Insights

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Interviews

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Gregory Spearman, Purchasing Director; City of Tampa

Gregory K. Spearman is a native of Glenwood, GA and received his B. S. Degree from Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, Georgia, a Master’s Degree from Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia and his M.P.H. Degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, TX. Having a supplier diversity program is extremely important because of the need to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion (a/k/a DEI) in the bidding and contracting process. Small and minority owned businesses can and do perform well if there is a serious effort to de-mystify the bidding process, remove barriers that prevent them from …
Holly I. Holly I.
General
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17 Jun 2022
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Interviews

Speaker Spotlight Q&A with Sarah Truckle, Director of Program and Strategic Operations at the State of Vermont's Agency of Human Services

She has graduate degrees in both law and environmental policy from Vermont Law School. In her role within the Secretary’s Office, she leads the agency’s integration and care coordination through complex case management, directing the systems-level coordination of agency resources and community partner services. Additionally, her work integrates the Agency’s strategic operations supporting programmatic and fiscal alignment. Outside of work Sarah enjoys baking cakes and pastries, reading fiction, and walking through Hubbard Park with her two sons.
Paris Armstrong Paris Armstrong
Data, Analytics and AI
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28 May 2022
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Interviews

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Wendy Geller, PhD - Division Director, Data Management & Analysis, Vermont Agency of Education

Wendy’s dissertation findings highlighted shifting demographics in education arenas and labor markets internationally, specific education orientations occurring across cultures, and presented thoughts on the social and spatial forces surrounding rural community viability. Since leaving academia, Dr. Geller has dedicated herself to creating the cultural, infrastructural, and operational conditions required for practicing good data science in the public sector. She lives in Montpelier, VT with her brilliant husband, Alex, their joyful son, Sylvan, and trusty companion, Sir Richard the Lionhearted Dog. Iteration, and the open expectation of failure with view to making something better, together, makes collaboration an everyday activity. It’s …
Knia Pablo Knia Pablo
Digital Services and Customer Experience
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10 May 2022
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Interviews

Speaker Spotlight Q&A: Julia Wong, IT Accessibility Compliance Officer, Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services 

For nearly 20 years, Julia Wong has been instrumental in addressing accessibility issues within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through her knowledge of general accessibility standards and compliance, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, WCAG2 standards, as well as testing and remediation of various forms of electronic mediums. She has contributed to the accessibility standards for the Commonwealth by co-authoring the original state standards and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) Secretariat Accessibility Policy. In her current role as the EOHHS Accessibility Compliance Officer, she ensures that EOHHS agencies are creating website content and developing applications that are …
Knia Pablo Knia Pablo
Digital Services and Customer Experience
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29 Apr 2022
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Interviews

Spotlight Interview: Jessica Bensel, CHRO, U.S. Department of Commerce - Federal HR Insights

I am the Director for the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) and the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) for the Department of Commerce. I inform the Deputy Secretary of Commerce on all things Human Capital. My office is the strategic arm for the Department – working in Learning and Development, ER/LR, talent services, accountability, risk, safety, health, executive resources, succession planning, and more. I also teach undergraduate classes for UMGC in HR – have for over ten years now. I came to DOC in September. Prior to being at DOC, I was at DHS/USCIS and before that at the …
Paris Armstrong Paris Armstrong
Workforce, Skills and Capability
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1 Apr 2022
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Interviews

#GovInnovator Q&A: Deshard Stevens, CISO, NYC Commission on Human Rights

Deshard Stevens is a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with over 12 years of experience managing, developing, and implementing business strategies and technical solutions while leading and managing project development, cloud strategy, and information technology teams. Deshard was the recipient of the 2018 Rising Star Award from the New York City Public Sector CIO Academy. He is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified in Risk and Information System Control (CRISC), Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE), and holds a Master of Business Administration. In his free time, Deshard is an avid runner. I am currently the Chief Information …
Paris Armstrong Paris Armstrong
Digital Services and Customer Experience
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16 Feb 2022
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Interviews

Exclusive Q&A: VITA's COO Talks Government Automation, RPA, and Leadership

Jonathan Ozovek is the Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency - or VITA; a convenient acronym if ever there were one, given the importance of information technology to all aspects of life today. Answer: The main lesson I learned is how quickly the world can change. There is a level of connectivity and interdependency throughout the world today that was not the case decades ago. The main lessons I have reinforced are two fold...first, never lose sight of what is important and do not take your loved ones for granted and second, have multiple backup plans (i.e. …
Paris Armstrong Paris Armstrong
Digital Services and Customer Experience
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27 Jan 2022
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Interviews

People, Processes & Public Service: Executive Q&A with CalHR’s Chief of Administration, Brendan Murphy

With a career spanning nearly 20 years across both the public and private sectors – CalHR's Brendan Murphy has been a leader at spearheading effective change and ensuring that his team remain motivated and engaged. With a background spanning Finance and Emergency Management – Brendan has experience and expertise that seems tailor-made for our current crisis. Originally, I was drawn to public service to help people. I started in public safety on law enforcement and corrections assignments. The draw for me was really to keep people safe, however as I understood the system more I saw the chance to impact …
Paris Armstrong Paris Armstrong
Workforce, Skills and Capability
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26 Jan 2022
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