68. Project Management in the Federal Government

What's different about managing projects in the Federal Government vs the private sector? For one thing, you have more stakeholders, more rules and restrictions. There is oversight from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Government Accounting Office (GAO), not to mention shifting mandates from Congress. Government projects often take the longer view, and extend over many years. In this episode of PM Point of View - the third and last in a series of highlights from the University of Maryland's 2019 Project Management Symposium - we focus on Federal Programs. PMs from NASA, USDA, Homeland Security and other agencies talk about effective tactics and best practices for managing projects in the government.

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About the Speakers

LaTanya S. Anderson is the Associate Dean of Program Management and Training Delivery of the U.S. Department of the Interior's University (DOIU) and the Program Manager of the Interior Acquisition Institute. She is a results-driven leader of learning solutions that transform and shape the federal workforce to innovating, creative problem-solving, strategic teaming, and responsible stewardship of Americans' taxpayer dollars.

Todd Archer recently joined the Energy Information Administration (EIA) within the Department of Energy, joining the PMO as a senior analyst and P/PM. Prior to that, he has spent 20+ years in state and federal government supporting key strategic initiatives such as process automation, enterprise PMO, and modernization. Todd is experienced in governance, transformation, and communication systems, helping to effectively develop products while institutionalizing a culture that embraces change.

Scott Hine is a member of the executive leadership team within the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE/EERE) where he is the Director of the Information Technology Services Office. He has over 30 years of direct portfolio, program and project management experience within the federal R&D domain. Scott is also the Executive Sponsor of the Federal Government's Program and Project Management Community of Practice (FedPM CoP) with almost 1,000 members from 80 federal activities.

Robert McManmon is the Team Lead for the Project Management Office (PMO) at the Energy Information Administration (EIA) within the U.S. Department of Energy. He helped build the EIA enterprise PMO from the ground up over a four year span to address agency challenges delivering on new initiatives. Robert brought background experience in federal program evaluation, strategic planning, budgeting, and procurement to the role.

Jacki Ponti-Lazaruk leads the USDA's Rural Development Innovation Center as the Chief Innovation Officer (CIO). Ms. Ponti-Lazaruk has extensive leadership experience across multiple USDA programs and business areas. Ms. Ponti-Lazaruk previously served as the USDA Rural Development's Chief Risk Officer. In this position, she helped identify and act upon many opportunities for organizational improvement including eliminating the extreme volume of agency paper files through digitization.

Bianca Roberson is the Director of Business Planning and Governance within the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT), Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). As a thought leader with over a decade of experience in the federal space, Bianca has extensive experience facilitating innovation and working at the intersection of programmatic outcomes and information technology.

Robert (Bob) Spector is a Senior Program Manager with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center where he is currently serving as a Project Integrator with NASA's Mission Support Future Architecture Program (MAP), a multi-year initiative aimed at re-engineering the administrative functions that support the Agency's Science, Exploration, Technology and Aeronautics missions. The subjects of the Program include IT, financial management, and human resources, among others, to improve the level of service, quality, and efficiency to its customers.

Krista Sweet has served as the Director of Policy at the Homeland Security & Defense Business Council for the past eight years. She is responsible for designing and leading the Council's advocacy, education, and thought leadership programs on behalf of federal contractors with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Justice, Congressional members and staff, and other stakeholders related to federal procurement policy, innovation, IT enterprise modernization and security, and immigration/border management issues.

Tim Whalen currently serves as the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Information Technology Acquisition Career manager. He assumed this position upon retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in 2011 with over 21 years of progressive IT Program Manager (PM) and operational leadership experience. He has had a leading role in revising the DHS certification program for certifying project and program managers and chaired federal efforts to establish IT specialization standards across the government.