MileMarker10 CEO Susan Sharer sits down virtually with Rob Wilkins, retired US Air Force Master Sergeant and member of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN).  Rob shares his fitness tips and how to stay motivated to get in your best shape, especially during National Fitness Month (May 2021).

Honorary, Chairman, MileMarker10 Virtual 5K

The Honorable Rob Wilkins, is a two-term Presidential appointee to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN), a retired US Air Force Master Sergeant, and a fitness expert. Some of his key military assignments included serving on the staff of The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and Legislative Liaison Office, Secretary of the Air Force. Wilkins is an avid advocate for military veterans and lifetime member of the Air Force Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), American Legion, and AMVETS. In addition, he is the President of Rolling Thunder, Washington, DC, Inc., President of the RedCon1 Foundation, the Senior Military Editor for Muscle & Fitness, and a Military Evangelist at Sightline Media Group.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

Mary Quinn of Leidos will discuss how the systems and products that people use most easily and effectively incorporate human factors into their designs. She will explain the three main components of human-centered design, the ideal scenario for human-system integration, and methods used to validate success.

Mary Quinn, Ph.D., is a Leidos Technical Fellow and nationally recognized expert in the social and behavioral sciences with more than 30 years of experience. Her work currently focuses on behavioral applications for intelligence exploitation, human-machine teaming, human systems integration, human-centered design, training, and upskilling. Mary has delivered more than 200 major presentations and keynote addresses at national and international conferences, and written more than 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals, three books, and 27 monographs.

At Leidos, we believe today’s complex health challenges call for revolutionary problem-solving. Our unique position as a technology company with deep health and life sciences expertise equips us to transform patient care, as well as provider and payer operations, in both commercial and government health organizations. From IT and systems integration to life sciences, managed health services, and clinical solutions and services, Leidos charts the course for the future of health. 

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

MileMarker10’s Megan Murray speaks with Blake Hogan, CEO of Bunker Labs, to discuss his journey from Marine to entrepreneur, debunk common misconceptions, and explore how the Federal IT Community can engage with military-connected entrepreneurs.

Blake Hogan is a Marine Corps Veteran and natural dot connector. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and helping fellow veterans and their spouses launch and grow successful companies. His first company led him to co-found Bunker Labs Austin and Nashville after experiencing the challenges of growing a professional network after leaving active duty. Bunker Labs, now a national not-for-profit, helps the military-connected community launch and grow businesses across the country. Now serving as CEO, Blake’s goal is to ensure that the American dream can be a reality for the military-connected community and, in doing so, build a truly inclusive economy. Blake is also the co-founder of a safety product company, BreakAway Safety Solutions, and a recent George W. Bush Institute Scholar in the Stand-To Veterans Leadership Program.

Bunker Labs is a national nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring that the military-connected community has the network, tools, and opportunities they need to start successful ventures. We accomplish our mission by inspiring members of the military community to see their entrepreneurial potential. We equip our program participants with practical tools, insights, experts, and resources to accelerate their success, and we connect entrepreneurs with a robust community and diverse, relevant networks.

Last year, the Veteran’s Administration (VA) began its journey to becoming a High-Reliability Organization or HRO. Nuclear power and aviation are examples of industries that have applied HRO principles to achieve minimal errors, despite highly hazardous and unpredictable conditions.

Today, we are speaking with Dr. Himanshu Singh, the Chief Health Informatics Officer at DSS, Inc., more about this topic. Dr. Singh has had an 18-year career at the Department of Veterans Affairs with his last 8 years in leadership roles. His most recent assignment was the COO/Associate Director at both the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and West Palm Beach VA.  The Dr. will discuss how, Thanks to intelligent software and data visualization solutions, it is possible for the VA to achieve HRO mission, and provide the best quality of care for Veterans. 

Dr. Himanshu Singh:

Dr. Himanshu Singh, the Chief Health Informatics Officer at DSS, Inc. He has had an 18-year career at the Department of Veterans Affairs with his last 8 years in leadership roles. His most recent assignment was the COO/Associate Director at both the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and West Palm Beach VA.

Dr. Singh joined the Department of Veterans Affairs with a background in Medicine and technology in 2001.  He began his VA Career in Clinical Informatics. He has served in several leadership roles including Assistant Director at the Ralph H Johnson VAMC, Acting Associate Director at the Ralph H. Johnson VAMC, Acting Associate Director at the Columbia VAMC.

DSS, INC.:

Trusted by the Department of Veteran Affairs for 30 years, DSS deploys innovative solutions that improve care quality and delivery for our Veterans.

DSS assists the VA in meeting top initiatives, changing regulatory requirements, and implementing enhanced business processes that support clinical, financial, logistical and administrative objectives, for better Veteran outcomes.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

In a recent event, Leading for Impact Series: Driving Organizational Resiliency, Scott Blackburn, Partner McKinsey & Company, Former Chief Information Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs; spoke on the current state of the Department of the Veterans Affairs and looked to the future.

About Scott Blackburn

Scott Blackburn is a Partner at McKinsey & Company focusing on the Public Sector, health care, technology, large-scale transformation, and capability building. He focuses on the Veteran space – both making McKinsey more Veteran-friendly and helping Veteran non-profits. Scott returned to McKinsey after leading transformation efforts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Government’s 2nd largest agency, from 2014-2018 serving in a variety of roles to include Interim Deputy Secretary (COO) and Chief Information Officer. During his tenure at the VA, Veteran trust in VA improved from 47% to 70%+ as he focused on customer experience, improving access and timeliness of care and services, improving efficiency/effectiveness of operations, modernizing through technology (to include digital experience, Electronic Health Records, and technology infrastructure), improving the employee experience, and expanding strategic partnerships (with private sector, non-profits, Department of Defense, states, other Government agencies and Veteran Service Organizations).

About McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm. They are the trusted advisor to the world’s leading businesses, governments, and institutions. The company works with leading organizations across the private, public and social sectors. Their scale, scope, and knowledge allow them to address problems that no one else can. They have deep functional and industry expertise as well as the breadth of geographical reach. They are passionate about taking on immense challenges that matter to their clients and, often, to the world. The company works with its clients as they do with their colleagues. They build their capabilities and leadership skills at every level and every opportunity. They do this to help build internal support, get to real issues, and reach practical recommendations. They bring out the capabilities of clients to fully participate in the process and lead the ongoing work.


Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

In this edition of Keeping IT Brief, Savan Group CEO Veeral Majmudar and CTO Dan Albarran sit down with G2Xchange President Alexa Tsui to discuss a wide variety of Federal emerging technology topics including: Data Information Management; Data Fracking, Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning vs. Natural Language Processing; Cryptocurrency; and Building Data Information Models. 

“In our world of data information management, we often see a rush to use emerging technology as ‘the savior’ and while it can absolutely transform an organziation, the value of emerging technology — like AI or RPA — is that they’re only effective if the data you are using is good.” – Veeral Majmudar

“Organizations typically struggle to understand their unstructured data like videos, texts, e-mails, images and documents…AI and NLP are the keys to unlocking unstructured data, what I commonly refer to as data fracking.” – Dan Albarran

Veeral Majmudar is the Founder, President, and CEO of Savan Group, an industry-leading data and information management consulting firm that provides public sector and commercial clients with services and solutions with a focus on information governance, data science, data security and cyber, and mission support services. Veeral is an active participant in public forums, having spoken on issues such as information management, data strategy, and innovation in the public sector; moreover, he previously served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR) for Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.

As the Chief Technology Officer for Savan Group, Dan Albarran directs the company’s strategic direction, development, and future growth for IT services. He works closely with Savan Group’s Leadership Team and employees to grow the company using data and information-centric solutions and thought leadership. Furthermore, he collaborates with all project teams to take full advantage of technology, promote the firm’s technical capabilities, and expand its brand to clients and partners. Dan holds multiple professional certifications and earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland.

Savan Group is a data and information consulting firm with customer-focused expertise in information governance, data science, cyber and data security, and mission support services and solutions. Through its capabilities, the firm’s focus is on helping it clients navigate the world of data and information challenges and risks by rethinking how agencies are identifying, controlling, organizing, and leveraging data and information to inform decisions and drive digital transformation.

During a recent event, Leading for Impact Series: Driving Organizational Resiliency, Dr. Barclay Butler, Assistant Director for Management and the Component Acquisition Executive, Defense Health Agency, discussed facing challenges as an organization and how industry partners can help.

About Barclay Butler

Barclay P. Butler, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director for Management and the Component Acquisition Executive, Defense Health Agency.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

This week’s podcast with Jerry Kurtz, the Executive Vice President of Insights and Data at Capgemini, looks at how AI can help in the healthcare industry.  From helping predict patient drug adherence to detecting diseases in the food supply, he discusses the best way to approach what he calls “low-hanging fruit.” 

 Jerry Kurtz, EVP  Insights & Data – North America - Capgemini

Jerry has over 30 years of management consulting experience at PwC, IBM, Infosys, and Bridgestone.  Jerry has worked primarily in the manufacturing sector and has extensive cross-industry leadership experience in areas such Big Data & Analytics, AI, and IoT. Prior to joining Capgemini, Jerry ran Infosys Consulting’s North America business unit. He also managed IBM’s Big Data, Analytics, and AI services business across all industries in North America, where he successfully launched IBM’s global offerings in the area of Analytics for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Capgemini is a global leader in consulting, digital transformation, technology and engineering  services. The Group is at the forefront of innovation to address the entire breadth of clients’ opportunities in the evolving world of cloud, digital and platforms. Building on its strong 50-year+ heritage and deep industry-specific expertise, Capgemini enables organizations to realize their business ambitions through an array of services from strategy to operations. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business value of technology comes from and through people. Today, it is a multicultural company of 270,000 team members in almost 50 countries. With Altran, the Group reported 2019 combined revenues of €17billion.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

In this edition of Keeping IT Brief, Shelby Switzer discusses efforts at CMS focused on API strategy and implementation, modernizing Medicare payment modernization and beneficiary APIs; and considering end users, developers and providers in point of care.

About Shelby Switzer

Shelby Switzer is a software engineer with the US Digital Service at the Department of Health and Human Services. As a conference organizer, Code for America volunteer, and civic technologist, Shelby has worked in community organizing, open source software, and technology activism across the US for over 8 years. Before joining USDS, Shelby led the API and integration team at Healthify, a healthcare company bridging the gap between healthcare and social services.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

Von Borg of Leidos discusses the ASACS program, which works with military branches and the community to identify adolescents in need of counseling services. ASACS designs and implements school, and community, based programs that provide confidential counseling, prevention education, and support to students in grades 6–12.

About Von F. Borg

During his 20 years with Leidos, Von has managed and supervised adolescent and family counseling services at 60 military sites in Europe and Asia/Pacific for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps contracts with the ASACS program. Von has extensive experience supporting military communities and families overseas as a clinical supervisor and counselor.

About Leidos

Leidos believes today’s complex health challenges call for revolutionary problem-solving. Its unique position as a technology company with deep health and life sciences expertise equips Leidos to transform patient care, as well as provider and payer operations, in both commercial and government health organizations. From IT and systems integration to life sciences, managed health services, and clinical solutions and services, Leidos charts the course for the future of health.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.