Talk about eclectic.

Long before Donna Morea ever became a leading force at - count it - the fifth largest IT firm in North America, she had a knack for finding success off the beaten path. In her early years, out of college, Morea worked as a studio photographer, then headed to the prestigious Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Morea continues to wear an eclectic array of hats. As President, US and India, CGI, Morea is - by no stretch of the imagination - a nationally recognized executive in IT professional services management. The business unit she oversees, CGI, is a subsidiary of the Quebec-based IT giant CGI, which provides network and software solutions to clients in government, health care, and financial services, among others.

You’d think that overseeing - and growing - a unit with 7,500 employees would be a 24-7 undertaking. Yet, Morea somehow manages to find time for a diverse range of interests and causes beyond the office. Among other distinctions, she is known among area businesses and technology organizations for her current role as vice chair of Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC). She is also highly regarded for her role as chair of the 2007 Kidney Ball, and for serving as the secretary of the board for the George Mason University Foundation. Last, but not least, Morea also runs an internet-based Italian oil business, Olio2go, which has proven a haven to quite a few pasta lovers.

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Bill Vass of Sun Microsystems fuses the best of two worlds: his decades of experience in both the private and public sectors. Since becoming president and chief operation officer of Sun Microsystems Federal a year and a half ago, Vass has put his rich pool of experience to use. Sun is one of the biggest contributors to the open source community — and Vass aims to keep it that way. In the following Q&A Vass discusses some surprising facts about Sun Microsystems. He also fills you in one of his favorite toys — a 1976 industrial bulldozer — and how he put it to use (don’t try this at home, folks).

How big is the Sun Microsystems’ federal business, if you were to break that out?

Bill Vass: We don’t usually break that out. We have about 800 employees and are one of the fastest growing business units within Sun Microsystems. In addition, more and more of our customers are focused on open source and recognize the security and cost benefits — both administrative and power — of open source technologies.

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