Judith Rasmussen spearheaded the FBI’s drive to issue secure personal identity verification cards to more than 35,000 FBI employees and contractors. The cards are required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, a mandatory federal building access and computer access security program.

Rasmussen delivered the public-key infrastructure necessary for the governmentside secure identity card program ahead of schedule and under budget.

PKI is critical to the FBI’s security improvements, said John Hope, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Office of IT Program Management. Rasmussen also demonstrated that fast and effective technology deployments need not threaten FBI field office operations, Hope said.

Ron Ross led the development of major security guidelines for protecting federal information and critical information systems. Those security guidelines, required by the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, define a consistent approach to setting security controls.

As FISMA implementation project leader, Ross led teams in creating thousands of pages of guidelines for conducting security assessments, developing security plans and providing security awareness training. He created a unified FISMA framework that gives federal agencies a reasonable way to protect their critical information and information systems.

“Ron’s success in everything he does is his ability to embrace ideas from many sources and constructively integrate those into his analysis,” said Joan Hash, chief of the National Institute of Standards and Technology computer security division.

Steven Saboe urged the State Department to begin using software to track materials that could yield weapons of mass destruction. The Cold War is over, but global terrorism creates a new threat of nuclear components and other deadly materials falling into the hands of terrorists.

Officials use the software, called Tracker, to detect trends and connections that could signal a problem in what might otherwise appear to be legitimate imports or exports. FGM, a company based in Reston, Va., developed the Tracker software.

Saboe suggested offering the software free to other countries, which has enabled them to regulate the materials passing through their borders.

In less than a year, Lisa Schlosser has transformed information technology operations and egovernment applications at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The accomplishment is in no small part because of her leadership and management abilities.

“She’s plain-speaking,” said Harold Youra, president of Alliance Solutions. “She treats people with respect, and she does not govern from the mountain down. She’s open; she’ll see people,” he said.

Schlosser has earned respect and recognition from federal officials, peers and staff members for her IT transformation efforts at HUD, Youra said.

Fred Schobert responded to industry concerns about an ambitious Networx telecommunications contracts program by refining the requests for proposals and coordinating a team effort to release the final RFP on time.

As the General Services Administration’s program manager for Networx, Schobert introduced several innovations, including a Webbased pricing model that GSA uses to communicate with industry. He also created a digital certificate-based virtual private network to protect GSA’s private communications with industry officials.

“We couldn’t ask for a more dedicated individual,” said John Johnson, assistant commissioner of service development and delivery at GSA’s Federal Technology Service.

Richard Skorny has helped the IRS make much needed progress with its Business Systems Modernization program after several years of delays and cost overruns.

Among other things, he delivered the first release of the Customer Account Data Engine, which will eventually be the storehouse of all taxpayer information. The system, in limited use, processed more than 1.4 million returns last year. He also pushed through a modernized e-file system and a suite of electronic self-service applications for tax practitioners.

“He has made great contributions to the improvement of our nation’s tax administration systems by playing a critical leadership role in the turnaround of the once-troubled IRS systems modernization programs,” said W. Todd Grams, the IRS’ chief information officer.

Albert Sligh wrote the book on how the Homeland Security Department can maximize its information technology spending.

Through strategic sourcing, Sligh has saved DHS more than $200 million on IT. Sligh was using that procurement approach even before 2005 when the Office of Management and Budget asked federal agencies to spend their procurement dollars among fewer vendors to achieve greater savings.

“Al’s expertise and dedication to strategic sourcing sets a model for the rest of the government to follow,” said Robert Burton, associate administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Thomas Stock led a team that upgraded the Whiteman Air Force Base network to Gigabit Ethernet performance. It was a smooth and flawless deployment completed on time and within its $3 million budget.

Senior Master Sgt. Max Grindstaff, flight chief of the Information Systems Flight’s 509th Bomb Wing, said upgrading networks can be a headache at best and a nightmare if things go wrong, which makes what Stock did unusual.

Stock also breathed new life into Whiteman’s storage-area network system, Grindstaff said, by designing a new basewide storage hierarchy and moving more than 3 terabytes of data. Stock also helped the base save more than $2.5 million by replacing obsolete equipment.

W. Hord Tipton has emerged as one of the federal government’s most vocal advocates for information technology security, with a special interest in promoting certification and accreditation programs for federal employees.

He has gone through the process himself, gaining certification as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and an Information Systems Security Engineering Professional. He has served as the government chief information officer adviser to the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium.

Lynn McNulty, director of government affairs at the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, said Tipton regularly drills IT employees on the security vulnerabilities that created legal troubles for the Interior Department. “He has taken an unusual degree of personal and professional involvement in doing this,” McNulty said.

Dr. Roxane Townsend helped develop an online service called KatrinaHealth.org that enables health care providers anywhere to get electronic medical history and prescription information on Gulf Coast evacuees.

Townsend worked at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to care for patients after Hurricane Katrina passed over the city. She met a woman who had waded through the flooded city with a plastic bag full of her prescription drugs.

Unfortunately, the labels were washed out, said Jeannine Hinton, principal of a small consulting firm called Healthworks.

Connie Vaughn received a big assignment on a Friday afternoon: Make the Internal Revenue Service’s customer service workstations available to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for relief efforts. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, FEMA needed the IRS’ telecommunications section to support its communications help line.

The IRS telecommunications section is regularly set up for about 80 users, but Vaughn expanded it to accommodate more than 600 users during a weekend. That number rose to 820 users so that FEMA could get more information to hurricane victims via the help line.

“Connie is a model employee who accepts any challenge given to her,” said Robert Ferguson, acting manager for the IRS’ Telecom-A Section at Atlanta Territory. “Connie understands crises.”

Oliver Voss led the development of governmentwide acquisition contracts that federal agencies can use to recycle obsolete computers and other electronic components.

Agencies can offset their recycling costs through those contracts’ share-in-savings features. Agencies share with the contractor a portion of the proceeds of recycling. The program paid off in late September.

“His groundwork got the program mature enough so that when Hurricane Katrina hit, we were able to support that effort to properly dispose of e waste generated in those areas,” said Timothy Farris, director of the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters procurement operations division.

Voss introduced the Recycling Electronics and Asset Disposition services contracts as manager of EPA’s Information Resource Management Procurement Service Center.

Mitch West is leading an effort to create a network for exchanging environmental data among federal and state environmental agencies.

West is the state co-chairman of the Network Operations Board, which is guiding the implementation of the National Environmental Information Exchange Network at the state level.

“He’s really leading the way for states to exchange data [among] themselves,” said Molly O’Neill, national exchange network coordinator for the Environmental Council of the States.

Jerry Williams earned kudos in one year from both the Small Business Administration and the Agriculture Department by helping each earn green ratings on the President’s Management Agenda score card.

When Williams was acting chief information officer and deputy CIO at the Small Business Administration, SBA received green scores for egovernment and for budget and performance integration. For example, the agency created specific performance measures to accompany its budget requests. Since last June, Williams has worked to achieve similar management results at Agriculture.

Williams knows how to reach objectives, said Dan Chenok, vice president and director at SRA International. Williams is a team builder who brings a no-nonsense approach to completing tasks, he added.

Charles Wills, who managers the State Department’s $85 million information technology modernization program, directed an accelerated deployment of Microsoft Directory services and enhanced security configurations to protect State’s 566 classified and unclassified networks.

Wills uses earned value management cost models to manage a project that requires the coordination of schedules at 25 domestic bureaus and hundreds of overseas posts.

“Chuck Wills is the critical force behind State’s successful modernization of the IT infrastructure that supports 250 far-flung posts across the planet,” said Bruce McConnell, president of McConnell International.

When it comes to portfolio management, George Wright delivers. His efforts helped the U.S. Postal Service break even financially while delivering mail to an ever-expanding customer base.

With Wright’s help, USPS trimmed its application development and maintenance budget in fiscal 2006 to $440 million, down from $1.1 billion the previous year. Instead of 650 major applications, USPS now has 450. Wright leads a team of accomplished portfolio managers who use information technology to solve business problems, said Matthew Tait, a director in Accenture’s federal government client group.

“Wright is a leader who clearly and effectively communicates his vision, and he has the perseverance that’s really demanded to ensure success in the USPS’ complex business environment.”

Lt. Col. Robert Zoppa makes enterprise resource planning look easy by effectively managing the Defense Department’s $1.4 billion Global Combat Support System-Army program. His team completed the evaluation and project preparation phases for the program on budget and on schedule.

Zoppa kept that back-office program on track and articulated to Army acquisition officials the value of the project. He developed a model that makes ERP methodology understandable in terms of DOD’s 5000 acquisition framework.

“Able to adapt to change, overcome obstacles and lead with authority, he is a natural fit for developing and achieving long-term visions and goals for across-the-board improvements in the program,” said Col. David Coker, Army program manager for logistics information systems.