The finalists for WashingtonExec’s 2023 Pinnacle Awards were announced Sept. 25, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 16.
Next is Shawn Kingsberry, vice president of cyber security at SAIC, and a finalist for the Cybersecurity Executive of the Year, Public Company category. Here, he shares a career turning point and his key achievements.
What was a turning point or inflection point in your career?
I worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for 17 years. In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law to stimulate the economy in response to the worst recession since the Great Depression of 1929-1941. As part of ARRA, a micro-agency called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (RATB) was created with the sole purpose of ensuring minimal fraud, waste, and abuse in the allocation of the $787 billion stimulus package and to show the American public where the funds were going and how they were used.
RATB’s mission was unique, essential, and historic, giving it the authority to select any government resource from anyone in government to support its mission. I was chosen to serve as the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
In this role, we launched Recovery.gov, the first federal-wide system to migrate to the public cloud. Our efforts were recognized with over 20 awards. We were recognized for one of the largest contracts with the lowest percentage of fraud, waste, and abuse.
As CIO, I led 80% of investigations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Federal Investigations Bureau investigation (FBI). This included $80 billion in Hurricane Sandy oversight for fraud, waste, and abuse, and the $10 billion in restitution for the Residential Mortgage Working Group.
Working for RATB was the turning point in my career as I had the opportunity to help the country at one of the most historic points in American history.
What key achievements did you have in 2023?
In 2023, I was brought on as the head of the Cybersecurity program at SAIC. I was made immediately responsible for developing the SAIC corporate cyber strategy to support all branches of the government.
SAIC was invited to submit a response to the Department of Treasury TCloud opportunity. The SAIC zero trust solution, which I led and based on my Recovery.gov project experience, was incredibly impactful.
The Department of Treasury TCloud solution will be the largest civilian multi-cloud in the federal government, built on the foundation of Executive Order 14018 and will meet the promise of zero trust. I’m proud to have been trusted by SAIC with such a significant opportunity.