You would think dedicating 20 pages to the Federal 100 award winners would be enough, but it’s not.
In 20 pages, we do a pretty good job of summing up the accomplishments of each of the winners and sharing what their colleagues think. But what we can’t do in that space is tell the story behind their accomplishments. Those stories are worth telling, which is the premise of this week’s special issue.
We have selected 10 award winners, plus one nominee who did not win, to highlight in full-length articles. We used several criteria to make our choices.
Most important, we wanted a good story to tell. Consider Cybernet Systems’ Glenn Beach. In just two months, he and his team developed a high-tech system the military could use in the Middle East to decide if bullets could be recycled. It was an impressive feat, worthy of a Federal 100 award, and it makes a good tale.
We also looked for individuals who had inside perspectives on major news events. For example, many people know about the privacy study prepared by the Markle Foundation and its impact on legislation on information sharing. You can read the story behind the story in our profile of Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Gilman Louie of In-Q-Tel.
Finally, we wanted the Tales of the Fed 100 to serve as a microcosm of the full winners’ list.
Competitive sourcing was a dominant issue last year, and so it was important to tell the tale of Stan Soloway of the Professional Services Council. And just about every federal employee has a stake in the success of the Enterprise Human Resources Integration initiative, so go online to www.fcw.com/download to read the story of Rhonda Diaz of the Office of Personnel Management.
Steve Peck, president of SAP America’s public-sector division, was not selected for the Federal 100, but some stories simply must be told. A survivor of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in 2001, Peck has been a passionate participant in discussions about homeland security at the federal, state and local levels, earning the respect of people throughout the government.
Without doubt, there are other stories as compelling as the 11 we chose. But we offer this short book of tales so readers can get a taste of the drama behind the accomplishments of Federal 100 award winners — this year and every year.
