Each year FedScoop recognizes federal and industry Information Technology leaders in a variety of award categories. This year, eight members of the Department of the Navy were selected as finalists for the 2015 FedScoop 50 Awards.
View the nominees and vote for your favorite finalists here .
Golden Gov
For the visionary leader that implements innovative ideas, inspires others to get on board and has impact on not only their agency, but also our community and the country.
The Honorable Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, Dept. of Navy
Implementing agency-wide change is difficult, particularly in a 900k strong, globally deployed, organization. Success takes bold, visionary leadership and the Honorable Ray Mabus has provided this for the Department of the Navy. Specifically he created Task Force Innovation to leverage the great ideas of the workforce to create game-changing operational concepts. He challenged the entire force to change how they think about the future and find opportunities for success. In a short period, TFI implemented revolutionary talent management, artificial intelligence/robotics, and emerging technology initiatives. Ray Mabus' fearless leadership unquestionably prepared the naval services to succeed in a complex and uncertain future.
Admiral Mike Rogers, Director, NSA
Admiral Mike Rogers has an important job — to prevent cyberattacks on the U.S. The Chicago native started in his post in April 2014, and before that was commander of the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command, commander of the 10th Fleet and director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He has specialized in computer network attacks and was confirmed unanimously by the Senate for the post he currently holds. He has been distinguished with numerous honors and awards, including the prestigious Navy Information Dominance Warfare Officer Badge, a Navy Distinguished Service Medal and Defense Superior Service Medal.
Mr. Rob Foster, CIO, Dept. of Navy
Rob Foster joined Navy as CIO this summer after serving as deputy CIO of HHS. As Navy CIO, Foster is the senior official and advisor on matters related to Information Management (IM), Information Technology (IT)/cyberspace, and Information Resources Management (IRM). Additionally, he ensures that the development and acquisition of IT systems are interoperable and consistent with the Department's objectives and vision, and serves as the department's cyber/IT workforce community leader, critical infrastructure assurance officer, and senior military component official for privacy.
Federal Leadership
For the federal leader helping their agency implement new technologies, strategies and IT programs to lower the cost of government while making government more innovative, agile and effective.
Mr. Thomas Hicks, Deputy Under Secretary, Dept. of Navy
Thomas Hicks provides bold, visionary leadership for the Department of the Navy and has been instrumental helping the department implement new technologies, strategies and IT programs. As DUSN (Management) he integrated business operations with the CIO to achieve meaningful results. He also created an office for Strategy and Innovation that has transformed how the Navy views data. Thanks to his leadership, the DON remains one of the most innovate agencies in the federal government today.
Lt. Themba Hinke, Navy Lieutenant, National Reconnaissance Office
Transforming the way an agency prosecutes mission data is no easy task. With the support of his team and by implementing cutting-edge technologies and processes, Navy Lt. Themba Hinke has worked tirelessly to build a mission "sandbox" that encourages and enables any agency program to explore solutions addressing their most pressing problems. Lt. Hinke has chartered his team of out-of-the-box thinkers to challenge the "status quo" way of doing business.
Disruptor of the Year
Leading innovators not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and shake up the status quo.
Vice Admiral Phil Cullom, Department Chief, Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness & Logistics, Dept. of Navy
A disruptor among senior military, he serves as Navy's CIO taking to heart sustaining global Navy preeminence. Through Task Force Innovation, Task Force Energy, and Additive Manufacturing effort, his leadership repurposed the auxiliary fleet to adopt grey-hulled missions, created the "self-sustainable ship" vision, inspired a culture that energy equals more combat capability (E=MC2), made Navy 3D printing a leader in government, and hatched the Navy Great Green Fleet concept for 2016. "Distributed Agile Logistics" is his reinvention of logistics empowering Logisticians to evolve from yesteryear's goods provider to tomorrow's "Logistics Warfighter" employing deception, agility, maneuver, and lethality on-demand.
Cybersecurity Leader of the Year
For the Cybersecurity leader paving the way in Cybersecurity innovation and constantly looking for the best ways to keep our information safe.
Dr. Ray Letteer, CISO & Chief, Cyber Security Division, USMC
Letteer has made great inroads as the division's chief, notably having his agency adopt a "comply-to-connect" system, which automatically updates computers' and laptops' configuration settings when there are any indications of vulnerabilities or software patches. Under his watch, USMC also installed a Web risk assessment cell platform that checks for other potential disruptions. Before deploying his skills in the Marine Corps, where he started in 2003, Letteer was a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton from 1994 to 1997 and SAIC from 1997 to 2003, where he supported the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Department of the Interior.
Most Inspiring Up & Comer
Young leaders who did exceptional IT work this year and made you think, "They'll be running the show someday."
Mr. Philip LeeMr. Philip Lee, Open Data Officer, Dept. of Navy
In a few years, Philip Lee certainly will be the Chief Data Officer for a large federal organization. Mr. Lee is a passionate advocate for changing the organizational culture from need-to-know to need-to-share and he understands the innovation will thrive if government organizations share their vast amount of data with the public and other federal organizations. Philip designed a virtual wargame called the "Data Dilemma" that pitted security advocates against information sharers. Over 250 federal employees, academics and members of the public participated in this unique event and the results influenced new policy decisions. Philip will be a federal leader in this field in a few short years!
Reprinted from the DON/SECNAV Innovation website: http://www.secnav.navy.mil/innovation/.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the United States government.