Security Systems and Information Resource Management matters to the DCIO for IE and the DoD CIO. Ms. Metz is responsible for leading IE in the Department's IT Reform Initiatives with implementation and execution strategic guidance for the Department to adopt an operationally effective, secure, and reliable DoD-wide IT architecture that is cost efficient.

Prior to assuming her current position, Ms. Metz held a detailed assignment for the Executive Office of the President Office of Science and Technology Policy from January to July 2018. Ms. Danielle Metz was the Policy Advisor supporting the implementation efforts of the IT Modernization Plan for the Federal Government. Prior to her detail, Ms. Metz was the Deputy Director, DoD Information Modernization, in the Office of the Deputy DoD CIO for Information Enterprise and served as the DoD CIO lead for the Joint Regional Security Stack (JRSS) effort. In this capacity, she developed the resourcing strategy for the JRSS in FY17-21; co-authored the overarching implementation and migration plans that guide the DoD Component’s development and fielding of JRSS, management and cyber situational awareness capabilities; and established the strategic communications for JRSS to the DoD Components and external mission partners.

Before joining the Office of the DoD CIO, Ms. Metz spent six years with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In that time, she served as the Perimeter Network Defense Branch Chief, the JRSS Portfolio Manager, and as the Web Content Filtering (WCF) Program Manager. She was responsible for the establishment and implementation of these efforts, to include spearheading the initiative to fully leverage the WCF technical robustness and improve USCYBERCOM’s ability to defend and protect the network. This initiative was the first of its kind for USCYBERCOM to defend the network.

Ms. Metz holds a Masters in Economics, Postcolonial Politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Georgia. She is a FCW 2016 Federal 100 Winner, completed the Center of Creative Leadership in 2015, received the DoD CIO Information Assurance Team Certificate of Excellence Award for the WCF Program in 2011, and was the recipient of the Rotary International Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship in 2001.

Doug is the Director of Ledios Digital Modernization Accelerator, an organization within the Office of Technology under the CTO responsible for developing and scaling solutions in Digital Modernization, DevSecOps, and Cyber including R&D and solution development for our largest and most complicated proposals and customer needs. His team identifies the best solutions and technologies from across the corporation, leading vendors, and startups to integrate them into customers to accelerate their time to value, improving capabilities and reducing costs. In this role, Doug is the point person for our Digital Modernization strategy, technical lead for partnerships with key vendors, and has also personally led some of our largest proposal efforts including the solution for our recent NASA NEST End User Support contract ($2.9B).

Doug is a recognized thought leader in Digital Modernization who not only understands the application of new and emerging technologies, but has successfully delivered modernization capabilities across large, complex programs in the government. He is a subject matter expert in IT and Application modernization, focused on delivering solutions for cloud, DevSecOps, IT infrastructure, user support, and other key technologies. He brings nearly 20 years of leadership in large government system integration across the entire lifecycle of systems in complex system development, transition to operations, and O&M.

Doug previously lead the startup of the DHS ESOC $395M cyber contract resulting in a blue startup with the customer stating it was the smoothest contract transition in all of his years of government support. He also lead the final Increment of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification biometric system including sun-setting of the legacy IAFIS system and addition of facial search capabilities. This $40M/year increment developed over 3 ½ years resulted in achieving Full Operational Capability (FOC) on time, with full scope. Over 6 years on the FBI’s NGI, which is the largest IT project in the history of the DOJ, Doug held various leadership roles including leading efforts to achieve both IOC and FOC for the program which the FBI has hailed as a tremendous example of government / industry partnership with immediate tangible examples of direct benefits to law enforcement nationwide.

Doug has extensive experience in engineering and project leadership including design through deployment and operations support to large-scale, mission critical, COTS and custom code solutions. He has also led major infrastructure upgrades on operating mission critical systems including upgrading 50+ COTS products over a 3 month period for one 24/7 system within Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He has been an IPT lead on three different programs, beyond his role on NGI, Doug was IPT lead on the $75M Increment 5 for the Customs Modernization (ACE) program and IPT lead for NARA’s Electronic Record Archiving (ERA) program. He has also led software integration, system integration, and system acceptance test programs on four different large COTS integration programs with teams over 300 people.

Doug holds both a Bachelor’s of Science in Materials Science & Engineering and Bachelors of Arts in Public Policy & Technology from North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, NC and a Masters in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, MD. In addition to his degrees, he is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a Six Sigma Green Belt, and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.

Tom Temin has been the host of the Federal Drive since 2006. Tom has been reporting on and providing insight to technology markets for more than 30 years. Prior to joining Federal News Radio, Tom was a long-serving editor-in-chief of Government Computer News and Washington Technology magazines. Tom also contributes a regular column on government information technology.