What is the IT strategy for the USDA? How is it modernizing its IT systems and infrastructure? How USDA using technology to transform the way it operates and meets its mission? Host Michael Keegan explores these questions and more with Gary Washington, CIO, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, United States
Leadership Fellow & Host, IBM Center for The Business of Government
Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, United States
Gary Washington is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief Information Officer (CIO). He has also served as the CIO for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. His previous positions include the Office of Management and Budget, the Food and Drug Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
As USDA CIO he has been instrumental in the USDA becoming the lighthouse agency for IT Modernization and in partnership with the GSA Centers of Excellence (CoE) is creating the roadmap for IT modernization throughout the Federal government.
Washington is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Strayer University in Washington D.C.
Leadership Fellow & Host, IBM Center for The Business of Government
Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.
Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.
Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.
Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.