Women In Federal IT & Cyber Conference Networking Session #1

This event is for federal government employees only! Those who register with their .gov or .mil email address will get a confirmation email with instructions on how to join.

This event is the first networking session of a six part series of engagements for the Women in Federal IT & Cyber Conference. The networking session will be arranged in three small groups with the opportunity to interact with three top Federal IT executives. Participants will hear from federal executives about career development, leadership, and best practices on developing a professional network.

Mentors:

Maria Roat, Deputy Federal Chief Information Officer, Office of Management and Budget

Maria Roat became the Deputy Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) in May 2020, bringing 35+ years of professional experience in information technology.

Ms. Roat served as the Small Business Administration (SBA) Chief Information Officer over the past four years where she led SBA’s digital transformation to improve organizational responsiveness to the business technology needs of SBA program offices and small businesses, as well as entrepreneurs across the United States.

Ms. Roat served more than 2 years as the U.S. Department of Transportation(DOT) Chief Technology Officer and was responsible for establishing and leading DOTs technical vision and strategic direction, driving innovation and planning for technology growth supporting internal and external facing mission activities.

In addition, Ms. Roat served 10 years at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a number of director-level and CIO-related capacities, worked at the Navy Medical Information Management Command and other Commands, and was in the private sector for 5 years deploying and managing global enterprise network management systems, as well as running Network and Security Operations Centers.

Ms. Roat retired from the U.S. Navy in 2007, with 26 years of active duty and reserve service, in which she obtained the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer, Information Systems Technician. Ms. Roat is a graduate of the University of Maryland (UMUC), Harvard Business School Executive Education Program for Leadership Development, and the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy.

Dorothy Aronson, Chief Information Officer, National Science Foundation

Ms. Aronson was recently named the CIO for the National Science Foundation (NSF) after serving for almost six months as both the Acting CIO and as the Director for the Division of Information Systems within the Office of Information and Resource Management.

In her role as the Director for the Division of Information Systems since 2011, Ms. Aronson also acted as the NSF Deputy CIO, facilitating the linkage of mission and strategy to IT tools which enable the Foundation to manage the full life-cycle of proposals and awards.

Prior to her time at NSF, Ms. Aronson served as the Director for the Office of Management Operations for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. She holds a Business degree from Duke University and is committed to lifelong learning.

Jason Gray, Chief Information Officer, Department of Education

Jason Gray was selected in May 2016 to serve as the U. S. Department of Education’s CIO. In this position, he oversees an IT portfolio of $689 million in programs. As the CIO, Gray serves as a principal advisor to the under secretary, deputy secretary, and secretary with respect to the astute use of IT to exceed the expectations of the Department’s customers.

Prior to his selection as CIO, Gray served as the Associate CIO for DOT, where he provided executive leadership on IT policy and oversight for information governance, compliance, and departmental policy, as well as managed DOT’s $3.5 billion IT portfolio.

Gray has held several leadership roles in the information technology and healthcare administration fields. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of technical solutions that address the needs of his customers in support of their missions.

Gray received his M.B.A. from Colorado Technical University, completed the Key Executive Leadership Certificate at American University, and holds a variety of technical and professional certifications, including the Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certifications.

The Women in Federal IT and Cyber series of virtual engagements is hosted by the Chief Information Officer Council (CIOC) and Digital.gov.