DHS Deputy Secretary Ali Mayorkas on Managing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Since its inception the US Department of Homeland Security, DHS, has undertaken numerous reviews and reorganizations in an ongoing effort to increase the department's efficiency and effectiveness in managing its wide ranging complex mission set. In April of 2014, Secretary of Homeland Security Jed Johnson directed DHS leadership to make several key changes to "transparently incorporate" DHS components into unified decision making process and the analytic efforts that inform decision making.

Weekly Roundup July 24, 2015

Doubt haunts federal employees following OPM data breaches, survey shows. Federal employees and other security-clearance holders do not trust the Office of Personnel Management to protect victims of the hacks on its databases, an exclusive Federal News Radio survey shows. Yet they’ll accept the agency’s credit- and identity-protection services. Moreover, they’ll continue to give OPM their sensitive personal information if it means they’ll keep their security clearances. VA’s impending shutdown to impact nearly all of its hospitals.

Weekly Roundup July 31, 2015

Hope for the DATA Act. Hudson Hollister, the head of the Data Transparency Coalition, was interviewed by Federal News Radio on his take of the status of the implementation of the DATA Act, which requires regular reporting of financial transactions by each federal agency on at least a quarterly basis. He shared his frustration, but also some hope. Later that day, GAO testified on the Act’s implementation and noted progress, but more needs to be done.

Weekly Roundup September 4, 2015

Report Slams VA Over Health Care Enrollment System Backlog. A Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report finds that the Veterans Health Administration's enrollment system in 2014 had about 867,000 pending records, 35% of which were for deceased veterans. OIG says VHA's Health Eligibility Center is not successfully managing data, causing a significant backlog and limiting access to care. Modern Healthcare et al Cyber drawbridges, medical device data and more.

Weekly Roundup September 11, 2015

HIMSS Releases Top Health IT Policy Priorities for Congress. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has published its annual "congressional asks," naming interoperability, cybersecurity and telehealth as the top policy priorities that lawmakers should address in the next year. Healthcare IT News, Politico's "Morning eHealth." ONC: Rate of EHR Replacements Among Providers Up Significantly. New data show that the percentage of eligible professionals and hospitals that switched electronic health record vendors quadrupled between meaningful use program years 2013 and 2014.

Making Open Innovation Ecosystems Work: Case Studies in Healthcare

In the mist of tightening budgets, many government agencies are being asked to deliver innovative solutions to operational and strategic problems. One way to address this dilemma is to participate in open innovation. Two Aspects of Open Innovation A recent IBM Center report, Making Open Innovation Ecosystems Work: Case Studies in Healthcare, by Donald Wynn, Jr., Renée M. E. Pratt, Randy V.

Weekly Roundup September 18, 2015

CIOs: 'A strategic partner, not a coder-in-chief'. Agency heads, acquisition officers and even CIOs don't need to be hard-core techies. FCW's four-part look at the expertise that's really required to make federal IT run. CIOs urged to flex their financial muscle. A retired general tells federal CIOs they need to stop wasteful spending before it gets started, and says they could have a powerful ally in their agency CFO. GAO Report Cites Deficiencies in VA's Benefits Management System.

Déjà vu all over again: The Cost of Budget Uncertainty Redux

The IBM Center has explored these questions and more. With the potential of a government shutdown on the horizon, Dr. Philip Joyce, a budget expert at the University of Maryland, examines the impact of late budgets on the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations over the past 37 years and identifies useful coping strategies and offers recommendations on how to soften the adverse effects of budget uncertainty.

Perspective on Presidential Transitions: How George W. Bush and Barack Obama Managed a Transfer of Power

There are approximately 75 days between a presidential election and the inauguration of a new president. This is considered the presidential transition period. It is a time of opportunity and hazard for an incoming administration. The transition from campaign to governing requires that presidential policies be transformed from rhetoric into an actionable agenda and then into concrete results. Neither good policies nor sound investments are likely to work, let along succeed, if undermined by poor implementation.

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Leadership Fellow & Host
IBM Center for The Business of Government
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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.