Reporter's Notebook

Long-time GSA executive Bennett passes away; CISA, NOAA, FBI gain new IT leaders

A round up of federal technology executives from GSA, NOAA, the FBI and others who have been “on the move” over the last few months and that you may have m...

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

July 12, 2022 2:09 pm

6 min read

July not only marks the half way point of the year, but it also marks the time when a lot of federal executives retire or change jobs internally to get some time in place before the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Over the course of the last few months — since the last time I wrote about people on the move — the federal community has seen State Department and FEMA chief information officers leave for the private sector and deputy federal CIO Maria Roat retire after a successful 41-years career.

You’ve seen new CIOs coming to the FCC and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).

Here are a few changes that may have flown under your radar over the last few months.

Let’s start out with a few changes at the General Services Administration.

Just a few months after Sonny Hashmi, GSA’s commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, shuffled the chairs of most of his senior leadership team, another piece to the puzzle falls into place.

Sam Navarro recently became the director of customer services for the Technology Transformation Service’s Centers of Excellence. (Photo courtesy of ATARC)

Sam Navarro became the director of customer services for the Technology Transformation Service’s Centers of Excellence. He had been the director of the customer strategic solutions division in FAS’s IT Category for two-and-half years and then a strategic advisor for ITC since May.

Among the projects Navarro worked on during his time with ITC was the recent agreement GSA and the Defense Innovation Unit signed to make it easier for non-traditional companies to do business with the government.

“We could Fastlane them [onto the GSA schedule]. They have a sponsor so we could get them on a lot faster. We’re looking at least from 15, anywhere to 30 days getting them on schedule so they’re readily available for government competition,” Navarro said in May.

He joined GSA in 2014 and previously worked as a civilian for the Army in technology support roles.

In GSA’s Office of Governmentwide Policy, Alex Cohen, the director of emerging technology, announced in June he was leaving federal service.

“I will be leaving government service at the end of the week for a new adventure in the private sector. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with so many talented and hardworking people over my 10+ years in the government,” Cohen wrote on LinkedIn. “Government service is not easy. Sometimes the challenges can seem insurmountable. I have been known to describe innovation in government as a willingness to bang your head against a brick wall until the wall goes away. However, the work we do matters. The progress we make matters. The continued success of the government is a testament to all the federal employees and contractors that work tirelessly everyday to make America a better place. To anyone considering federal employment, I urge you to do so. It has been some of the most rewarding work of my life. It may be hard but it is critical!”

During his two-plus years at OGP, Cohen led the policy efforts around everything from credentialing of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on federal networks to cyber insurance to edge computing to agile and dev/ops development.

Cohen hasn’t said where he is heading next in industry. He previously worked at the Census Bureau and the Energy Department as well as in the non-profit and industry sectors.

Former FSS commissioner passes away

And finally some sad news related to GSA. Donna Bennett, the long-time executive in the Federal Supply Schedule, passed away July 2 at the age of 74.

Bennett served as the commissioner of the FSS from 2000 to 2005 when she retired. She worked for GSA for 21 years and in federal service for more than 35 years.

After retiring, Bennett joined the Logistics Management Institute as a senior vice president. She worked there for eight years until fully retiring in 2013.

She is survived by Randy, her husband of 33 years, and their daughter Kathy Fumagalli (Bennett).

Over at the Education Department, Margaret Glick became the CIO for the Office of Federal Student Aid in May. She replaced Mia Jordan, who left in October to join Salesforce.

She has been with FSA since 2016 starting as a program analyst and then rising to be the director of the Next Gen program for the last year.

Before coming to FSA, Glick worked at DePaul University in Chicago and for Sallie Mae.

Cyber QSMO gets reinforcements

Chad Poland moves into a new role for the Quality Service Management Office for cyber as a project lead at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in DHS,

Poland had been CISA’s associate CIO for IT investment and compliance since 2018.

He also worked at DHS headquarters CIO office for eight years before moving to CISA.

NOAA and the FBI also joined the fad of naming new senior technology leaders.

Tonya Ugoretz, who you may know from her time leading the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, became the new assistant director of the FBI’s intelligence directorate in May.

Tonya Ugoretz became the new assistant director of the FBI’s intelligence directorate in May.

She is the first FBI intelligence analyst to lead the directorate.

“As a law enforcement and intelligence agency, the FBI occupies a unique and vital place at the intersection of foreign and domestic threats, criminal and national security authorities, and public and private sector engagement. This is a proud moment for our intelligence workforce, but I stand on the shoulders of thousands of FBI employees in dozens of job roles over the years who have collected, analyzed, and acted on intelligence since decades before the National Security Act of 1947,” Ugoretz wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m excited to lead our talented intelligence workforce into our next chapter, which will be full of challenges, opportunities, and risks that we will weigh according to the FBI’s mission: Protect the American People and Uphold the Constitution.”

She returned to the FBI in 2018 after three years leading CTIIC where she was the deputy assistant director of the intelligence directorate.

NOAA named Frank Indiviglio as its new chief technology officer.

He has worked at NOAA since 2011 and most recently served as the deputy director of the high performance computing center.

“It is an honor to be able to serve in this capacity, and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and partners to advance NOAA’s scientific mission through the effective adoption of technology,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m also looking forward to continuing to work with all of my colleagues at the Federal CIO Council – Innovation Committee, Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem, and NITRD, which allows me to be part of the larger community that is addressing interagency challenges.”