DHS, GSA, PTO execs heading to private sector

Over the last two years, agencies have come around to truly grasping the dangers of the technology supply chain.

Part of the credit has to go to Emile Monette, whose last day at the Department of Homeland Security was Friday. He was among the first federal executives to start talking publicly about the threats caused by an uncontrolled supply chain.

Monette left federal service after 15 years to join Synopsys as director of value chain security.

“I know the work I was fortunate enough to be a part of made a real difference for our nation. And at the end of the day, what more could anyone ask from a career in public service?” Monette wrote in a message on LinkedIn. “Despite the value of professional accomplishments, I believe the true measure of a life is the quality of the relationships it produces. Please know that each of you has touched my life in a positive and meaningful way. It was a great ride for me and I’m grateful for the part you played in making it so. “

Monette spent the last three years as DHS’ program manager of the cyber supply chain risk management initiative. In the role, he was the co-chairman of the information and communications technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force and helped add more supply chain rigor to the continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) program.

Through CDM, Monette helped implement a more comprehensive approach to protecting agency software by asking the vendors to propose tools and services to let agencies verify the security of the software on their network as well as the software used by the vendors.

Before coming to DHS, Monette spent six years at the General Services Administration where he was the director of governmentwide cybersecurity resiliency and risk.

In that role, Monette worked on developing a cyber acquisition risk profile as part of the implementation the recommendations GSA and the Defense Department submitted to the White House in 2014.

During his career, Monette also was a captain in the Air Force, serving for five years, worked in the White House and GSA as senior procurement advisers and spent a year with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on procurement-related topics.

Monette was one several long-time federal executives to decide to move to the private sector.

Matt Goodrich, the force behind the maturation of cloud security across the government, is leaving for the private sector. Goodrich, who spent seven years moving the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) cloud security program from its infant stage to its adolescence, announced on LinkedIn that his last day at GSA would be July 26.

He is taking a position in the private sector, but declined to name the company or what role he will be taking on.

Goodrich started in government as a Presidential Management Fellow. He spent the last seven years at GSA where he helped improve FedRAMP to have 144 cloud services authorized from more than 100 providers.

Over at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Tony Scardino, the chief financial officer for the last nine years, joined Grant Thornton as a managing principal in its public sector advisory practice.

Scardino will lead a CXO Transformation Services group to help agencies work across the C-suite to improve mission outcomes, services and effectively spend taxpayer dollars.

Carlos Otal, national managing partner of public sector at Grant Thornton said in a statement, “His broad experience leading different organizations across multiple management functions is a perfect fit to enhance our leading transformation and innovation services.”

This is Scardino’s second tour at Grant Thornton, working for seven months with the company in 2006.

Scardino started his career in 1990 at the FBI where he was a senior budget analyst. He also worked at the Federal Election Commission, the Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

During Scardino’s time at PTO, he led the implementation of the 2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which brought major changes to the operating and funding models of the agency.

That law let the agency use some of the fees collected above their appropriations for operating expenses.

Finally, Ben Sweezy left the role of chief information officer and deputy director of the Institute for Museum and Library Services after about two-and-a-half years.

Sweezy said he plans to take some time off to figure out what’s next and in the meantime setting up a consulting firm for technology work.

Before coming to IMLS, Sweezy worked as a senior consultant for Incapsulate for more than two years where he worked on the State of Federal IT report. He also spent six years at the Office of Management and Budget where he led the implementation of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).

Two more notable industry changes

First, Tim Harvey joined G2Xchange as senior director content and engagement after spending the last six years as the content and engagement director for the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC).

For G2Xchange, Harvey will help the company improve the delivery of news and intelligence for vendors about federal opportunities.

Second, some sad news. Jeff Sessions, the CEO of Red River, and his wife, Elizabeth, 48, died suddenly on July 3 in boating accident.

“Jeff led our company with intelligence, humor, integrity and passion. The contributions he made to the transformation of our business cannot be measured. Jeff’s impact on Red River, our people and the communities we serve will forever be felt. On behalf of our management team and employees, we extend our deepest sympathies to Jeff’s family,” the company said in a statement.

The company said Rick Bolduc, the executive chairman of Red River’s board of directors, will serve as acting CEO. Bolduc helped found Red River in 1995 and served as its CEO until February of 2017.

Sessions was 53 years old and is survived by his son, Jeffrey, daughter, Tessa, and their families.

Red River ranked 66 on the Washington Technology’s Top 100 with $324.8 million in revenue in fiscal 2019.

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