The federal IT community raised what could fairly be described as a ton of money for the Children's Inn at the annual gala held April 14. Children's Inn is a residential facility for sick children and their families to stay in while receiving experimental treatments at the National Institutes of Health.
"Great day today," wrote Robert Guerra on Facebook early on the morning of May 24. "At 7:30, we will present the CEO of the Children's Inn with a check for $838,000 as a result of our Gala of April 14th. Great to help those thousands of children and families at their home away from home. Thanks to all for their incredible generosity."
AFCEA's Bethesda chapter hosts the annual gala for the Inn, and Guerra, a consultant and partner at Guerra, Kiviat, is chairman for the gala.
(It's actually only almost a ton. Based on some research that revealed the weight of a dollar bill is 1 gram, we calculated that 838,000 $1 bills would weigh 1,846 pounds ... just shy of a ton.)
Posted on May 24, 2012 at 12:11 PM0 comments
US CIO Steve VanRoekel is doing things differently these days, and he knows it takes more than fresh technology to be really fresh. It takes a change of clothes.
VanRoekel and US CTO Todd Park spoke May 23 to the new-age IT crowd at the TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Conference about President Barack Obama’s new digital strategy. In the strategy, the administration aims to make the government innovative and mobile to meet the demands of today’s citizenry.
Coming straight from Washington, VanRoekel has a persona to overcome. The crowd VanRoekel addressed in New York is very different from that in Washington. These people typically choose to wear a pair of jeans to work instead of stuffy dark suits. So for his presentation, VanRoekel dumped his tie, wore his shirt with the top buttons undone and put on white socks with pink stripes that contrasted against his dark slacks and shoes.
His reason for his fresh clothes:
“To change culture, you’ve got to switch things up, and this is about changing culture, in large part.”
He testifies on the digital strategy before the Senate committee May 24. Will he change culture on Capitol Hill with those white, striped socks?
Posted by Matthew Weigelt on May 23, 2012 at 12:11 PM1 comments
Attendees at the GSA Expo, held last week in San Antonio, said the event was much toned down compared to previous years, with fewer government attendees and fewer parties.
That's a natural reaction to the recent scandal the General Services Administration has weathered regarding egregious overspending at a conference in 2010, detailed in a recent Inspector General report. But perhaps one very telling sign of the new frugality was in the box lunches.
They had no pickles. Apparently, the cost of the pickle pushed the price of the box lunch over the limit.
Posted on May 22, 2012 at 12:11 PM1 comments