As we enter a pivotal year for the federal landscape, we are thrilled to announce the 2025 Engage Federal Health 150 Honorees. These leaders in IT and consulting, from both industry and government, are set to spearhead innovation. With a new Administration on the horizon, this esteemed group of technology and business consulting professionals is ready to propel the critical missions of Federal Health agencies forward. The nomination process was incredibly competitive, with hundreds of entries evaluated. Each honoree was nominated and selected by their peers, celebrating their outstanding contributions to the field.
This year’s outstanding leaders are:
- Raghu Akkapeddi, Chief Executive Officer, Index Analytics
- Aws Ali, President, ICA
- Anita Allen, Small Business Specialist, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services/ Department of Health and Human Services
- CAPT Ivonne Arena, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Program Executive Office, Medical Systems (J6) Defense Health Agency
- Milad Bahrami, Senior Vice President & General Manager – Civilian Health Solutions, Leidos
- Ben Barker, Chief Strategy Officer, Aptive Resources
- Srini Bayireddy, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Navitas Business Consulting
- Douglas Bergevin, Deputy Director of the Office of Acquisition & Grants Management, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Jess Berrellez, Executive Officer, Office of Digital Transformation, Food and Drug Administration
- Robert Betters, President/Chief Executive Officer. RB Consulting
- Partha Bhattacharyya, Chief Data Officer, NIA/DBSR, National Institutes of Health
- Rohan Bhobe, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Nava PBC
- Joan Bishop, Federal Health Industry SME and Past President of HIMSS NCA Chapter
- Anil Boinapfdaalli, Chief Executive Officer, Sky Solutions
- Quintus Brown, Partner Development Manager, Google
- Jesus Caban, PhD, Chief Data Scientist, Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems
- Mark Canfield, Deputy Director, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Tris Carpenter, General Manager, Strategic Growth, Red Team
- Christa Carter, Director of GWACs and Partner Programs, REI Systems
- Diana Ceban, Vice President & Account Executive Health, SAIC
- Melissa Chapman, President, 9th Way Solutions
- Mohammed Sohail Chaudhry, Chief Technology Officer(CTO), Food & Drugs Administration (FDA)
- Karen Cinibulk, Vice President, Maximus
- Andrew Collins, Business Development, Peraton / NCMA Woodlawn Board
- Tim Cox, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, GovCIO
- Lee Ann Crochunis, Deputy Director, Office of Information Technology at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Jason Cullum, Vice President of Digital Services, Element Solutions
- Charles De Sanno, Executive Vice President, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Jessica Denman, Global Client Director – Federal Healthcare (Military Health), ServiceNow
- Deana DePaz, Vice President of Sales with RHO | Vice President of Programs AFCEA Monmouth
- Vid Desai, Chief Information Officer, Food and Drug Administration
- Arielle Douglas, Deputy Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Department of Health and Human Services
- Dr. Aaron Drew, Senior Enterprise Solutions Architect, Office of Information & Technology (OI&T), Department of Veterans Affairs
- Jothi Dugar, Chief Information Security Officer, National Institutes of Health, Center for IT
- Peter Erwin, Vice President, Customer Value Partners
- Naomi Escoffery, Chief Accelerator Officer, Innovation Program Manager (J-6), Defence Health Agency
- Dr. Neil Evans, Acting Program Executive Director, EHRM, Department of Veterans Affairs & Chief Officer, Connected Care, Veterans Health Administration
- Rafael Fagundo, Chief Executive Officer, Sierra 7
- Elena Fenton, Vice President, Rios Partners
- Michael Finkel, Chief Executive Officer, Sparksoft
- Pat Flanders, Program Executive Officer, Medical Systems / Chief Information Office, Department of Defense
- Andrea Fletcher, Chief Digital Strategy Officer and Director of the Digital Service, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Tiphanie Forst. Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Frigata Health Strategies
- Kathryn Freeland, President/Chief Executive Officer, A-TEK
- Maria Gaboury, Senior Account Executive, Business Development, InterSystems
- Lisa Gardner, Vice President, Federal Civilian Solutions, Noblis
- Michelle Gardner-Ince, Director, Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business Initiative, Office of Small Business, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Greg Gershman, Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder, Ad Hoc
- James Gfrerer, Chief Executive Officer; Federal Business (Former CIO, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Roshni Ghosh, Senior Vice President – Federal Health, ReefPoint Group
- Nicole Gilbride, Chief Strategy Officer, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Tony Giljum, Acting Division Chief, Engineering, Solutions Architecture, & IT Business Analytics, Defense Health Agency
- JR Glass, President, GovCon Growth Solutions
- Aly Glick, President, Artemis ARC
- Melissa Glynn, Chief Strategy Officer, Prometheus Federal Services
- Bryce Golwolla, Chief Strategy Officer, Softrams
- Eric Gonzales, Vice President, Growth, HigherEchelon
- Lakshmi Grama, Associate Director, Dissemination and Digital Communication, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute
- Jeff Grant, Operations Director, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at Centers, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Leonard Grant, Director of Acquisition & Grants, Food and Drug Administration
- Daniel Greene, Executive Vice President and General Manager, IntePros Federal
- Anita Griner, Managing Director Civilian Health, Accenture
- Allison Hickey, Chief Executive Officer, All In Solutions
- Joseph Hoffert, Chief, Solution Delivery Division/Chief, Risk Management Executive Division/CISO, Defense Health Agency
- Theresa Holder, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Holder Strategy Group
- Katie Holmes, CCSQ – ISGCCSQ – ISG, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Kimberly Hornik, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Integrity Management Services
- Julie Hoyte, Chief Executive Officer, Health Information Technology Solutions
- Nikolaos Ipiotis, Chief Information Officer, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, Department of Health and Human Services
- Ken Johns, Deputy Program Manager, Joint Operation Medical Information System, Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems
- Brooke Jordan, Stakeholder Engagement Lead, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Mark Junda, Deputy, Chief Technology Officer Health Portfolio, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Ratima Kataria, Chief Strategy and Growth Leader for Health Analytics, Research and Technology Solutions, ICF
- Doug Kelly. Chief Strategy Officer, RELI Group
- Buck Keswani, Chief Executive Officer, Tantus Technologies
- Farhan Khan, Director, IT Operations and Delivery, Food and Drug Administration
- Demetrius Kittrell, Contracts, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services
- Venkat Kodumudi, Chief Technology Officer, Unissant
- Danielle Krakora, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Ibility
- Kendall Krebs, Deputy Executive Director, Infrastructure Operations, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
- General Lee, Chief of the Business Intelligence Branch, Office of Digital Transformation, Food and Drug Administration
- Sonja Lemott, Chief Technology Officer, Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems
- Dan Levenson, President, Agile Six
- Peter Levin, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Amida Technology Solutions
- Joseph Lewis, Ph.D., CISO and Director of the Cybersecurity Program Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Cheryl Levine, Director, Center for Innovation, Center for Health Center Innovation, Office of Quality Improvement, HRSA/HHS
- Jon Lipsky, Principal, J Michael Consulting
- Ryan Loving, Vice President – Business Development, LMI
- Reeba Magulick, Founding Senior Partner, d8 Group
- Robin Major, President, SoftDev
- Duvalier Malone, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Electronic Health Record Moderation, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Tara McMullen, Ph.D, Deputy Director, Division of Quality Measurement, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Martina Malek, Deputy Director, CX T&I, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Lucy Martin, Vice President of Growth, PingWind
- Lia Melakou, Vice President, Health & Citizen Solutions Group, Highlight Technologies
- Tony Meyer, Chief Growth Officer, Oddball
- Kai Miller, Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Emerald One
- Michael Millett, Vice President, Sierra7
- William Milline, Division Chief, Contracting Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Avery Muse, Executive Director, Office of IT Operations, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- April Nadeau, Senior Vice President, Sentar
- Chris Nichols, Enterprise Intelligence & Data Solutions Program Manager, Pprogram Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems
- Nancy Norton, Director, Office of Acquisition Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- John O’Grady, Digital Transformation, Zolon Tech
- Eduardo Ortiz, Chief Executive Officer and Founding Owner, Coforma
- Joey Pahira, Vice President, Dynanet
- Jeremy Pamplin, Commander of the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center
- Jordan Parsons, Vice President, FDA & NIH Account Executive, ICF
- Aaron Pava, Co-Founder & Chief Experience Officer, CivicActions
- Hillary Pauline Peabody, Acting Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Integrated Veteran Care, Veterans Health Administration
- Amber Pearson, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer and Executive Director of Information Security Policy and Strategy, Departrment of Veterans Affairs
- Chanaka Perrera, Chief Technology Officer, LCG
- Pascal Pinck, Strategy and Operations, Armavel
- Melinda Pitchford, Account Executive Director, SAIC
- Laura Prietula, Deputy Chief Information Officcer, Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office-EHRM IO, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Latriece Prince-Wheeler, Acting Deputy Chief Digital Health Office, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Kim Pugh, Director of Software as a Services, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Dr. Chakri Pureti MD, Chief Executive Officer, Prime Physicians
- Andrea Ramirez, Chief Data Officer, All of Us Research Program, National Institutes of Health
- Melissa Ramos, Customer Service Director, General Services Administration
- Purva Rawal, Chief Strategy Officer, CMS Innovation Center, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Tonya Reeder, Chief Information Officer, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
- Joseph Ronzio, Deputy Chief Health Technology Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Lisa Rosenmerkel, Chief Data Officer & Executive Director for Data Governance & Analytics, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Lisa Rosenthal, Vice President, Optum
- Monica Rosser, Executive Managing Director, Health, Maximus
- Anindita (Annie) Saha, Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives, Digital Health Center of Excellence, Food and Drug Administration
- Zaki Saleh, Senior Vice President Health & Civilian Market, LMI
- Thomas Schankweiler, Director Division of Cyber Threat and Security Operations, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- John Scott, Interim Veterans Health Administration Chief Data Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Reed Shabman, Acting Director, Office of Data Science and Emerging Technologies, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
- Susan Sharer, Chief Executive Officer, GOVTECH CONNECTS
- Erica Shook, Deputy Director, OIG/OMP/OCIO/ATD, U.S. Health & Human Services
- Antonina (Nina) Shtilkind, Federal Health Programs Delivery, Brillient
- Greg Smallwood, Chief Executive Officer, Prometheus Federal Services
- Allen Smith, Supervisory Contracting Officer/ Division Chief, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Nadia Smith, Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Veterans Health Administration, Digital Health, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Mike Snyder, Chief Executive Officer, EM Key Solutions
- Xavier Soosai, Chief Information Officer & Director of IT Services, Center for Information Technology, National Institutes of Health
- Eric Strauss, Chief Growth Officer, Connected Logistics
- Ned Struzziero, Vice President of Health IT Sprezzatura Management Consulting
- Swami Swaminathan, Chief Executive Officer, RELI Group
- Sara Thomas, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, AWL Strategies
- Omari Teel, Vice President, Publicis Sapient Public Sector
- Nathan Tierney, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief People Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs,
- Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, National Coordinator for Health IT, Chief AI Officer, Department of Health and Human Services
- Frank Tucker, Chief Executive Officer, MicroHealth
- Nick Vass, Vice President of HHS Programs, J29
- Marisa Veseli, Business Development Leader, Peraton
- Amanda Warfield, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Optum
- Brent Weaver, Director, Data & System Group at Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Katie Webb, Executive Vice President, Public Health, Tria Federal
- Dr. Yvette Weber, Program Executive Officer, Defense Healthcare Management Systems, Department of Defense
- Jennifer Welham, Senior Vice President, Health, People, and Human Services, ICF
- Kathryn Wetherby, Deputy Director Marketplace IT Group, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Jason Windsor, Vice President, Health IT, General Dynamics Information Technology
- Lauren Wingate, VP of Strategic Development and Partnership, TJFACT
- Ryan Woodward, Chief of Operations, Infrastructure Operations, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs
- Jacklyn Wynn, Vice President, Strategic Programs, Federal Health Sector, General Dynamics Information Technology
- Krista Yager, Chief Digital Officer, National Government Services
- Johanna Yi, Chief Executive Officer, For People
- Dr. Kaeli Yuen MD, Data & AI Health Product Lead, Office of the Chief Technology Office, Department of Veterans Affairs
Congratulations to all of the honorees and thank you to all who participated in the process.
Identified below are Six Key Characteristics that Make up an Engage FedGov Leader
Exemplify Open Communication
Whether through speaking at events, sharing on open platforms such as LinkedIn, or writing executive insight pieces that offer advice and insight, the engaged leader shares their thought leadership and is open to making public what they know to serve the greater good.
Evidence of Mission Focus
An engaged leader understands their mission focus is not turned inward to their specific organization but instead looks outward, to their stakeholders. This means taking and receiving lessons learned from others serving the same or similar communities. It means finding ways to engage stakeholders, vendors, and potential partners, to drive collaborative solutions with the users’ needs in focus.
Execution as a Good Partner
Engaged leaders prefer not to do a power dance, across tables or in the public eye. Being open, transparent, and authentic in who they are and what they want to achieve, these leaders demonstrate they are good and reliable partners. Being a good partner, these leaders are clear in what they say, understand their role and the roles of those around them, and they execute according to that.
Engage with the Community
Whether through industry days, networking opportunities, written content or collaboration in working groups, the engaged leader is part of the discussion, attending events, and being accessible and available. The expression “a rising tide lifts many boats” reminds everyone of something engaged leaders know – that there are opportunities for everyone and we do better when we work together. Whether it is as a mentor, an advisor, a board member, or a panellist, these leaders are familiar names and faces.
Encourage Inclusivity
Leaders who see the bigger picture are often surrounded by people who represent that bigger picture. Engaged leaders surround themselves with people who support and challenge them, with people who come from diverse backgrounds and with varied experiences. Engaged leaders encourage discussion, not for its own sake, but because they want the ideas brought forth from their diverse and inclusive team.
Exemplify Innovation
Whether it is through technology, culture, mission or approach, leaders that succeed do not stand still. Innovation signifies life, implies thought and forward movement, and is critical as the world becomes increasingly complex and challenging. Engaged leaders understand this, ask for big ideas and seek solutions that are focused on driving their organizations forward.
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Meet the 2024 Engage FedGov Honorees here.
Meet the 2023 Engage FedGov Honorees here.
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