Federal IT Efficiency Summit

Scott Kupor is the Director at the OPM.

Lawrence Hale is the Acting Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to Federal, State, and Local governments for a broad range of items from office supplies to motor vehicles to information technology and telecommunications products and services. As an organization within FAS, ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services, and solutions.

In this role, Mr. Hale provides executive leadership over a broad portfolio that customer agencies use to buy over $42 billion in IT products and services. These solutions include the Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs): Alliant 2, VETS 2, and 8(a) STARS III. His portfolio also includes the IT Multiple Award Schedule, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS), and the USAccess shared services program. Larry’s guidance and oversight of the category teams ensure that GSA continues to play a critical role in the Administration’s IT modernization efforts to drive a more efficient and effective government for the American people.

Mr. Hale is also Chair of the Federal Secure Cloud Advisory Committee (FSCAC). Among other things, the FSCAC provides advice and recommendations to the GSA Administrator, the FedRAMP Board, and to agencies on technical, financial, programmatic, and operational matters regarding secure adoption of cloud computing products and services.

Mr. Hale has held several diverse positions within ITC:

• Acting Director, IT Services subcategory
• Director, IT Security subcategory
• Director, Customer Engagement Division

Mr. Hale was Chief Information Security Officer of Affiliated Computer Services, a Fortune 500 Information Technology company. Previously, he led the transition of the Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC) from GSA into DHS, where he served as Deputy Director of the National Cyber Security Division’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

In January 1999, Mr. Hale was the first military officer assigned to the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC). He retired from the U.S. Navy as a commander in 2001.

He has master’s degrees in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, and Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

He is a Federal Computer Week Federal 100 Award winner, a recipient of the Association for Federal Information Resource Management (AFFIRM) 2016 Leadership Award, and received the 2020 GSA Administrator’s Award for Excellence in Performance.

Wade Zarriello is the Director of Infrastructure & User Services Group at CMS.

Megan Baird serves as the Deputy Administrator in the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) at the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and Training administration (ETA). She has responsibility for oversight and activities related to OA’s industry engagement, strategic partnerships, and investment activities. This includes providing leadership for over $1 billion in investments as well as OA’s engagement with industry, workforce, equity, labor, and education leaders across the private and public sectors to promote, establish, diversify, and expand the use of registered apprenticeship and ensure access to all.

Prior to this role, she was the Program Manager for H-1B grant programs in ETA’s Office of Workforce Investments. She is a proud graduate of Smith College with a bachelor’s degree in Government.

Jonathan Plante serves as a senior cloud, hardware, and software strategist providing cloud, hardware, and software technology and acquisition expertise to GSA and government agencies for the IT Product Subcategory, within the Office of Information Technology Category in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to federal, state, local and tribal governments for a broad range of items from office supplies to motor vehicles, to information technology and telecommunications products and services. ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services and solutions.

Mr. Plante has over 19 years of experience providing technology and acquisition assistance to various government agencies, including time as a Patent Examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and as a Computer Engineer for the U.S. Army Information Systems Engineering Command. Since joining GSA in 2015, Mr. Plante has worked as an IT Project Manager for GSA Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS), among other roles.

Mr. Plante holds a B.S. in computer engineering from the University of Illinois – Champaign/Urbana, an M.S. in Information Systems Technology from The George Washington University, and is a Federal Acquisition Institute-certified Contracting Officer Representative and Program and Project Manager.

Hemant Baidwan is Executive Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Knox Systems, the largest federal AI-managed cloud provider. Hemant previously served as CISO at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an inaugural member of the FedRAMP Board, and Vice Chair of the federal CISO Council. He advanced cybersecurity strategy for one of the largest federal enterprises, strengthened and modernized mission-critical networks, and earned the DHS Innovation Award and a spot in the FedScoop 50.

Tom Guido joined Salesforce in August 2022, where he now helps agencies transform, work more efficiently, scale IT Modernization efforts and realize a maximum return on their investments. He brings over 28 years of technology experience including hundreds of implementations in the government sector. Tom is considered a leader in managing complex, enterprise IT programs and has a proven track record of automating and modernizing mission delivery. Before his role with Salesforce, Tom oversaw the Department of Veterans Affairs Digital Transformation Center, and served as the Director of the Disaster Credit Management Systems Operations Center for the Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Assistance.