Implementing Zero Trust for the Modern Work Experience

Previously he has served as the Director of Enterprise Network Management (ENM) within the Directorate of Operations in the Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) since June 2016.

Mr. Caron has over 24 years of information technology (IT) experience. He began his career in the US Army working in hands-on technical positions serving for 7 years as a Programmer and Administrator. Mr. Caron then spent 2 years as a contractor with the federal government, where he acquired more refined technical skills and a more detailed understanding of IT operations. He joined the federal government at the Department of State (DOS) in 2003 as a Systems Administrator. He has held multiple positions at the DOS, moving from managing small technical groups leading up to Director for ENM.

One of his most significant accomplishments was acting as the technical liaison during a major cyber security event at the Department. His leadership allowed the Department to resolve the incident as quickly and effectively as possible with minimal impact to the mission.

As the Director of ENM, Mr. Caron was personally responsible for the leadership of the largest office within the IRM bureau. This included managing the financial portfolio of over $200 million and prioritization of work across a wide range of disciplines. In this role he was responsible for the network and authentication infrastructure for the Department, led the re-engineering of the Department’s primary Identity and Access Management solution, formed teams to address key security efforts needed to mitigate future potential cybersecurity attacks through collaborative efforts, led the redesign of the Department’s Active Directory significantly improving security and responsible for the engineering and management of all the Department’s global network infrastructure and perimeter security infrastructure.

Mr. Caron is a co-chair on the CIO’s Innovation Counsel for Zero Trust as well as co-chair for ATARC.org Zero Trust Working Group. He previously chaired ATARC.org Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) 3.0 Working Group which resulted in 8 vendor proof of concepts being delivered to government participants.

Mr. Caron received his associate degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Computer Information Systems, Network Administration from the Northern Virginia Community College. At the Department of State, he also has received training in Executive Potential Program from the USDA Graduate School in 2009 and Advanced Leadership Skills in 2014. He received his certification in May 2020 as a Forrester Zero Trust – Strategist (ZTX-S) and received his Federal IT Security Manager Certification (FITSP-M) in 2017. Mr. Caron has received numerous individual awards for his exceptional service since 2004.

As VA’s senior information and technology executive, Mr. DelBene oversees the day-to-day activities of VA’s Digital Transformation, managing a budget of more than $4 billion. He leads a workforce of approximately 16,000 government and contract staff who enable health care and benefits delivery to more than nine million enrolled Veterans.

Before joining VA, Mr. DelBene was a longtime executive for Microsoft and served in numerous leadership roles with increasing responsibilities over more than 25 years. Most recently, he was Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Core Services Engineering and Operations and led the company’s cross-engineering and cross-business strategy, execution, and planning initiatives.

Mr. DelBene rejoined Microsoft in April 2015 after assisting former President Barack Obama with Healthcare.gov, the enrollment website for the Affordable Care Act. From December 2013 to July 2014, he served as senior advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, helping assess and implement the first Open Enrollment period, including troubleshooting problems and setting the project up for long-term success. During this time, he was also the liaison to White House and Health and Human Services senior leadership.

As president of the Microsoft Office Division from 2010 to 2013, Mr. DelBene was responsible for Microsoft’s global productivity strategy for information workers. He oversaw the engineering and marketing functions for a wide range of productivity products and services, including Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio.

Mr. DelBene also served as the senior vice president for the Microsoft Business Division, where he was responsible for the development of client and server software that delivers a holistic productivity experience to organizations and individuals, including authoring, collaboration, communications, information sharing, and project management.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 1992, Mr. DelBene was a management consultant with McKinsey and Company, focusing on business strategy for technology companies. He also worked as a software developer and systems engineer for AT&T Bell Laboratories, working in graphics and imaging software and network switching systems.

Mr. DelBene holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago, a Master of Science degree from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona. Mr. DelBene is married to U.S. Congresswoman Suzan DelBene who represents Washington’s 1st Congressional district. They have two children.