On Thursday, May 22nd, ExecutiveBiz will host a cocktail hour and book signing for CACI Chairman Jack London, who will be on hand to discuss and sign copies of “Our Good Name,” a book London co-wrote with members of the CACI team about the company’s effort to defend its honor against accusations surrounding employee conduct at Abu Ghraib.

The book offers unique perspective from a number of different fronts, not only a fact-based response to Abu Ghraib accusations, but also must-read insight on a crisis communications case study unlike any other. What was the decision making process in deciding if and how to fight back against the allegations, rather than let the media coverage determine a verdict in the court of public opinion?

Attendees will have the chance to meet and mingle with Dr. London (a former ExecutiveBiz “Been There Done That” speaker) - and others - at this special ExecutiveBiz event. Those interested in registering can do so here, and your admission will include a copy of the book. Event details below:

When: May 22, 2008 - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm (PLEASE NOTE DATE CHANGE)

Where: Tower Club - Tysons Corner

ACG announced the following winners last night that included: (Capital Provider) Thomas Campbell of D.C. Capital Partners, (Investment Banker) Daniel Cornell of Stifel Nicolas; (Corporate Executive) Thomas Mutryn of CACI; (Emerging Growth Company, Under $100M) Morgan Franklin; (Emerging Growth Company, $100M- $500M) M.C. Dean; (Deal of the Year) Dimension International Acquired by Honeywell; and (Lifetime Achievement) Jack London

Bill Dean

For all its transformative potential, future adoption of Web 2.0 within the Federal government rests on the same business case requirements as any other product or service. And while enterprise wikis and secure video sharing applications are gaining converts in civilian, intelligence and defense organizations, decision makers in the upper echelons are still looking for strong cost and efficiency arguments to turn Web 2.0 applications from “nice to have” to “need to have.”

This point was made matter-of-factly by Tim Schmidt, CTO at the Department of Transportation, at last week’s Advanced Learning Institute Social Media for Government conference. Speaking April 16th at the Advanced Learning Institute’s Social Media for Government conference in Alexandria, Va., Schmidt hinted that a certain level of fear will always exist when it comes to high level decision makers embracing unfamiliar technologies. This was true in the early days of email and the Internet, and is once again playing out with Web 2.0.

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Now five years old, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) elicits varied reactions among Federal agency decision makers and the contractor community. While some rightly argue there is ample room for improvement in terms of how well the directive is protecting the government’s information assets, there is also no questioning it has led to tangible security improvements to date.

Beyond improving government-wide awareness and accountability, what many find extremely valuable is the fact FISMA has standardized the way information security is measured. It is this benchmarking function that some are looking to extend to Federal Green IT practices. Jill Aitoro of NextGov, the online spin-off of Government Executive Magazine, posted yesterday a summary of comments made by Raymond Cline, vice president of the infrastructure service line at IT contractor EDS, at a panel discussion at the Interagency Resources Management Conference in Cambridge, Md.

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Are you trying to learn the best way to partner with the large prime contractors? Well check out this year’s National Small Business Week. It’s an event hosted by the SBA focused exclusively on small business. Come hear Shiv Krishnan, President & CEO of INDUS Corporation, along with other experts talk about the “Secrets of Building Alliance Partnerships with Prime Contractors” and network with policy makers as well as successful small business executives on April 23^rd at the Mandarin Hotel in Washington DC.

The event will also offer sessions on energy, healthcare, international business, and more. More than 100 Small Businesses of the Year from each state will be honored, with the announcement of the National Small Business Person of the Year. Additional awards will be given for disaster recovery, federal procurement, lending, and entrepreneurial development.

Click Here to register and learn more about the event. There is no cost to attend the event.

In 2006 Anteon, one of the area’s largest government contractors, was sold to General Dynamics for $2.1 billion. The transaction marked the successful culmination of a stratospheric growth story for the Anteon management team, which had guided the contractor from a $100 million company to the $2 billion mark in a decade’s time.

While Anteon began a new chapter as General Dynamics, principals of its management team also decided it was time to turn the page. Anteon President and CEO Joseph Kampf, Executive VP of Technology Seymour L. Moskowitz, Executive VP of Corporate Development Mark Heilman, VP of Corporate Development Gerald Dorros, and Senior VP Roger Gurner all decided to move on.

On the heels of the transaction, each was certainly in a financial position to retire after long and accomplished careers in the industry if so desired. But this was a uniquely tight-knit management team, and it didn’t take long for the group to decide it wasn’t ready to break out the golf clubs just yet – nor was it ready to sever a working relationship that for some traced back more than 20 years.

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I’d like to consider myself fairly web-savvy. I subscribe to RSS feeds, use social bookmark sites, leverage Facebook and LinkedIn for professional purposes. And yet, attempting to send out a conference call meeting request from my Apple Mail program to clients with Microsoft Outlook proved maddening.

After banging my head against a wall for nearly an hour I thought that the issue was finally licked and my conference call request was executed. But when a few hours passed and I did not receive any confirmations there were two possible explanations: 1) proposing a call to discuss the rise and fall of Britney Spears was not generating much interest or, more likely, 2) the intended recipients never received the conference call invite.

It turned out that the latter was true. One person with Outlook indicated that the formatting was so messed up she could not even figure out how to reply. Others never received the invite altogether.

From executives at billion dollar firms to small business owners such as myself, there is hope when it comes to streamlining the process for scheduling conference calls. An emerging crop of platform agnostic, web 2.0 software applications that allow professionals to schedule calls with unlimited participants across multiple email programs. One such program that I’ve been testing out is Setup A Call.

Setup A Call takes an “evite” approach to scheduling with a social media twist. Once you register for a free account, you can use the service to send out conference call requests from any email client to any email client. The capabilities extend beyond the traditional programs, letting the scheduler send out requests for multiple dates, and the recipient can then provide his or her availability for each option.

Most compelling is the profile page that I can access once registering. On this page, I can view my pending calls and participants, view everyone in my network (i.e. - those who have participated in calls), and maintain a list of contacts for future calls. Early tests of the service have been flawless, and the user interface is simple and functional.

As Apple and open source platforms become more ubiquitous in the workplace, the need for platform agnostic tools like Setup A Call will become even more critical for effective collaboration with colleagues, partners and clients. And for professionals who have experienced similar pains to the ones I have endured with scheduling calls and meetings, innovation in this area is welcome news.

When Teresa Carlson, General Manager of Microsoft Federal Civilian Government and International Global Organizations, was asked to Chair the Fire and Ice Ball she jumped at the opportunity. Teresa was first introduced to the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area when she attended the 2007 Fire and Ice Ball as a guest of Chapter Board member and IMC Executive Vice President, Suresh Shenoy. Through a series of events, she met Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, Chair of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross. Teresa traveled with Bonnie to Madagascar where she witnessed first hand the life-saving work of the American Red Cross as the Red Cross volunteers went door to door delivering much needed information about measles and malaria inoculations. When she returned home, she decided then that she would get more involved with her local American Red Cross Chapter. She not only serves as the Chair of the Fire and Ice Ball, she is now a member of the Tiffany Circle, a Red Cross initiative that engages women leaders of our community to help the National Capital Area be the most prepared, fully engaged community in the nation - before, during and after emergencies of all kinds.

Tell me a little about the American Red Cross of the National Capital and the Fire and Ice Ball.

Teresa Carlson: The American Red Cross of the National Capital Area is my local Chapter that is out every single day helping families get back on their feet after fire destroys their home, connecting families with their son or daughter who is serving in our military when a family emergency occurs and teaching people how to be better prepared for emergencies of all kinds. I didn’t realize before I started being more involved with the Chapter that they are not a government agency and are funded by the generosity of our community. With all the work they do every single day, I now truly understand the importance of supporting my local Red Cross.

Our local Red Cross Chapter supports the men and women of our military on several levels. They connect families with their service member during a family emergency. They welcome thousands of wounded service members home to Andrews Air Force Base from Iraq and Afghanistan on their first night back on U.S. soil. They support and supplement staff at military hospitals at Fort Belvoir, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Andrews Air Force Base, and National Naval Medical Center to better meet the needs of wounded service members and their families. They provide briefings to service members and their families before deployments so they know the resources available to support them before, during and after their deployments. Locally and around the world, the American Red Cross is committed and passionate about serving the men and women of our military and their families.

The Fire and Ice Ball is THE major fundraising event for the year for the Chapter and I’m honored to be a part. Especially since we are saluting the men and women of our military and their families.

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Long before he ever became CTO of Nortel Government Solutions, Alan Harbitter started his own company, PEC Solutions, with two other partners. When it went public in 2000, Harbitter wound up running a publicly traded company for the next five years. Then, in 2005, another milestone occurred: The company reached 1,700 employees and a $250M year run rate. That’s when it merged with Nortel Federal to form Nortel Government Solutions. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, as CTO, Harbitter has gone back to the things he loves most: more direct work in the areas he started out in — computer science and information technology.

Briefly tell us your background and how you got to where you are today.

Alan Harbitter: From an academic perspective, my training is in computer science and I received my PhD from George Mason. I’ve been interested in the university presence in this community for a while, so I’ve taught on and off at Mason. From a career perspective, I started out at Computer Sciences Corporation where I met my [former] partners, Dave Karlgaard and Paul Rice. Dave, Paul, and I started a company, PEC Solutions, in 1985. We went public in 2000. So I wound up running a publicly traded company for five years with Dave and Paul. In 2005 we reached 1,700 employees and a $250M year run rate. At that point, we merged with Nortel Federal to form Nortel Government Solutions. Back in the PEC days my time was monopolized with the responsibilities of running a publicly traded company. And I really missed more direct work in areas I started out in — computer science and information technology. So, with the Nortel acquisition in 2005, I got to return to what I loved the most. All of my duties now are CTO duties, and fewer dealings with accountants, lawyers, and stock analysts.

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“If you had 15 minutes alone with President Bush, what is the one critical issue you would bring to his attention?” Now, that might have been a dicey proposition for the POTUS if asked at a different D.C. venue today, but in the context of the ExecutiveBiz CIO Series Event held this morning at the WestWood Country Club in Vienna, Virginia, the question was a very good one.

The hypothetical was posed by the event’s moderator Barry West, Executive Vice President of SE Solutions. West asked the two featured speakers - Casey Coleman, CIO of the General Services Administration, and Venkatapathi (P.V.) Puvvada, VP and CTO of UNISYS - what critical Federal IT issue they would bring to the President’s attention if given 15 minutes of his time. Coleman deftly deferred to P.V., who said he would focus on the supply chain problem that exists in terms of available talent, and how there is a critical need to educate and attract highly-skilled IT workers.

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