2011 Government Talent Summit

Lieutenant General Andrew Graham was educated at Eton College and Trinity College Cambridge. Commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) in 1975 he served as a Platoon Commander and Company Commander in the UK, Hong Kong, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, South Georgia and Germany before commanding 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) from 1995–1997.

He spent two years in the MOD as Assistant Military Assistant to the Adjutant General before attending the Army Staff College at Camberley in 1988. This was followed by a further tour in the MOD as SO2 MO1 (OE) and then two years as a member of the Directing Staff at the Staff College from 1992–1994.

Following promotion to Colonel, he served as Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff of G3 Command Plans in HQ Land Command in 1997, and commanded 3 Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland from 1999–2001 before taking over as Director Army RP (Resources and Plans) in the MOD in December 2001. On promotion to Major General, he was deployed as Deputy Commanding General Multi-National Corps to Iraq in 2004.

In October 2004 he took over as Director General of the Army Training & Recruiting Agency (now the Army Recruiting & Training Division). He was appointed Director General of the Defence Academy in May 2008 in the rank of Lieutenant General. Read More >>

Dr. George L. Tanner is a member of the career Senior Executive Service and currently serves as the Chief Learning Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. In this role, he is
responsible for providing high quality training, education and professional development programs
under the banner of the DHS Homeland Security University System to the DHS workforce. Since joining the Department in 2004, he has served in several positions of increasing responsibilityincluding Chief Learning Officer for the Directorate for Preparedness, Director for Training andEducation of the Directorate for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, and Director or Training, Education and Recruitment Programs in the Office of Information Analysis.

Dr. Tanner is a retired active-duty Army officer. He spent the majority of his last decade of
military service at the National Defense Intelligence College serving in a variety of positions,
including Professor of Strategic Intelligence, Associate Dean for College Programs, Senior Army Advisor, and Academic Department Chairman. He also served as an adjunct professor on the faculty of American Military University (AMU) from 2000 to 2005.

Dr. Tanner holds Masters and Doctoral level degrees in Political Science. He also graduated with "Highest Distinction" and received the Directors Award for Academic Excellence from the Naval War College, from which he also holds a Masters Degree in National Security Studies. Notably, Dr. Tanner's dissertation entitled The Problem of World Order When the World is Your Village Versus Your Globe is listed by Proquest, the worlds largest dissertation service and online data provider, as being on their best seller list five times since 1997--three as the #1 best selling dissertation in North America--an unprecedented accomplishment according to Proquest.

Dr. Tanner has received numerous awards for exceptional performance during his civilian and military careers including the Department of Homeland Security 2007 "Secretary's Team Award" for his leadership in establishing the DHS Homeland Security University system, the U.S. Army's Legion of Merit and several Defense Meritorious Service and Army Meritorious Service medals. He is also the recipient of the Robert D. Beland Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizing him as the National Defense Intelligence College's Outstanding Faculty Member for 1996-97. He is married to Tanya M. (Wenzel) Tanner, who serves at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). George and Tanya reside in Alexandria, Virginia and have two children-Richard and Andrew.

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Dr. Joseph Harrison Jr.
Chief, Civilian Human Resources, Recruitment and Retention
US Army Medical Command

Dr. Joseph Harrison, Jr. currently serves as the Chief, Civilian Human Resources Division, Recruitment and Retention Branch for the US Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). This was a first for MEDCOM. The branch was launched in April 2008. He leads the development and execution of plans to maintain a highly visible recruitment program to stimulate interest and attract qualified applicants for a variety of hard-to-fill medical occupations for the civilian medical corps.

Dr. Harrison recently worked with the Air Force Manpower Agency. Primary duties included applying management-engineering methodologies to conduct workforce determination studies. Additionally, Dr. Harrison served as Chairman of the Alamo Federal Executive Board’s Workforce Opportunities Council (WOC). The WOC is a unified/diversified effort of all Special Emphasis Programs within the San Antonio area in the recruitment, placement, development, and promotion of individuals employed or seeking employment with the Federal government.

Dr. Harrison is a retired USAF Medical Service Corps Officer. Since retiring from active duty, he has held positions as Assistant Director, Human Resources, San Antonio State Hospital, and Director, Human Resources, at Compass/Mission Vista Hospital, and T.R.U.E. Research Foundation in San Antonio, TX.

Prior to retiring from active duty at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center, Dr. Harrison’s team conducted a Business Case Analysis for the primary care and subspecialty clinics. The study was instrumental in the military to begin accepting TRICARE Senior (Medicare) patients.

From 2002-2005, Dr. Harrison served as a civilian with the USAF in the Force Development Transformation Laboratory and Reengineering Division, Personnel Process Reengineering Branch, Air Force Personnel Operations Agency. During this time, Dr. Harrison conducted Business Process Redesigns on a variety of primarily personnel and pay functions. In addition, Dr. Harrison was selected to serve as a USAF Team Member (Civilian Personnel), with the Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) - a highly sensitive project in Department of Defense.

Dr Harrison received his Ph.D. from Texas A& M University in Human Resource Development. Additionally, he holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Troy State University, and bachelor’s degrees in Business Management from the University of Maryland and Psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College.

Dr Harrison is an adjunct faculty member with the University of Phoenix, Webster University, and Park University. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Delta Kappa Pi Honor Society, the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR), American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and the San Antonio Human Resource Management Association (SAHRMA). He is a Professional in Human Resources, PHR Certified. Additionally, Dr Harrison is a member of the Bexar County Buffalo Soldiers Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, Uniformed Services Disabled Retirees (USDR), and the American Legion.
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Andrew Krzmarzick, is the Director of Community Engagement for GovLoop.com, a vibrant social network serving nearly 50,000 government innovators across Federal, state and local government. He’s passionate about improving government via innovative approaches to technology, career development, generational diversity and flexible work environments. Andrew’s insights have been featured in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Federal Computer Week, Government Executive, Federal News Radio and more. He also has a MA in Theology from The Catholic University of America and a BA in Philosophy from Iowa State University. He resides with his wife and son in Durham, North Carolina, where he is a marketing advisory board member for an innovative, local non-profit and an active member of his faith community. Read More >>

Gregory Wilshusen is Director of Information Security Issues at Government Accounting Office (GAO), where he leads information security-related studies and audits of the federal government.  He has over 28 years of auditing, financial management, and information systems experience.  Prior to joining GAO in 1997, Mr. Wilshusen held a variety of public and private sector positions.  He was a senior systems analyst at the Department of Education. He also served as the Controller for the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources, and held senior auditing positions at Irving Burton Associates, Inc. and the U.S. Army Audit Agency. 
He holds a B.S. degree in business administration (accounting) from the University of Missouri and an M.S. in information management from George Washington University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  He is a certified public accountant, certified internal auditor, and certified information systems auditor. 
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Donna L. Siegel was named Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources of the Social Security Administration effective August 3, 2009.  As the alter ego to the Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources and Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), she shares responsibility for executive leadership of the agency's human resources programs in support of approximately 60,000 employees.  This responsibility includes management of the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Office of Labor Management and Employee Relations, Office of Learning, Office of Personnel, Executive Services Support Staff, and Human Capital Planning Staff.
Mrs. Siegel is also the Deputy CHCO for SSA.  As Deputy CHCO, she serves concurrently with the CHCO to oversee human resources policies, strategies and workforce issues for SSA’s employees.
Donna started her career with the Social Security Administration as a Writer-Editor in April 1976.  Throughout her career, she has held many management positions, including Deputy Director of Health Care Financing Administration’s Office of Administrative Services from August 1987 through August 1992, Executive Officer of SSA’s Office of Finance, Administration, and Management from August 1992 through August 2002, and the SES Candidate Development Program from October 2002 through May 2003.
Prior to becoming Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources, Donna served as the Office of Facilities Management’s Associate Commissioner for six years.  While leading the agency’s Office of Facilities Management, she inaugurated rigorous management controls. Among her achievements while in that position were serving on the team that built the Durham Support Center, improving the agency’s medical parking program, resolving significant real property issues, improving SSA’s Continuity of Operations Plan program and implementing HSPD-12.
Donna has been the recipient of many agency awards, including the Commissioner’s Citation in 2001 and 2009, the Deputy Commissioner of Finance, Assessment, and Management Citation in 1997, the Dallas Regional Commissioner Citation in 2009, a General Counsel Team Citation in 2009, the Deputy Commissioner for Systems Citation in 2009, and the Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources Citation in 2006 and 2009.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Donna obtained her B.A. in English from the University of Maryland.
Donna is married to Dr. Brian Siegel and they are the proud parents of three grown children, Jesse, Jordan, and Max. Read More >>

Dr. Jay Liebowitz is the Orkand Endowed Chair of Management and Technology in the Graduate School of Management & Technology at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC).  He previously served as a Professor in the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.  He was ranked one of the top 10 knowledge management researchers/practitioners out of 11,000 worldwide, and was recently ranked #2 in KM Strategy worldwide according to the January 2010 Journal of Knowledge Management.  At Johns Hopkins University, he was the founding Program Director for the Graduate Certificate in Competitive Intelligence and the Capstone Director of the MS-Information and Telecommunications Systems for Business Program, where he engaged over 30 organizations in industry, government, and not-for-profits in capstone projects. 

Prior to joining Hopkins, Dr. Liebowitz was the first Knowledge Management Officer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  Before NASA, Dr. Liebowitz was the Robert W. Deutsch Distinguished Professor of Information Systems at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, Professor of Management Science at George Washington University, and Chair of Artificial Intelligence at the U.S. Army War College. 
Dr. Liebowitz is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of  Expert Systems With Applications: An International Journal (published by Elsevier), which had about 1,600 paper downloads per day worldwide last year.  He is a Fulbright Scholar, IEEE-USA Federal Communications Commission Executive Fellow, and Computer Educator of the Year (International Association for Computer Information Systems).  He has published over 40 books and a myriad of journal articles on knowledge management, intelligent systems, and IT management.  His most recent books are Knowledge Retention: Strategies and Solutions (Taylor & Francis, 2009), Knowledge Management in Public Health (Taylor & Francis, 2010), and Knowledge Management and E-Learning (Taylor & Francis, 2011).  He has lectured and consulted worldwide.

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Alicia Mazzara is currently a graduate student at the George Washington University where she is pursuing a masters degree in public policy. She is also a graduate fellow at GovLoop, the premier social network for people in and around government, fostering collaboration among 45,000+ members.
Prior to her graduate studies, Alicia worked at the Federal Trade Commission where she focused on emerging technology and data privacy issues. Alicia spent two years in the FTC's Honors Paralegal Program before becoming the assistant to the Chief Privacy Officer. During her tenure at the FTC, Alicia interviewed candidates for the paralegal program and helped stand up the program's recruiting website.
Alicia has written about government for the Huffington Post and Washington Post and writes about food for DCist.com. She graduated from Carleton College in 2006 with a BA in political science and international relations. Read More >>

Mr. Wilson is the implementation manager for the IMF’s workforce planning initiative and is responsible for developing the Fund’s workforce planning process and automated tools.  He has over 20 years experience working with private and public sector organizations to improve their business outcomes by implementing cost effective business process improvement and information system solutions. Mr. Wilson also holds an MBA degree from the Wharton School Of Business in Entrepreneurial Management and Strategic Planning. Read More >>

Maria-Paz Barrientos is a Partner with IBM Global Business Services, and leads the corporation's Organization and People Consulting Group for North America. Ms. Barrientos has over 19 years of consulting experience focused in the area of organizational transformation in the areas of human resources, finance and operations. She has performed business transformation projects for a number of organizations, including the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the US House of Representatives, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the State of Florida, and FEMA. In addition to her experience in transformation, Ms. Barrientos has also led projects in Strategy Consulting, Knowledge Management and Organizational Change, as well as Disaster Recovery operations. Ms. Barrientos holds a BA from the University of Maryland as well as an MA from the George Washington University. Read More >>

Andrew Jackson is the Vice President of Kenexa Government Solutions, and is responsible for the company’s business services globally. He also serves as the Managing Director of Kenexa-Europe, Middle East and Australia regions. Mr. Jackson joined Kenexa in April 2009 after a full career in the British Army, where he most recently served as Director of Army Recruiting in the rank of Brigadier. His other recent posts included command of the 51st Scottish Brigade, responsibility for the Army Training Estate and three years on the Commitments (operations) staff in the Ministry of Defence. He followed his father and grandfather into the King’s Own Scottish Borderers and is now Chairman of the Regimental Association. His career has included operational tours to Iraq and Northern Ireland, a four year tour as a helicopter pilot and, in 1996, he achieved his personal ambition to command 1st Battalion The King’s Own Scottish Borderers. Read More >>

Ron Sticinski is a Management Consultant with IBM and is currently the IBM Project Manager for Army Career Tracker.  Ron started his professional career with the Navy, graduating from the Naval Academy in 1977, and initially served as a Surface Warfare Officer.  After finishing a tour at sea onboard USS Ainsworth (FF-1090), Ron attended graduate school at MIT earning a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and then transferred to Engineering Duty Officer serving at Charleston Naval Shipyard and the Ship Repair Facility, Subic Bay, Republic of the Philippines.  Ron transferred in 1988 to the US Naval Reserve and retired as a Captain in 2007.  In 1998, Ron started employment at IBM Learning Services delivering complex learning solutions.  Today, Ron is a member of IBM Federal and the Organization and People practice and is a certified Project Management Professional.  Ron has been married to the former Naomi Keesee for over 30 years.  His sons, Alex and Nic, are currently attending college. Read More >>

Retiring in 2010 after 37 years of Federal service (20 as a senior executive), Dr. Ronald Sanders is now a Senior Executive Advisor with the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton; in that capacity, he helps Federal agencies deal with human capital, learning, and organizational transformation challenges.
A finalist for the 2010 Service to America Career Achievement Medal, Dr. Sanders most recently served as the US Intelligence Community’s first Chief Human Capital Officer, where he played a key leadership role in the establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  Dr. Sanders’ many accomplishments earned him and his team one of Harvard University’s coveted Innovations in American Government Awards in 2008.  In addition, Dr. Sanders received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, OPM’s Theodore Roosevelt Award for Outstanding Public Service (his second), and the American Society for Public Administration’s Award for Outstanding Career Service.
From 2002 to 2005, Dr. Sanders served as the US Office of Personnel Management’s first Associate Director for Human Resource Policy, with responsibility for all policies and programs covering the Federal government’s millions of employees and retirees. Among other achievements, he led the creation of the Senior Executive Service’s revolutionary pay-for-performance system.  Awarded the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive in 2003 (his third, from three different agencies), he also received his first Theodore Roosevelt Award, as well as the Navy Medal for Distinguished Public Service.
From 1998 to 2002, he served as the US Internal Revenue Service’s first Chief Human Resource Officer, with HR strategy and policy responsibility for the more than 120,000 managers and employees of the IRS.  In that capacity, Dr. Sanders played a key leadership role in the Service’s landmark restructuring; he received a second Presidential Rank Award for his contributions to that effort, as well as three IRS Commissioner’s Awards, the Service’s highest honor. 
From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Sanders as the Department of Defense’s Principal Director of Civilian Personnel Policy and Equal Employment Opportunity, with HR and EEO policy and program responsibility for DoD’s more than one million civilian employees; in addition, he served as the founding Director of the Defense Civilian Personnel Service.  In these capacities, he led the Department’s historic civilian drawdown, reducing its rolls by over 300,000…but with only 12,000 involuntary separations; he was also the architect of the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System.  He received his first Presidential Rank Award, as well as the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, for these and other achievements.
Prior to his DoD appointment, Dr. Sanders served in a variety of senior HR positions in the Department of the Air Force, including Deputy Director of Air Force Civilian Personnel, his first SES position.  In that capacity, he earned the Air Force’s prestigious General Robert J. Dixon Leadership Award (the first and only civilian to be so honored), attended MIT’s Sloan School of Management Senior Executive Program, and completed a Congressional Fellowship with the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. 
A Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Dr. Sanders earned his Doctorate in Public Administration (DPA) from the George Washington University in 1990.  His BA is in business management from the University of South Florida; he also has a MS in human resource management from the University of Utah.  In addition, he has taught and directed research centers at GWU and Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the Nation’s top-ranked school of public management; he also serves an adjunct faculty member with the Brookings Institution’s Center for Public Policy Education is on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Training and Development. Read More >>

Susanna Marking is originally from South Dakota.  She received her undergraduate degree in communication from South Dakota State University, and recently earned her Master’s in Public Administration from George Mason University.
Susanna began her federal experience in high school as an intern with her local U.S. Forest Service office.  Through the federal student programs, she worked in the national forest’s Office of Public Affairs for seven years. She performed everything from writing news releases and editing videos, to being the main spokesperson during forest fires. Susanna says her extraordinary experience at the U.S. Forest Service convinced her to build a long-term career in the federal government.  
After moving to Washington D.C. to pursue graduate school, she transferred to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. As a SCEP, she led the effort in developing a new public outreach program, and created tools to educate citizens about federal career opportunities.  Susanna recently became a Presidential Management Fellow.  She currently serves in FEMA’s Office of Public Affairs and performs media relations.  She’s excited to continue her federal career, and hopes to help lead an agency someday. Read More >>

Chris is currently the Vice President for Government and Public Sector for Taleo, a role he assumed in January, 2009. He is a member of the Senior Leadership Team and the Business Leaders Team and is responsible for establishing and growing the public sector business for the leader in Talent Intelligence that currently has more than 4500 commercial customers including half of the Fortune 100.Prior to joining Taleo, Mr. Feeley was the Group Director for Global Services at iSoft plc, a clinical health care software company located in Banbury, England. Mr. Feeley was a member of the Executive Operations Board and managed the efforts of iSoft's 1200 developers in Chennai, India and led the group's service organizations in the United Kingdom, India, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and Spain.Prior to iSOFT, Mr. Feeley was the Global Services Group Vice President for Government, Health Care and Education at Oracle and PeopleSoft. While at PeopleSoft, he continually improved performance and customer satisfaction after forming the Education and Government Services organization in 2000. Before PeopleSoft, Mr. Feeley spent 15 years at Electronic Data Systems in a variety of technical and account leadership roles in manufacturing, government and financial services.Mr. Feeley holds Bachelors of Science degrees from the State University of New York and the University of Connecticut. Read More >>

Vincent Firth is a Partner at Monitor Group and leads the firm’s Strategic Implementation and Change practice. Through his three decades of experience, in both the public and private sector, Vincent has acquired a deep understanding of issues related to integrated strategy alignment, planning and implementation. Before joining Monitor Vincent was a Senior Partner and Senior Vice President  at Index Consulting a wholly owned subsidiary of Computer Sciences Corporation.  At CSC he lead the Transformation and Change Practice. Vincent holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School and a Master’s degree in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania. Read More >>

Jessica Watson is an Associate Partner at Monitor Group and a member of the firm’s Leadership and Organization unit. She also co-leads Monitor’s “High-Performance Bureaucracy” practice area, which focuses on working with senior government executives in Washington and around the globe to improve the impact and effectiveness of their agencies and functions. Over her seven years at Monitor, Jessica has led engagements that include large-scale reorganizations, human capital audits and HR transformation,  process reengineering, leadership team effectiveness, and adaptive cost management. Jessica holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Read More >>