WHERE
The Ritz-Carlton
1700 Tysons Blvd
McLean, VA 22102
WHEN
Oct. 31, 2019
11:00 am – 2:00 pm
2019 Winners
Check back soon.
CONTACT
Questions? Send us a message.
2019 Pinnacle Awards Winners
WashingtonExec on Oct. 31 announced the winners of the second annual Pinnacle Awards before an audience of over 525 GovCon leaders, influencers and government innovators. The Judges Committee received hundreds of nominations across 18 categories, making it a challenge to down-select the 75 finalists.
The sold-out awards luncheon shone a light on exemplary leadership in both industry and government. Here are the winners and categories.
Artificial Intelligence Government Executive of the Year
David Shive, chief information officer at the General Services Administration (right)
Award presented by SAIC’s Vice President of Modernization and Digital Transformation Sanjay Sardar (left)
Artificial Intelligence Industry Executive of the Year
Chitra Sivanandam, vice president of analytics and simulation at SAIC (right)
Award presented by Donald Thomas, head of government contracting solutions for Bloomberg Government (left)
Business Development Executive of the Year
Mike Gaffney, executive vice president of business development for CACI International (left)
Award presented by Donald Thomas, head of government contracting solutions for Bloomberg Government (right)
Cybersecurity Government Executive of the Year
Daniel Commons, director of IT risk management and chief information security officer for Federal Student Aid in the Education Department (left)
Award presented by Raj Parameswaran, president of U.S. federal information technology for MAXIMUS Federal (right)
Cybersecurity Industry Executive of the Year
Shawn Wells, senior principal and chief security strategist for public sector at Red Hat (not pictured)
Award accepted by Lynne Chamberlain, Red Hat’s vice president of business development, capture and SI alliances (right)
Award presented by Steven Omick, president and CEO of Riverside Research (left)
DOD Government Executive of the Year
Teresa Smith, the Defense Logistics Agency’s chief data officer and director of strategic data services for DLA Information Operations (left)
Award presented by Tod Weber, CEO of Software AG Government Solutions, Inc. (right)
DOD Industry Executive of the Year
Rick Jones, vice president of national services at AMERICAN SYSTEMS (left)
Award presented by Tod Weber, CEO of Software AG Government Solutions, Inc. (right)
Government TEAM Project of the Year
Joshua Gustin, manager of communications, information and network programs for the Federal Aviation Administration (right)
Award presented by SAIC’s Vice President of Modernization and Digital Transformation Sanjay Sardar (left)
Healthcare Government Executive of the Year
Barclay P. Butler, the Defense Health Agency’s assistant director for management (left)
Award presented by Allison Patrick, senior vice president of sales at MAXIMUS Federal (right)
Healthcare Industry Executive of the Year
Travis Dalton, president of Cerner Government Services (right)
Award presented by SAIC’s Vice President of Modernization and Digital Transformation Sanjay Sardar (left)
HR Executive of the Year
Norman Iracheta, vice president of human capital for MAXIMUS’ Federal (left)
Award presented by Donald Thomas, head of government contracting solutions for Bloomberg Government (right)
Intelligence Government Executive of the Year
Marianne Bailey, former deputy national manager for U.S. national security systems at the National Security Agency and current lead of Guidehouse’s cybersecurity practice (right)
Award presented by event emcee and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers (left)
Intelligence Industry Executive of the Year
Raytheon Co. Vice President and President of the Intelligence, Information and Services business Dave Wajsgras (right)
Award presented by event emcee and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers (left)
Marketing Executive of the Year
Helle Huxley, vice president for marketing and communications at SOS International (middle); Jamie Graham, business development executive at KippsDesanto (left), and Lorraine Corcoran, vice president of corporate and marketing communications at Perspecta (right)
National Security/DHS Industry Executive of the Year
Cedric Sims, a senior vice president and senior leader within Booz Allen Hamilton’s Justice, Homeland Security and Transportation business (middle), Mike Rogers (left) and Tina Dolph (right), president and CEO of Siemens Government Technologies, Inc.
Private and Public Company Executive Assistants of the Year
From right to left: Event emcee Mike Rogers; Coney Jackson Elam, executive administrative assistant for IBM‘s general manager for U.S. federal and government industries; Nancy Edwards, executive assistant to the president and CEO of AMERICAN SYSTEMS; Groslyn Burton, vice president of values and culture, and executive assistant to the chairman at The Asia Group; Pennie Parkin, executive assistant to the CEO at LexisNexis Risk Solutions; and JD Kathuria, founder and CEO of WashingtonExec
STEM Advocate of the Year
Alka Bhave, vice president of performance excellence at Perspecta (right)
Award presented by Steven Omick, president and CEO of Riverside Research (left)
2019 PINNACLE AWARDS FINALISTS
Artificial Intelligence Government Executive of the Year
- David Shive, General Services Administration
Artificial Intelligence Industry Executive of the Year
- Gary Shiffman, Giant Oak
- Shamlan Siddiqi, NTT DATA
- Shaun Bierweiler, Cloudera
- Chitra Sivanandam, SAIC
- Brad Mascho, NCI Information Systems
- Josh Sullivan, Booz Allen Hamilton
Business Development Executive of the Year
- Thomas Middleton, GDIT
- Laura Braksator, ASRC Federal
- Lynne Chamberlain, Red Hat
- Mike Gaffney, CACI
- Sean Mullen, Perspecta
Cybersecurity Government Executive of the Year
- Garth White, Science and Technology Directorate, DHS
- Daniel Commons, Federal Student Aid, Education Department
- Daryl Haegley, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security
Cybersecurity Industry Executive of the Year
- Thomas Gardner, HP
- Shawn Wells, Red Hat
- Natalie Catliota, NetCentrics
- Sean Berg, Forcepoint
DOD Government Executive of the Year
- Bob Kayl, Defense Department
- Teresa Smith, Defense Logistics Agency
DOD Industry Executive of the Year
- Jon Dittmer, Array Information Technology
- Rick Jones, AMERICAN SYSTEMS
- Rick Schult, E3/Sentinel
- Patrick Mahoney, LMI
- Scott Briggs, ViON
Government TEAM Project of the Year
- Stephanie Price, Emilio Fernandez, and John Blankenship, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Richard Weddle, Internal Revenue Service
- Gary Washington, Agriculture Department
- Joshua Gustin, ATO Program Management Organization, Enterprise Services, Communications, Information and Network Programs, Federal Aviation Administration
Healthcare Government Executive of the Year
- Bobby Saxon, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Dr. Barclay P. Butler, Defense Health Agency
- Chris Martin, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Healthcare Industry Executive of the Year
- Jon Scholl, Leidos
- Michele Kang, Cognosante
- Pasquale (Pat) Tamburrino, Jr., LMI
- Travis Dalton, Cerner
- Kamal Narang, GDIT
HR Executive of the Year
- Janet Waldron, SOS International
- Denise Bailey, Koniag Government Services
- Kate McEnaney, CyberCore Technologies
- Norman Iracheta, MAXIMUS Federal
- Laura Giangiuli, CALIBRE Systems, Inc.
Intelligence Government Executive of the Year
- Marianne Bailey, National Security Agency
Intelligence Industry Executive of the Year
- Stephen Gillotte, Reinventing Geospatial, Inc.
- Laine Klein, AECOM
- Eric Patterson, Riverside Research
- Dave Wajsgras, Raytheon
- Damian DiPippa, ManTech
Marketing Executive of the Year
- Matt Maurer, ICF
- Blake Travis, MAXIMUS Federal
- Helle Huxley, SOS International
- Lorraine Corcoran, Perspecta
- Oliver Nutt, GDIT
National Security/DHS Industry Executive of the Year
- John Hynes, Applied Insight
- Cedric Sims, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Scott Recinos, LMI
- Brian Michl, GDIT
Private Company Executive Assistant of the Year
- Groslyn Burton, The Asia Group
- Nancy Edwards, AMERICAN SYSTEMS
- Debbie Smith, Telos Corp.
- Lisa DeRaymond, Koniag Government Services
- Maria Plunkett, A-TEK
Public Company Executive Assistant of the Year
- Robert Angeli, SAIC
- Tia Kim, Perspecta
- Mary Kay Clark, Red Hat
- Pennie Parkin, LexisNexis Risk Solutions
- Coney Jackson Elam, IBM, Federal Market
- Joyce Downing, SAIC
STEM Advocate of the Year
- Jan Johnson, Array Information Technology
- Alka Bhave, Perspecta
- Jennifer Bahrami, CNSI
- Will LaBar, CGI Federal
Sponsors
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Silver Sponsors
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Judges
ABOUT
THE INAUGURAL PINNACLE AWARDS
Before an audience of over 300 GovCon leaders and influencers, WashingtonExec in November announced the winners of the inaugural Pinnacle Awards -- not an easy feat as the judges had received 125 impressive nominations spanning several categories.
The first awards luncheon on Nov. 1 at the Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner shone a light on exemplary GovCon leadership. In addition to recognizing the winners, Donna Morea was honored for her lifelong leadership in the GovCon community. SAIC CEO Tony Moraco and Attain Chairman and CEO Greg Baroni spoke on Morea’s decades-long contributions and Baroni highlighted her as a trailblazer.
Emceed by Dr. John Hillen, the awards ceremony was unique in the sense that nominators described the “why” and the “how” of an executive milestone and/or federal client project. The awards were not solely based on rewarding revenue generation, CEO only, or other arbitrary accolades.
“Everyone here exemplifies true leadership, innovation and a drive to make the government more efficient and effective," said WashingtonExec founder and CEO JD Kathuria. “Each and every one of you is key to driving critical missions, whether you are a senior leader or an executive assistant."
