Maurine Fanguy is passionate about the Department of Homeland Security mission. In fact, that passion is the catalyst for where she is today and the work she does.
As Accenture Federal Services’ managing director and client account lead for the DHS practice, she has been instrumental in supporting DHS since its inception and has dedicated her entire career to government service.
Fanguy’s STEM inclination began early. She attended the North Carolina School of Science and Math and participated in computer programming summer camps. She studied biology at Virginia Tech, but her interest in the broader STEM field led her to join Anderson Consulting (now Accenture) in 1996, marking the start of her professional journey.
“I liked the idea of working on projects,” Fanguy said. “I liked the idea of working in technology and even though I wasn’t a computer science or a business major, the idea really spoke to me.”
That first job became a stepping stone to a senior manager role at Accenture by 2006. She credits this position for shaping her ability to use technology for positive global impact.
“It ended up being the perfect job for me working with people and helping to use technology to make the world a better place,” she said.
Government service, inspired by her Army father and activities like Model U.N., had always been important to her. This blend of passions led her to focus on the federal practice at Accenture.
“I asked to work in our federal practice because it was something that seemed like a good fit for my interests and my background,” she said.
The federal government was the place for Fanguy to be.
The Start of 20 Years with DHS
On Sept. 10, 2001, Accenture signed on to work on a contract with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, which then was a part of the Treasury Department. Fanguy was one of four people on this strategy project. The next day, the Sept. 11 attacks happened.
“Fundamentally, the whole thrust of our project changed,” Fanguy said.
She worked on this project in Glynco, Georgia, meeting many Customs and Border Protection personnel, now part of DHS.
“The Transportation Security Administration didn’t exist at the time, but we were talking about what that might look like,” Fanguy said.
With a front-row seat to DHS’ formation in 2001, Fanguy ended up helping start Accenture’s homeland security practice in its early years.
“I just fell in love with the mission, since it’s an opportunity to combine technology and innovation to make our country safer,” she said.
After a decade in consulting, both commercial and government, Fanguy worked for DHS before eventually returning to Accenture.
“Going to go work in the government was the best career decision I’ve ever made,” she said. “I always thought it would be really cool to sit on the other side of the table and be a client.”
A mentor of Fanguy’s working for TSA asked her if she’d consider joining. She did.
Fanguy initially served as the program director for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, establishing its regulations and creating a technological framework for service centers across the nation.
“The result was that we rolled out a very innovative, first-of-its-kind in the world, biometrics smart card program,” Fanguy said.
The program performed background checks on 2.7 million maritime workers throughout the U.S. and its territories, securing the nation’s ports and ensuring safe delivery of goods from around the world.
“Getting that right was also critically important to commerce across the country,” Fanguy said, “I’m pleased to report that it went really well and it’s a program that’s still in existence today and going strong.”
Fanguy then became the chief of staff to the TSA’s chief technology officer, overseeing the acquisition of high-tech airport security screening equipment. She was also part of the TSA team during the 2009 Underwear Bomber event.
“We made a big shift in the way that we were approaching security,” she said. Fanguy was part of the team responsible for accelerating the deployment of advanced imaging technology, or body scanners, as well as the latest in explosives detection equipment.
“You can see the impact of what you’ve done is making a difference in our national security,” she said.
Shifting Back to Supporting DHS from Industry
Guided by influential mentors, Fanguy returned to the private sector, specifically the manufacturing industry. She joined a former DHS mentor working with explosives detection equipment, which allowed her to travel globally and interact with homeland security experts worldwide.
Fanguy took on leadership roles as the vice president of global strategy and product management at Morpho Detection, and as vice president of solutions and strategy at MorphoTrust USA (now IDEMIA), before she rejoined Accenture in 2017.
“Returning to Accenture couldn’t have been a better fit for me because it blended my consulting background plus the work that I’d had in the government,” Fanguy said. “It also encompassed my manufacturing experience and some of the work that I had at the identity company.”
She was once again working on TSA’s biggest challenges.
Today, as homeland security practice lead, Fanguy is responsible for client delivery across the entire DHS portfolio, from TSA to CBP, CISA, FEMA, USCIS, ICE, DHS headquarters and more.
“My job is as a connector,” Fanguy said. “I like to be able to bring the best of Accenture Federal Services and Accenture to Homeland Security.”
Fanguy often collaborates with Accenture Federal Services colleagues supporting other agencies, sharing innovative ideas and exploring new technologies. She engages with Accenture’s global biometrics experts on international standards bodies to stay ahead in biometrics and security technology, introducing these advancements to federal clients. This approach also applies to her work with the travel industry and TSA.
“It’s rewarding for me to be able to make the connections and introduce our clients to colleagues of mine who work in adjacent spaces in the travel industry so that our clients can keep abreast of the trends,” Fanguy said.
Ultimately, she’s focused on three main priorities: practical innovation, speed to delivery and bringing value.
“There are lots of innovations that are out there, but you have to really think about what’s practical for use in the field,” Fanguy said. She works with her teams to scan the technical landscape and find innovations and technologies that are relevant to clients.
In terms of speed to delivery, Fanguy understands first-hand the scrutiny that government employees face with congressional pressures and mandatory deadlines. That’s why she’s proud her team helped pioneer agile practices across DHS.
When it comes to value, Fanguy understands federal budgetary pressures to bring value to every dollar DHS spends. She makes sure to align with DHS secretary priorities and ultimately, deliver that value to the American people.
Delivering Value Through Success
At Accenture Federal Services, Fanguy and her team significantly enhanced DHS operations. They transitioned many clients from the less efficient waterfall software delivery to agile methods eight years ago, successfully addressing initial hesitations and optimizing capability delivery.
“In the last government shutdown, we were able to keep the move to agile going even during the shutdown with no disruption to operations,” she said.
By the time the shutdown ended, Fanguy and her team had transitioned this customer from waterfall to agile and never looked back.
“Being a pioneer in agile is exciting to me and it’s now part of the fabric of every single one of our technology projects,” she said.
Her team is also working with a client in DHS to deliver robotic process automation and, so far, has delivered more than 20 bots in the past year, saving tens of thousands of hours of government staff time.
And this is just to name a few of Fanguy’s proudest successes. They’ve also rolled out a new protective Domain Name System service to improve DHS’ security posture, brought innovative advanced analytics capabilities to improve DHS personnel deployment to national events, and were hired via a CBP re-compete of a data center support services contract.
Looking ahead, Fanguy is excited to continue leveraging her areas of experience in consulting, manufacturing, identity and biometrics, and in government to holistically move DHS forward. She’s interested in bringing generative AI capabilities and prototypes to DHS as Accenture Federal Services recently launched its Federal Generative AI Center of Excellence.
“Being involved from the very beginning of when DHS was just an idea that people were talking about to now, getting a chance to lead our homeland security practice for Accenture Federal Services is so exciting for me,” Fanguy said. “It’s been a passion of mine now for over two decades. When we come up with solutions, we really think about what’s worked well in the past within DHS and how do we make things that have worked well work even better.”