Top Contracts Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Karolyn Gardner
Karolyn Gardner Senior Vice President, Contracts, Procurement & Pricing, ICF Karolyn Gardner brings a multifaceted approach to her role that involves strengthening ICF’s contracts, procurement and pricing teams to continue to serve as strong strategic partners in client delivery. Her team closely aligns their mission, goals and ways of working with ICF’s broader modernization efforts to
Top AI Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Nirmal Agarwal
Nirmal Agarwal Vice President, Data Analytics and AI Practice Lead, ICF Nirmal Agarwal’s biggest recent achievement has been helping accelerate ICF’s transition from AI exploration to AI operationalization to help clients deliver mission-critical programs more efficiently and effectively. Building on strong foundations in people, technology and innovation, Agarwal has focused on connecting those capabilities, moving
ICF’s Ratima Kataria on Scaling Health IT, AI Across Federal Agencies
Ratima Kataria spent nearly 30 years turning complex technology strategies into real-world impact across government and industry. Her career spans emerging technologies, enterprise IT and large-scale mission delivery, with a focus on connecting innovation to outcomes. A defining moment came during her time as deputy CIO at HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration, where she
Top DOW Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Nelofur Damiani
Nelofur Damiani Vice President, Engineering and Emerging Technology, ICF Nelofur Damiani’s biggest recent achievement has been evolving the team into true DOW mission partners. “People our clients rely on to think with them, not just work for them,” she said. “We’ve retained a strong, experienced core of DOW and technology experts while bringing in new talent.”
Chief Officer Awards Finalist Kyle Tuberson is Scaling AI for the Mission
Kyle Tuberson’s job is making AI work in environments where trust isn’t optional. As CTO at ICF, he turned the company’s AI efforts into a single enterprise platform, built for federal use, cleared to CMMC Level 2, and designed to go from contract to deployment in 48 hours. Tuberson was a finalist for the Chief
Chief Officer Awards Finalist John Wasson on Leading ICF through the AI Shift
ICF spent 2025 and 2026 moving from AI experimentation to implementation. The company launched ICF Fathom, its suite of AI solutions for federal agencies, achieved CMMC Level 2 certification and invested in technology platforms to help clients modernize faster and deliver better outcomes. John Wasson, ICF’s CEO, is a finalist for the Chief Officer Awards’
Top Health Care Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Tonia Bleecher
Tonia Bleecher Senior Vice President, Health Technology, ICF Last year, Tonia Bleecher’s team of health technology experts worked with partners at CMS to take a major step forward in modernizing how the agency oversees long-term care. Together, they launched a new survey capability through CMS’ Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System that supports nearly 15,000
ICF’s Kevin Bearden on Why the Best Growth Strategy Is the One You Don’t Chase
Kevin Bearden spent over two decades at the intersection of mission and large-scale change, first as a commissioned officer in the Army Signal Corps, then across senior roles at Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics IT and SOSI before becoming president and CEO of The Providencia Group. Each stop sharpened the same instinct: that sustainable success
Top Cyber Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Mike Boggs
Mike Boggs Vice President, Security and Resilience, ICF Mike Boggs’ biggest achievement is guiding ICF’s team of cyber, security and resilience professionals to adapt to and thrive in the new dynamics of the federal market. “We stayed closely connected with clients, anticipated their needs, identified pain points early, and turned complex operational changes into growth
DCSA Awards ICF Spot on $800M Digital Modernization BPA
ICF has secured a position on a 5-year, $800 million blanket purchase agreement from the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for software engineering services to modernize the agency’s National Background Investigation Services systems. The ceiling value is shared across 12 awardees. The company is eligible to compete for task orders covering the full lifecycle of
Top Cloud Executives to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Patrick McConnell
Patrick McConnell Senior Vice President, Health Engineering Solutions, ICF Patrick McConnell’s biggest recent achievement was leading ICF’s nearly 450-person health engineering team through a transformation that reshaped how the company uses AI to design, build and deliver systems for federal clients. By embedding AI across client delivery, the team is building software faster, more accurately
20+ Years Inside DHS: ICF’s Sarah Norcross on Doing More With Less
Sarah Norcross has supported the Department of Homeland Security since 2004, long enough to have worked with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency before it was CISA. She came to the work through an unlikely route: a civics class on Cape Cod, a Georgetown degree in international politics, a junior year in Munich, an internship
Tech to Watch That Isn’t AI: How GIS Is Powering the Next Wave of Mission Modernization
Kevin Chamberlain is the senior director of analytics and GIS at ICF. Artificial intelligence may dominate today’s technology headlines, but some of the most meaningful modernization across government and regulated industries is being driven by tools that aren’t hot-topic, marquee technologies, but are critical to innovation and advancements. Among them: geospatial information systems, or GIS.
Top Industry Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s John Wasson
John Wasson Chair & CEO, ICF John Wasson’s biggest recent achievement was supporting the launch of several new solutions that directly address the evolving needs of ICF’s clients. In 2025, ICF achieved major milestones in how it innovates across its markets in meaningful ways, particularly through technology and AI. “Most notably, we built ICF Fathom,
Top MarCom Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Matt Maurer
Matt Maurer Chief Marketing Officer, ICF One of Matt Maurer’s team’s most significant 2025 achievements was the launch of ICF Fathom, a suite of advanced AI solutions and services built specifically for federal agencies. ICF Fathom helps agencies do everything they need to do right now: improve service delivery, drive cost savings and produce measurable
Top National Security Execs to Watch in 2026: ICF’s Sarah Norcross
Sarah Norcross Vice President and Portfolio Director, ICF In 2025, delivering strong results while growing ICF’s business with existing clients were achievements that, in other years, might have been taken for granted, Sarah Norcross said. She also credited ICF’s program management teams for anticipating and delivering on clients’ evolving needs, ensuring solutions address national security
Top HR Execs to Watch in 2025: ICF’s Caryn McGarry
Caryn McGarry CHRO, ICF Like many others in the Washington, D.C., area, ICF has navigated a year of unprecedented change — in its work, partnerships and pace of decisions shaping the industry. “Shifting priorities and policies demanded real-time adaptability,” Caryn McGarry said. “Our greatest achievement has been steering through that change with clarity and steadiness
ICF Announces Executive Leadership Changes to Support Future Growth
ICF has announced several executive leadership changes to position the company for long-term growth. Chief Financial Officer Barry Broadus will retire March 1, 2026, after publication of ICF’s full-year 2025 results. Broadus, who joined ICF in 2022 and has more than 40 years of financial management experience, will continue as a consultant after retirement. At
Top Contracts Execs to Watch in 2025: ICF’s Karolyn Gardner
Karolyn Gardner Senior Vice President, Contracts and Pricing, ICF Karolyn Gardner’s biggest recent achievement was streamlining the contracts, procurement and pricing team at ICF, organizing staff in these professional roles under one cohesive leadership structure that creates maximum efficiency and results for the company. Her team has deep relationships across markets with internal stakeholders, clients
ICF Launches AI Suite Tailored for Federal Agencies
ICF has launched ICF Fathom, a new suite of artificial intelligence solutions and services designed to help federal agencies accelerate results, improve efficiency and deliver on their missions. The offering includes a set of intelligent AI agents that can be embedded into existing systems to support decision-making, reduce waste, fraud and abuse, and streamline tasks
Top Health Care Execs to Watch in 2025: ICF’s Terry McKittrick
Terry McKittrick Senior Vice President, Federal Health, ICF Terry McKittrick has been part of ICF’s health practice for nearly 20 years. During this time, ICF has been instrumental in helping clients enhance health and well-being and provide effective health and human services. For example, their work supporting the CDC’s BioSense platform helps monitor and analyze
Chief Officer Award Finalist Kyle Tuberson: ‘Embrace Curiosity and Never Stop Learning’
The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Awards were announced April 8, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person June 4. Next is Kyle Tuberson, chief technology officer at ICF, and a finalist in the Artificial Intelligence Executive of the Year category. In this spotlight, he reflects on key
Top Chief Technology Officers to Watch in 2025: ICF’s Kyle Tuberson
Kyle Tuberson recently led an initiative to establish an AI operating platform across the ICF enterprise. He brought together business leaders, technologists and domain experts around a shared vision, reshaped the operating model and aligned the right people and resources. The result: a companywide environment where teams can rapidly experiment, innovate and deliver AI-driven solutions
Top Cloud Executives to Watch in 2025: ICF’s Janak Kalaria
Janak Kalaria Vice President of Digital Transformation, Analytics & Emerging Technologies, ICF Janak Kalaria’s ICF team has crafted a multi-cloud, AI-enabled solution that accelerates legacy system modernization with a primary focus on automation and cost optimization. This modular, turnkey solution earned a stripe when battle tested during the recent western wildfires. “Now, we are implementing
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