When Karen Evans looks back on her term as the Office of Management and Budget’s e-government and information technology administrator, she points to a number of successful changes to how the government serves its citizens. But the change that will impact the government the most over the long term is the implementation of IP version 6. Evans says that opens up a whole host of possibilities for the future.

Evans will be leaving office Jan. 20 after more than 25 years in government when the administration ends.

She believes many of the changes that her office pushed over the last eight years likely would have happened anyway. She was able to give the changes a push to make them happen faster.

The one big lesson she learned along the way, congressional buy-in is one of the most important things that has to happen for any of these initiatives to be successful.

BIOGRAPHY:

Karen Evans is the Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology (IT) at the Office of Management and Budget. In this role, she oversees implementation of IT throughout the Federal government including advising the Director on the performance of IT investments, overseeing the development of enterprise architectures within and across agencies, directing the activities of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council, and overseeing the usage of the E-Government Fund to support interagency partnerships and innovation. She also has responsibilities in the areas of capital planning and investment control, information security, privacy, accessibility of IT for persons with disabilities, and access to, dissemination of, and preservation of government information.

Prior to becoming Administrator, Ms. Evans was the Chief Information Officer for the Department of Energy. There she was responsible for the design, implementation, and continuing successful operation of Information Technology (IT) programs and initiatives throughout the Department and its offices. During this time, Ms. Evans was also the Vice-Chairman of the Federal Chief Information Officers Council. Elected to this post in December 2002, she coordinated the Council’s efforts in developing federal IT programs and improving agency information resource practices.

Before joining Energy, she was Director, Information Resources Management Division, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., where she was responsible for the management and successful operation of the Information Technology program. OJP’s bureaus and offices provide funding opportunities for initiatives such as Safe Schools, Safe Start Program, Community Prosecution, Native American Tribal Courts and other programs of high local, state and national interest. Key accomplishments included the implementation of an on-line grants management system to process grants from discretionary, formula and large block grants programs, to streamlining capabilities to ensure for the expeditious processing of claims benefits to families of public safety officers after the September 11th attacks.

She is a 20 year veteran of Government service with responsibilities ranging from GS-2 to SES, working with several agencies, including the National Park Services, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) of the Department of Agriculture.

Prior to joining OJP, she served as the Assistant Director for Information Services at DOJ headquarters, where she successfully managed Internet resources for the Department, including electronic mail services and security. While at FmHA, she served as the acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Management Information Systems, Deputy Director for the Applications Management Division and the Chief of Emerging Technology, where she managed the implementation on a nationwide basis, from inception to continuing operations of several critical automation systems.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a Master of Business Administration degree from West Virginia University.

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