Infrastructure Series: IT Modernization

Elizabeth A. Cappello serves as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).

As Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO), Ms. Cappello is responsible for managing the Department’s information technology infrastructure and security. She arrived at DHS OCIO in August 2019 and served as the Acting CIO from November 2019 – May 2020.

Previously, Ms. Cappello served as the Acting CIO and Deputy CIO for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While at ICE, Ms. Cappello led several large technology initiatives, including Data Center 1 migration to the cloud and the retirement of legacy mainframe dependency. She oversaw deployment of Microsoft Office 365 and led Security Operations Center optimization efforts, including a highly successful Defense Information Systems Agency assessment.

Prior to joining ICE, Ms. Cappello served as the Executive Director, Field Support Directorate within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Information Technology.

Ms. Cappello began her federal service as a U.S. Marine and has more than 30 years of government leadership and management expertise. She served in the legacy U.S. Customs Service at the National Data Center and at field offices in Southern California. Before this, she provided centralized information technology support at ICE.

Ms. Cappello is a graduate of the Harvard University Senior Managers in Government program and the National Defense University Advanced Management program with federal Chief Information Officer and Information Assurance certifications. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in management from Johns Hopkins University.

Jeff is an accomplished Enterprise Architect with over 28 years’ experience with the focus areas of Strategy, Methods and Tools. At Software AG Government Solutions, he advises customers and agencies on the implementation of Alfabet to support Portfolio Governance and Rationalization, and speaks frequently on effective approaches for digital business transformation. He has worked in numerous industries including Federal and State Governments, Defense, Telecommunications, Automotive Manufacturing, and Financial Services. His broad experiences help to shape the sharing of best practices throughout the Federal and State Government.

Andrew Conn is Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of National Government Services, a subsidiary of Anthem, Inc. and trusted partner to federal health agencies for more than 50 years. Conn leads NGS’ operational excellence in information technology and administrative services for federal health agencies to establish and deliver flexible, innovative solutions to keep our nation’s health care systems and technology online, secure and available.

Mr. Conn has more than 29 years of health care experience. He possesses deep federal health program and technical expertise, which has been integral during National Government Services’ digital transformation to modernize federal health using emerging technology to consolidate systems, reduce costs, and improve timeliness. Using DevSecOps, Agile, and Human-Centered Design practices, his leadership enables the organization to deliver technology solutions for its federal agency customers. National Government Services is dedicated to transformation strategies that optimize business operations without sacrificing security.

Mahtab Emdadi is an accomplished federal business leader and strategist who was named Rising Star for 2019 by FCW. In her role as Civilian sales director with Dell Technologies, Mahtab and her team deliver mission critical solutions and emerging technologies across Homeland Security Components. With a decade of sales and management experience, Mahtab is building a stronger workforce through Dell’s Diversity and Leadership Acceleration Programs.

Mahtab is a member of the advisory committee for the Homeland Security and Defense Forum. She received her master’s degree in leadership from Georgetown University School of Business and her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of West Virginia. Mahtab volunteers with D.C. charities, such as the Walk for Freedom and the USO. She is an advocate for putting an end to human trafficking and supporting the victims. Mahtab volunteered as a teacher in an underprivileged school in rural South Africa.

Besides spending time with family and her Peloton, Mahtab enjoys the theater, reading, and travel.

Keith Johnson currently serves as a Contracting Officer for the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC). NITAAC administers three best in class governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs)—CIO-CS, CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business–of which Keith is the lead contracting officer for all three. Keith is an experienced FAC–C Level III Certified Contracting Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry.  His expertise lies in negotiating contracts and developing long term sourcing strategies for federal agencies.

Keith is a graduate of North Carolina Central University and holds dual degrees in Political Science and History and a Master of Public Administration.

Amy Kluber is editor-in-chief of GovCIO Media & Research. Previously she managed two aviation publications at B2B media company Access Intelligence. She was nominated for The Innovation in Aerospace Journalism & Publishing Award for launching and hosting an aviation podcast. Prior to that she wrote news scripts and produced videos for the network Newsy. Follow Amy on Twitter: @amykluber

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Having traveled around the world since an early age, she grew up a U.S. Army brat born in Vicenza, Italy, and spent most of her youth living in Seoul, South Korea.

In her free time, you may find her at Disney World.

George Linares is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As CTO, George serves as one of the Agency’s principal officials responsible for information technology (IT) at CMS. George advocates for enhancements to CMS IT and information technology practices to maintain cost-effective offerings, with an emphasis on the ever evolving and maturing of CMS’ technical environment.

Additionally, George fosters and enables the introduction of innovative technologies in the areas of Service-based Architectures, Enterprise Shared Capabilities, Cloud Services and Data Analytics, and practical opportunities to balance program needs with technology advancements.

George has worked at CMS since 2003, assuming the responsibility of various roles, including Technical Advisor and Application Architect. Prior to joining CMS, George worked as a software developer in multiple industry settings where he implemented several banking, manufacturing, and financial IT initiatives. George also served in the U.S. Army and he earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Towson University.

Keith Nakasone joined VMware in June 2021 as Senior Federal Strategist, supporting VMware’s Government, Education and Healthcare sector. In his role, Nakasone is focused on delivering IT and acquisition solutions with agility, flexibility, scalability, and security as a priority.

Nakasone joined VMware from the US. General Services Administration, where he was the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Acquisition Management and focused on delivering IT acquisition solutionsfor the present and beyond. Prior to GSA, he served as Senior Procurement Executive at the FCC overseeing the Acquisitions and Procurements, Contracting Officer’s and Contracting Officer’s Representative Certification programs, and was responsible for the agency’s small business goals. Nakasone also spent 20 years working for the US Department of Defense, where he worked with the US Army, Navy, and DISA on advancing their IT and telecommunications infrastructure.

Nakasone holds a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University in Ft. McNair, Washington D.C and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu, HI. He currently resides in Arlington, VA and enjoys spending time traveling back and forth between Hawaii, Las Vegas, and other resort locations.

Sabrina Parker Colwell is the acting Program Manager/ Branch Chief for Digital Innovation and Development DID(IT), an in-house software delivery branch that is committed to delivering high-value and innovative solutions in support of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services operations using industry best practices such as Human-Centered Design, Lean Product Management, and Continuous Delivery. As the program manager, she supports day-to-day operations such as staffing management, budget management, equipment and licensing management, and contract management. These tasks help to ensure that than branch’s 20+ delivery teams have the resources needed to deliver reliable solutions to USCIS stakeholders.

Mrs. Parker Colwell has 10 years of federal government experience, all at USCIS. Prior to becoming the acting branch chief for DID(IT), served as the deputy branch chief for DID(IT) for two years, she was a product manager in the Digital Services Division where she lead development teams for the myUSCIS program, and served as the platform product owner for the enterprise Salesforce solution, STARS.

Sabrina has a bachelor’s in Politics from Wake Forest University and a Master’s in Broadcast Journalism and Public Affairs from American University.

Mr. James Punteney serves as the Executive Director of the Digital Service Directorate (DS), a branch of the U.S. Digital Service, within the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).

Since joining DS in February 2017, Mr. Punteney has led efforts to improve international travel, help disaster survivors, and modernize the tools and techniques used to build software within the government.

Mr. Punteney previously helped drive the relaunch of the application system for U.S. Customs & Border Protection’s (CBP) Trusted Traveler Program, which allows over six million members to travel hassle-free in and out of the United States. He also led a team of Digital Service engineers, designers, and product managers supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with the Grants Management Modernization project, a FEMA-wide initiative to modernize and consolidate existing FEMA grant management systems while reducing costs and increasing impact.

Mr. Punteney has more than 20 years of experience in technology. Prior to joining the federal government, he served as vice president of Product and Engineering at Manzama, a social monitoring platform for legal firms in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He previously held senior executive positions at Genius Rocket, Transcendigital and other startups.

Mr. Punteney earned a Master of Business at Mendoza College of Business of the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Administration degree in management information systems at Washington State University.

Ms. Sharon Woods is a member of the Senior Executive Service and currently serves as the Director for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) J-9 Hosting and Compute (HaC). In this role, Ms. Woods is focused on making the HaC the warfighter’s provider of choice for hosting and compute.Prior to this role, Ms. Woods served as Executive Director for the Cloud Computing Program Office, where she led the team responsible for deploying Commercial Virtual Remote, a collaboration tool designed to support remote work during the COVID 19 national emergency. To date, CVR is the largest Microsoft 365 tenant deployment in the world. Ms. Woods also served as the General Counsel for the Defense Digital Service where she provided legal counsel and bureaucracy hacking expertise for a team of federal government technologists working on high impact challenges at the Pentagon. Ms. Woods has also worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of the Navy, specializing in information technology acquisitions.

Ms. Woods holds a law degree from the Washington College of Law, American University and a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has received numerous awards from the Defense and Acquisition communities in recognition of her leadership and accomplishments including: the Federal 100 award (August 2021), the Pinnacle Award for Cloud Government Executive of the Year (November 2020), Secretary of Defense Coin (January 2017), the Department of the Navy SPAWAR Exemplary Achievement Award (November 2015), and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award (December 2013).