Meet Our Latest Round of Featured Contributors!

We put out a call for the selected Featured Contributors for this quarter, and many applicants sprang into action. And we want to introduce you to all of them.

Read on to meet these contributors for GovLoop who will be posting once a week for the next three months. They bring a variety of government experience ranging from IT to state and local HR to diversity and leadership management. (You can find their stories here.)

Our new cohort’s posts start going up later today – so get ready!

Rebecca Mack Johnson: Becky Johnson’s government career spans almost 34 years. She’s been an SES executive for over 15 years. Her leadership experiences range from business operations’ positions to the human capital side of the house. Becky’s passion centers around helping people grow and achieve their goals. Becky considers receiving the Treasury Department’s Leadership Legacy Award in 2017 as one of her greatest accomplishments.

Becky believes continual learning is essential. To practice what she preaches, Becky completed her Masters Degree in Strategic Public Relations in her early 40s. She is also an International Coaching Federation ACC certified coach and a Project Management Professional.

Lester Godsey: Lester Godsey is the Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer for Maricopa County, Arizona, which is the fourth most populous county in the United States.

With over 25 years of higher education and local government IT experience, Lester has spoken at local, state and national conferences on topics ranging from telecommunications to project management to cybersecurity and data. Lester has taught at the collegiate level for over 12 years in the areas of technology, business, project management and cybersecurity. The author of numerous trade journal and online magazine articles, he is CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) and PMP (Project Management Professional) certified. He holds a B.A. in Music and a Master of Science in Technology, both from Arizona State University.

His current areas of professional interest center around IoT (Internet of Things) technology and Data Management and the juxtaposition of these disciplines with cybersecurity. You can follow Lester on LinkedIn.

Christine Galvin-Combet: Christine is Deputy Director, Office of Ethics and Integrity of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She also serves as a Community Volunteer Leader for the American Red Cross, Montgomery, Howard, and Frederick County Chapter, and on the advisory committee for her city pool and fitness center. She is inspired to write about endurance, volunteerism, and career management, among other topics. In her “spare” time she is an avid swimmer and runner, and enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and pets. Her motto is, “work hard, play hard.”

Kelly Brown: Kelly Brown is the Special Assistant to the Director of a public safety agency in Washington, D.C. In her 22 years in government, she has served in senior advisory roles within the executive offices of mayors and city administrators. Her career achievements include drafting the District of Columbia government’s first set of published customer service standards and conceptualizing engagement and culture pivot programs for upward of 40,000 employees. Kelly spends her spare time working on a collection of personal essays that she hopes to have published soon. She is passionate about language and about helping others find and cultivate their distinct voices, too.

Kelly Barrett: Kelly Barrett has worked for the IRS for over 22 years, starting as a Data Entry Transcriber and worked his way up to a Human Resources Education and Knowledge Management Specialist. Kelly has over 12 years of training project management experience with expertise in eLearning course development and is a certified Instructional Designer (ISD) and Online Training Professional (COTP).

Seven years ago, Kelly began researching MicroLearning Videos and how they can increase retention of training, and using his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting, he started a program called Self-Help Online Tutorials (SHOTs). He has since grown the program to an enterprise-wide initiative with over 500 SHOTs videos for all 80,000+ IRS employees to view, anytime they need to.

Kelly met his wife while working in Data Entry at the IRS and now has two children. He also is the head volleyball coach for the local Jr High School and coaches his daughter’s Club Volleyball team. Kelly and his wife enjoy cooking and even published their own cookbook with over 190 recipes and are currently working on their second cookbook.

Melinda Miguel: Melinda Miguel was appointed Chief Inspector General by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis effective January 8, 2019. She served in this role for two former Florida governors. Ms. Miguel has 29 years of public service and served as the Inspector General for the following government agencies: 

• State Board of Administration
• Florida Attorney General’s Office
• Department of Education
• Department of Elder Affairs

Ms. Miguel served as Deputy IG for the Architect of the Capitol and IG for the Government Publishing Office in Washington, D.C. She received a B.S. in Economics and a Graduate Certificate in Local Government Administration from Florida State University.

Jason Adolf: Jason Adolf advises government customers on ways to maximize their digital transformation and modernization investments for Appian. In his 20 years of government IT experience, he has delivered complex technical solutions to federal clients, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the General Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration and numerous Defense Department agencies. Prior to joining Appian, Jason served as Director of Shared Services Consulting and Technical Solutions Portfolio at Serco. Prior to Serco, he was a principal at SRA International, where he led both internal and external-facing teams.

Shane McDaniel: Shane “El Jefe” McDaniel is the first Director of Information Technology for the city of Seguin, Texas, with more than 24 years of experience across multiple IT disciplines. He began his technology career in 1996 through an enlistment in the Air Force supporting military intelligence, subsequently transitioning to NSA, NRO, private industry and municipal government technology operations. He holds a master’s degree in Information Technology and has earned several industry certifications to include Certified Government Chief Information Officer (CGCIO), Project Manager Professional (PMP), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), ITIL v3 Intermediate Service Operations and CompTIA Security+. Shane is the proprietor and champion of Country IT, running the countryexec.com website promoting personal and professional development for future leaders. You can find him on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Usha Tewari: Usha Tewari is a first-generation Indian-American born and raised in Orlando. Ms. Tewari has over 14 years of experience working for elected officials at the federal and local levels. She currently works full-time in local government managing 13 individuals and is a caregiver to her mother who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s/Dementia. In 2019, she was Orlando Magazine’s “Woman of the Year” with her advocacy efforts. In her spare time, she devotes herself to advancing Alzheimer’s/Dementia awareness at the grassroots level in her community as well as Tallahassee and Washington D.C. She serves as an Alzheimer’s Ambassador for Congresswoman Demings.

Edward Tuorinsky: Edward Tuorinsky brings nearly two decades of experience to DTS in the areas of leadership, management consulting and information technology services. Prior to founding the company, Mr. Tuorinsky, a Service-Disabled Veteran, was a Captain and logistics officer in the U. S. Army before leading the professional services divisions of two federal government consulting firms, managing multi-million-dollar project portfolios.

Mr. Tuorinsky proudly serves on the NVSBC National Board of Directors and the National Small Business Association (NSBA) Leadership Council. He holds a B.S. in biology from the College of William and Mary, a Project Management Professional certification, and he is trained in CMMI methodologies. You can follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Patrick Moore: Patrick Moore serves as the Vice President for Business Development for Granicus, a software firm that is empowering a modern digital government. Patrick is a recognized thought leader in the government technology space. Patrick was recognized by Government Technology as one of the nation’s “25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers” for his transformational tenure as Georgia’s state CIO and has served in executive roles for commercial technology and management consulting firms. Patrick has served as a Senior Fellow with the Center for Digital Government and was the lead contributor to a National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) project helping shape the role of the state CIO. Patrick lives in Atlanta with his wife and two boys. He is active in his church and is an avid runner.

Shirley Jones: Shirley A. Jones, Esq. is a Senior Executive Service (SES) member in the federal government and a certified leadership and diversity and inclusion trainer. Considering herself an employee advocate and a career development trainer, she was recently elected National President of Blacks In Government (BIG). Ms. Jones has had the opportunity to testify before Congress on the lack of diversity in the SES and frequently speaks at events in the Washington, D.C., area. She often addresses a variety of topics related to leadership and empowerment. Ms. Jones has also written Op-Ed pieces for the historic AFRO newspaper, HBCU Connect, and other publications.

Arianna Montero-Colbert: Arianna Montero-Colbert currently serves as a Governor’s Management Fellow for the state of Tennessee’s Office of Customer Focused Government. In this role, she drives confidential process improvement and strategic planning initiatives across 23 state agencies. In addition to working for the state, she consults for various nonprofits and academic institutions, most notably, serving as the RightsCon Platform and Production Manager for the global organization, Access Now. Prior to joining the public sector, Arianna fostered skills in key account management, instructional design, and agile transformation in her roles at the Washington D.C.-based consulting firm, TechChange. You can follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Jenn Noinaj: Jenn Noinaj is a social impact strategist, researcher, and designer passionate about using design to solve society’s most pressing challenges. She’s currently leading the Public Interest Technology Field Building portfolio at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation where she works on creating solutions to make the public interest technology field more inclusive. Prior to this role, she worked in the federal government at the US Digital Service where she partnered with various agencies to transform digital services across government, building capacity in technology and design and championing a user-centric culture. You can find more about her on her website and can follow her on LinkedIn and Twitter.