USIS has assembled an Advisory Board to help us grow our business. Composed primarily of former senior government leaders, the board will provide valuable insight on working with federal agencies. These seasoned industry leaders will also show us ways to best align our business strategies with the needs of our federal customers.
Beginning in February 2011, the board will meet with USIS business leaders on a regular basis. They will discuss topics such as how changing Administration policy will impact our business and how federal agencies will react to shrinking budgets.
Being able to draw on the insight of trusted advisors is vitally important as we seek to expand our presence in Washington and across the globe. USIS Advisory Board members understand our market well. They can improve our opportunities for success by recommending the best ways to not only engage the market and its senior decision-makers, but also how to help our customers succeed.
General (Ret.) John Abizaid, former Commander, U.S. Central Command
General (Ret.) John Abizaid, U.S. Army, assumed duties as the Commander, U.S. Central Command on July 7, 2003. He was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in June 1973, and he started his career with the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he served as a rifle and scout platoon leader. He commanded companies in the 2nd and 1st Ranger Battalions, leading a Ranger Rifle Company during the invasion of Grenada.
General Abizaid commanded the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Battalion combat Team in Vicenza, Italy, during the Gulf crisis and deployed with the battalion to Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. His brigade command was the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. He served as the Assistant Division Commander, 1st Armored Division, in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Following that tour, he served as the 66th Commandant at West Point. Later, he commanded 1st Infantry Division, the “Big Red One,” in Wurzburg, which provided the first U.S. ground forces into Kosovo. He served as the Deputy Commander (Forward), Combined Forces Command, U.S. Central Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff assignments include a tour with the United Nations as operations officer for Observer Group Lebanon and a tour in the Office of the Chief of the Staff, U.S. Army. European staff tours include assignments in both the Southern European Task Force and Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe. General Abizaid also served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy on the Joint Staff and Director of the Joint Staff.
General Abizaid’s military education includes Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, Armed Forces Staff College, and a U.S. Army War College Senior Fellowship at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In his civilian studies, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Area Studies at Harvard University, and was an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan.
His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with five Oak Leaf Clusters and the Bronze Star. He earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutist Badge with Gold Star, Ranger Tab and the Expert Infantryman’s Badge.
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Dr. Renny A. DiPentima, former CEO, SRA International
Renato (Renny) DiPentima is currently a Senior Advisor of Providence Equity Partners. Dr. DiPentima is the retired President, Chief Executive Officer, and Board Director of SRA International, which is a leading provider of information technology services and solutions to clients in national security, civil government, health care and public health.
Dr. DiPentima joined SRA in 1995 when it was a private company. Today, as a public company, SRA International has more than 7,000 people and a revenue run rate of more than $1.6 billion. Prior to holding the position of President and CEO, Dr. DiPentima was President and Chief Operating Officer, President of SRA Consulting and Systems Integration, President of SRA Government Sector, and SRA Vice President and CIO.
Before working for SRA, Dr. DiPentima was the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) CIO and Deputy Commissioner for Systems, responsible for overseeing and managing all of SSA’s information processing and data and voice communication systems with a staff of more than 3,000 technical professionals. Dr. DiPentima served as Chairman of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Improvement Team, as part of the President’s National Performance Review initiatives.
Dr. DiPentima sits on the Board of Directors of Brocade Corporation, a NASDAQ company, Capgemini Government Solutions, and BlueDelta Capital Partners; the Advisory Boards of Red Hat, Inc. and SE Solutions; and the Global Advisory Board of Capgemini. He is a principal with the Partnership for Public Service, a member of its SAGE group; a fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance; a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development; and a member of the Economic Club of D.C. He sits on the University of Maryland Baltimore County Public Policy External Advisory Board.
Dr. DiPentima has received many awards, including two Presidential Rank awards (Distinguished and Meritorious Service). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University. He holds a Master of Arts degree from George Washington University and a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. He has also completed the Program for Senior Managers at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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Honorable Dr. Jacques Gansler, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Department of Defense
Dr. Jacques Gansler, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, is the first holder of the Roger C. Lipitz Chair in Public Policy and Private Enterprise at the University of Maryland. As the third-ranking civilian at the Pentagon from 1997 to 2001, Dr. Gansler was responsible for all matters relating to Department of Defense acquisition, research and development, logistics, advanced technology, international programs, environmental security, nuclear, chemical and biological programs, and the defense technology and industrial base.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Gansler was the Executive Vice President and Director for TASC Incorporated, an applied information technology company. Earlier in his career, he served in two government posts: Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Material Acquisition) and Assistant Director of Defense Research and Engineering (Electronics). In the private sector, he has served as a Vice President for ITT; Program Manager at the Singer Corporation; and in Engineering Management for the Raytheon Corporation.
Throughout his career, Dr. Gansler has written, published and taught on subjects related to his work. He is the author of ”Defense Conversions: Transforming the Arsenal of Democracy,” MIT Press, 1995; “The Defense Industry,” MIT Press, 1990; and “Affording Defense,” MIT Press, 1989. His articles have been published in Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, International Security, Public Affairs, and other journals as well as newspapers; he has also testified numerous times at congressional hearings.
Dr. Gansler has served on many special committees and advisory boards and was a Visiting Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is an Honorary Professor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and was formerly a visiting professor at the University of Virginia. Dr. Gansler is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Dr. Gansler received his B.E. in electrical engineering from Yale University, his M.S. in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, his M.A. in political economy from New School for Social Research, and his Ph.D. in economics from the American University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Altarum Institute, a non-profit research center.
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Joanne O. Isham, President, Isham Associates, LLC
Joanne Isham is an independent consultant, working with a variety of clients in the Defense and Intelligence sectors to develop strategies, identify high-value opportunities, address critical challenges and transform their business. She was formerly a Senior Vice President for L-1 Identity Solutions—a market leader in identity management—where she was the corporate leader responsible for planning, developing, and executing the L-1 federal market strategy.
From 2007-2008, Ms. Isham was the Chief Operating Officer of High Performance Technologies, Inc. (HPTi), where she had management and operational responsibility for the firm. HPTi is a technology firm specializing in computational science; enterprise technology and planning; systems architecture and engineering; secure software development and knowledge discovery and visualization.
Ms. Isham was the former Vice President/Deputy General Manager of Network Systems at BAE Systems. In addition to managing day-to-day operations, she was directly responsible for identifying strategic opportunities for new mission focus within the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.
Prior to BAE Systems, Ms. Isham was a member of the Senior Intelligence Service and a career officer at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). From September 2001 until her retirement in 2006, she served as Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Prior to that assignment, she served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the CIA, serving as the principal executive overseeing the CIA’s scientific and technical program with particular responsibility for clandestine technical activities and Agency research and development. Ms. Isham also served as the CIA’s Associate Deputy Director for Science and Technology, the next most senior position in the directorate.
Ms. Isham has held several other senior management positions in the CIA and other Intelligence Community organizations. She served as Director of Congressional Affairs for the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), overseeing the congressional and legislative interests of the DCI. She also served as the Deputy Director of the Resource management Office of the Community Management Staff (CMS) and as CMS’ Director of Program Analysis. In these positions, she oversaw budget and resource issues spanning the entire Intelligence Community. Ms. Isham also spent a number of years on assignment to the National Reconnaissance Office as Director of Legislative Affairs, a program monitor for National Programs and a program manager.
She has received numerous awards throughout her career, including the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award, National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the CIA Distinguished Intelligence Medal, NGA Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the DIA Director’s Awards.
Ms. Isham is a member of the Senior Advisory Group for the Director of National Intelligence; the Board of Trustees for Analytic Services Inc.; the Board of Directors for Applied Analysis, Incorporated; INSA and the Open Geospatial Consortium. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
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Dr. Elaine C. Kamarck, former Director, National Performance Review
Dr. Elaine Kamarck is a Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She came to the Kennedy School in 1997 after a career in politics and government. In the 1980s, she was one of the founders of the New Democrat movement that helped elect Bill Clinton president. She served in the White House from 1993 to 1997, where she created and managed the Clinton Administration's National Performance Review, also known as Reinventing Government.
At the Kennedy School, she has served as Director of Visions of Governance for the Twenty-First Century and as Faculty Advisor to the Innovations in American Government Awards Program. In 2000, Dr. Kamarck took a leave of absence to work as Senior Policy Advisor to the presidential campaign of Al Gore. She conducts research on 21st-century government, the role of the Internet in political campaigns, homeland defense, intelligence reorganization, and governmental reform and innovation.
Dr. Kamarck received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of "The End of Government As We Know It: Policy Implementation in the 21st Century," Lynne Rienner Publishing, 2007. She is also the author of "Primary Politics: How Presidential Candidates Have Shaped the Modern Nominating System," Brookings Institution Press, 2009. Dr. Kamarck also has worked as a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute and has written regular columns for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times.
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Honorable Tom Ridge, former Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, and former Governor of Pennsylvania
On January 24, 2003, Tom Ridge became the first Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Ridge worked with more than 180,000 employees from combined agencies to strengthen our borders, provide for intelligence analysis and infrastructure protection, improve the use of science and technology to counter weapons of mass destruction and to create a comprehensive response and recovery division.
Mr. Ridge was sworn in as the first Director of the Office of Homeland Security in October 2001, following the tragic events of September 11. The charge to the nation's new director of homeland defense was to develop and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen the United States against terrorist threats or attacks. In the words of President George W. Bush, Mr. Ridge had the strength, experience, personal commitment and authority to accomplish this critical mission. Mr. Ridge stepped down as Secretary in February 2005.
Mr. Ridge was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania, serving from 1995 to 2001. He kept his promise to make Pennsylvania "a leader among states and a competitor among nations." As governor, Mr. Ridge promoted an aggressive technology strategy that helped fuel the state's advances in the priority areas of economic development, education, health and the environment.
Mr. Ridge was raised in a working class family in veterans' public housing in Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to Pennsylvania, he earned his law degree and was in private practice before becoming assistant district attorney in Erie County.
Mr. Ridge was elected to Congress in 1982. He was the first congressman to have served as an enlisted man in the Vietnam War and was overwhelmingly re-elected five times.
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