LaVerne Council Former VA CIO Office of Information and Technology Assistant Secretary Grant Thornton national managing principal enterprise technology strategy and innovation

LaVerne Council, national managing principal of Enterprise Technology Strategy and Innovation at Grant Thornton, spoke today at the Infor Government Forum about the future opportunities afforded by artificial intelligence (AI), and sought along the way to debunk myths that have inspired some apprehension from the public about the emerging technology. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs this week launched a new website to raise awareness of the agency’s Digital Health Platform–a cloud-based approach to integrating veterans health data to produce what the agency calls real-time, analytics-driven, personalized care. […]

A software upgrade gone wrong caused widespread system outages across the Veterans Affairs Department, officials confirmed Tuesday. The agency’s main website, VA.gov, as well as Vets.gov, associated websites, and apps were temporarily affected, a VA spokesperson told MeriTalk. […]

It’s one of the centerpieces of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ transformation effort. But the so-called strategic sourcing initiative has some front-line IT employees worried that it’s really just a code word for outsourcing their jobs to the private sector. Strategic sourcing is at the heart of VA’s new IT enterprise strategy, and leverages the […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been consumed with transformation for the past 21 months, attempting to change from what Secretary Robert McDonald has privately described as a “Kremlinesque” culture to a high performing organization that puts veterans in control of their healthcare. That transformation effort, known as MyVA, is McDonald’s direct response to the […]

Remember that $7 billion Congress allocated to help establish a nationwide public safety broadband network, known as FirstNet? Well, when was the last time 50 states agreed on anything?…VA might be getting a new deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity….If Congress eliminates polygraphs for security clearance holders, the result could be new business for the IT industry. […]

Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer LaVerne Council announced that Susan McHugh-Polley, the official who led the development of the VA’s enterprise cybersecurity strategy, is now the permanent deputy assistant secretary for Service, Delivery, and Engineering. […]

Department of Veterans Affairs CIO LaVerne Council has ordered VA CISO Brian Burns to “redirect his exclusive focus on VA’s role in the Interagency Program Office.” Council also tapped Ron Thompson to serve as interim VA CISO. … VA kicked off its 2016 Information Security and Privacy Awareness Week Speaker Series, but problems dogged the online chat and telephone dial-in. […]

After years of development and hundreds of millions of dollars spent, the Department of Veterans Affairs is balking at the idea of replacing its flawed scheduling system with a commercial alternative. Yes, even after a major scandal involving deliberate manipulation of the scheduling system that led to the deaths of veterans, VA thought it was appropriate to tackle the development themselves. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is on what appears to be an irreversible losing streak when it comes to its annual cybersecurity audit. Last week, VA’s Office of the Inspector General slapped the agency with a “material weakness” designation for its information security efforts—the 16th year in a row that VA has failed the annual […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced additional leadership and organizational changes throughout the Office of Information and Technology. Tina Burnette, the long-serving executive director for enterprise risk management, has been selected for the Senior Executive Service and will take over as executive director of the Field Security Service within the Office of Information Security. […]

The Commerce Department is looking for a Deputy CIO and a CTO. … Andy Purdy, the former acting director of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division who recently became the chief security officer of Huawei Technologies USA, is now the vice chairman of the Open Group Trusted Technology Forum. … And the FedRAMP Program Management Office held a very efficient all-hands meeting. […]

Arthur L. Gonzalez, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for IT and the deputy chief information officer for service, delivery, and engineering since 2013, will resign from his post March 5. […]

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