Federal IT Trends in 2023, Outlook for 2024

Wed, 12/20/2023

The federal technology industry saw major developments in 2023 that are setting the stage for fast-paced modernization next year. This includes major updates around electronic health record modernization, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, zero trust and data modernization across all agency missions including defense and health care. Take a look back at some of these developments and what they mean for the technology landscape in 2024.

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Featuring

Tanya Bradsher Deputy Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs
Tanya Bradsher
- Deputy Secretary
- Department of Veterans Affairs
Danny Connelly Chief Information Security Officer, Zscaler
Danny Connelly
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Zscaler
Danny has 20 years of cybersecurity experience split between offensive computing as an ethical hacker and defending some of our most important networks. As a highly regarded thought leader and trusted cybersecurity advisor, Danny has provided guidance and formulated strategies to combat emerging threats for various agencies across the federal government.
Prior to joining Zscaler, Danny was the Associate CISO, Operations Branch Chief for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During his 11 year tenure at CDC, Danny was responsible for implementing operational capabilities to support incident response, forensics, cyber threat intel and insider threat functions. He has designed, implemented, and optimized enterprise cyber security capabilities to effectively detect, prevent and respond to emerging cybersecurity threats.
Jen Easterly Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Jen Easterly
- Director
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Dr. Jennifer Layden Director, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology (OPHDST), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Jennifer Layden
- Director, Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology (OPHDST)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Jennifer Layden, MD, PhD is the Director for the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology. In this position, she is responsible for leading, coordinating, and executing a comprehensive public health data strategy and improving the availability and use of public health data to inform decision-making and action. A primary focus of Dr. Layden’s role is to provide leadership for CDC’s Data Modernization Initiative and serve as an advisor to the CDC Director.

Prior to this position, she served as Deputy Director in CDC’s Office of Science (OS), where she provided strategic leadership in the release of the expanded COVID public use dataset and led strategic efforts to expand and support open data efforts across the agency. She also established and led the strategic science unit within the COVID-19 Response and served as co-lead for the Vaccine Task Force on the response. Dr. Layden is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including CDC’s Charles C. Shepard Science Award.

Before coming to CDC, Dr. Layden served as the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health and as the State Epidemiologist and Chief Medical Officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health. Dr. Layden played key roles in public health responses to COVID-19, EVALI, Hepatitis A, and synthetic cannabinoid contamination at the state and local level. While at the Chicago Department of Public Health, she helped establish the agency’s first cloud-based data hub to improve electronic health record data reporting and provided strategic vision in developing the agency’s first advanced molecular detection lab through an academic-health department partnership. Additionally, she served on CSTE task forces during both the COVID-19 and EVALI responses, and she has presented at both national and international conferences.

In 2005, Dr. Layden received both her MD and her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she also completed her internal medicine and infectious disease clinical training. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to transitioning to public health, Dr. Layden held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University Chicago. During that time, she conducted numerous studies on Hepatitis C virus disease progression, burden, and treatment response, as well as population-based studies of HCV burden in West Africa. Dr. Layden has authored more than 70 scientific publications.
Randy Resnick Director, Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office, Defense Department
Randy Resnick
- Director, Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office
- Defense Department
Mr. Randy Resnick serves as the Director of the newly established Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office within DoD CIO/CS. Mr. Resnick joins us from the National Security Agency (NSA) with over 34 years of experience in offense and defense cybersecurity. In his most recent assignment, Mr. Resnick served as NSA’s Zero Trust Strategic Lead. In that role, Mr. Resnick successfully led and executed numerous ZT activities at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels and also provided NSA leadership during the successful ZT POM 23-27 Issue Paper process. His leadership and technical direction led to the development of the first DoD Zero Trust Reference Architecture, the first NSS Zero Trust Reference Architecture, DoD’s ZT maturity model, DoD’s initial strategy for Zero Trust and the construction of two Zero Trust Innovation testbed labs in collaboration with DISA and USCC. Prior to serving as NSA’s Zero Trust Strategic Lead, Mr. Resnick held positions as their Cybersecurity Innovations Director for the NSA Cybersecurity Directorate, served as Chief of NSA’s Red Team, and served as the Deputy Mission Manager for NC2/NC3/NLCC missions.

As the Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office Director, Mr. Resnick’s focus will be to provide strategic guidance, direct alignment of DoD ZT efforts, and prioritize resources to accelerate Zero Trust adoption across the DoD Enterprise while strengthening coordination and collaboration with key partners and stakeholders across the Department, the IC, Interagency, and Industry.

A native New Yorker, Mr. Resnick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Fairleigh Dickenson University and a Master’s Degree in Engineering Management from George Washington University. Mr. Resnick has been married for 25 years and has two daughters, ages 22 and 20, who simultaneously adore him as well as drive him crazy.