Almost 500 government and IT industry executives attended Government Computer News‘ (GCN) 27th Annual Awards Gala Oct. 14 at the Ritz-Carlton. The event honored federal, state and local government teams for their IT accomplishments and contributions to the performance of their agencies.
Dept. of the Army Deputy Chief Information Officer Michael Krieger was honored as the recipient of the GCN “2014 Hall of Fame” award in recognition of his distinguished career guiding the Army toward a digital, networked future.
Ten award winners, 10 honorable mentions and the work of three executives recognized for their achievements and impact across the government and commercial sides of the public sector IT market were recognized.
“Tonight we remind ourselves about the importance of what we do, why it matters and how it makes a difference, not only for United States citizens, but also for the freedoms we fight for around the world,” AT&T Federal President Kay Kapoor said. She introduced the winning projects at the gala.
The 2014 GCN Awards reflected the changes in the marketplace this year, particularly moves by security-sensitive agencies to adopt commercial cloud services. Cloud technology in particular was a big winner.
CIA chief information officer Doug Wolfe, honored as GCN’s “2014 Government IT Executive of the Year” for his work in moving the intelligence community to the cloud, said the new technology would take on an important but simple role: to make rank and file intelligence officers more effective at their jobs.
Other winners included:
- The U.S. Navy, for its project to move websites and low impact systems to the cloud while cutting costs in half.
- The IT department of Alamance County, N.C., for its integrations of video conferencing and VPN to streamline the legal gauntlet for those seeking protection from their abusers.
- The Commonwealth of Kentucky, which presented services integration with kynect, Kentucky’s electronic health insurance exchange.
- Tony Cole, as GCN “Industry Executive of the Year.” Cole serves vice president and global government chief technology officer at FireEye Inc.
- A group from the Naval Sea Systems Command, for their collaboration in managing the relocation of NAVSEA headquarters in the aftermath of a shooting at the Navy Yard.
- Two dozen government Rising Stars, for their contributions in the last year.
