Managing Risk: Insights from GAO’s High-Risk List

This blog series emphasizes the critical importance risk management must play in the managing of government programs. When agencies don’t manage risk effectively they put their operations in jeopardy and expose themselves to a range of hazards from fraud, waste, and abuse to network intrusion and the list goes on.

Lead From The Future: Interview with Mark W. Johnson

I have dedicated a series of shows exploring the qualities, tools, tactics, and mindset leaders from all sectors may need to navigate unsettling times and transform order out of chaos. The authors and thinkers presented in this series offer insights and advice applicable to all sectors, especially the public sector.

Enhancing Decision Making with ERM

If today's pandemic has taught us anything, it is that managing risk in the public sector has taken on new significance. It has also underscored that organizations across all sectors must tackle risk and uncertainty in a more systematic and enterprise manner.

Weekly Roundup: April 20-April 24, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Pentagon plans to test all troops for COVID-19. Gen. John Hyten, vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said testing the entire force, including National Guard and Reserves, would take until summertime.

Preparing for the Next Presidential Transition

Every four years, the U.S. inaugurates a president to lead the country and the U.S. federal government. The transfer of power from one administration to the next marks a significant moment in U.S. history. Many may think the transition begins the day after the election. In reality, it begins much earlier. Leading candidates from both parties begin an informal transition process as early as the Spring of that election year.

Weekly Roundup: April 13-April 17, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Agencies look to digital financial outlets to disburse relief funds. As IRS and the Small Business Administration tap digital-only financial firms to assist in relief funding, concerns are emerging about cybersecurity vulnerabilities and fraud.

Michael J. Keegan

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Weekly Roundup: April 6-April 10, 2020

Michael J. Keegan

Weekly Roundup: March 30-April 3, 2020

Michael J. Keegan 

National Labs turn to 3D printing for medical supplies. Fifteen of the Energy Department's 17 national laboratories are consulting with public and private stakeholders to use "additive manufacturing" methods to help make more face masks, face shields and ventilators, Department of Energy Secretary Paul Dabbar said in a March 30 blog post on the agency's website.

Transforming How Government Operates

As underscored by the public health crisis we are facing today, this world is fraught with uncertainty, and even the best-laid plans can go awry. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of today’s world only ups the ante on the unknown and unexpected. It is within this ever-changing environment, with lives and treasure at stake that government executives must operate, anticipate, and respond. It is also where they find ways to innovate—to improve operations by adopting tools and methods from other sectors.

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Leadership Fellow & Host
IBM Center for The Business of Government
600 14th Street, NW Second Floor
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United States
202-551-9339

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.

Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.

Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.