FGIPC looks for change

James Buckner, president of the Federation of Government Information Processing Councils, said a FGIPC task force this month began work on a project to determine how the organization can change to improve the way it achieves its goals, particularly in the area of IT education.

"I don't see any broad, sweeping changes coming from this," said Buckner, chief information officer of the Army Materiel Command. "But we can't just keep doing the same things the same way for years, because the world changes around us."

Buckner said he was especially interested in creative methods in which FGIPC could train government IT workers.

The three-member task force, headed by Frank McDonough, deputy associate administrator of the General Services Administration's Office of Intergovernmental Solutions, also will examine how FGIPC should structure its administrative functions.

Buckner said this aspect of the study was triggered by the decision of Mary Ann Emely, FGIPC's executive director, to leave the organization when her contract expires at the end of December.

Buckner said the decision was amicable, and that Emely was interested in pursuing other interests after nearly five years with FGIPC. He said the FGIPC board of directors would determine whether to replace Emely after receiving the task force's recommendations next month.