Prosthetic Limbs and Caribbean Port Calls – An Interview with Amy Grable

Commander Amy Grable is currently serving as Product Line Manager for the Coast Guard’s Enterprise Information Systems Infrastructure. In this position she is responsible for delivering IT services to 42,000 men and women supporting every Coast Guard mission. Previous assignments include Commanding Officer of Electronic Systems Support Unit (ESU) Boston and other positions held at the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center, ESU Seattle, Acquisition Directorate, Research & Development Center, and CGC SPENCER (WMEC 905). CDR Grable holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Coast Guard Academy and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island.

CDR Grable talked to the WIT Young Professionals about her achievements and career path. One of her proudest accomplishments, she said, wascompleting her training at the Coast Guard Academy. One of the country’s five prestigious federal military academies, the USCGA is extremely selective and well-established. Graduates of the Academy are obligated to serve five years in the U.S. Coast Guard. CDR Grable says her time there was physically and mentally difficult but she loved the challenge.

Following graduation, newly commissioned ensigns report for duty aboard cutters and at sector offices in ports nationwide, so CDR Grable shared some of her travel stories. On sea duty, she transited through the Panama Canal, earning the “Order of the Ditch” certificate. Says the publishing website, “The traditional version of this certificate features traditionally clad mermaids. [The] revised version is exactly the same, but features more modestly clad mermaids.” CDR Grable also recalls the first time she crossed the equator, a ceremonial occasion common for all sea-going U.S. military forces.

If she had to drop everything and start a completely new life, CDR Grable would favor one of her passions, the medical field. She is interested in biomedical research and improving its related IT systems. By making information more accessible and centralized, systems relating to medicine could be more effective at saving lives and improving quality of life. CDR Grable isn’t only interested in the back end of technology, however; she also sees herself designing and improving prosthetic limbs, ensuring that they bring as much lifelike ability to their wearers as possible.

Currently, as IT manager for the Coast Guard’s enterprise information services infrastructure, CDR Grable provides oversight to major programs for the Coast Guard and has been recognized consistently for improving efficiency and responding to emergencies such as Superstorm Sandy. She actively mentors junior officers through the inter-service Officer Women e-mentor program, as well as civilians under her jurisdiction. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with CDR Grable and are inspired by her accomplishments and her approachability alike.

Risk Services and Rwanda - An Interview with Stacey Halota

Stacey Halota is the Vice President for Information Security and Privacy at Graham Holdings Company. Ms. Halota has more than 20 years of experience in the IT, security and privacy fields. Before joining The Washington Post Company in 2003, she served as the federal government and southeast region leader of Guardent Consulting Services (now part of Verisign), where she helped transform Guardent from a regional decentralized model into a national information security consulting organization recognized by Computerworld as a top 100 company to watch among IT companies. Prior to Guardent, she worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Technology Risk Services consulting practice where she helped grow the team serving the mid-Atlantic market and federal government from two consultants with no client base or revenue to 46 consultants and $9.3M in annual revenue in three years. She talks to the Young Professionals about her volunteer work and staying positive in the face of change.

Ms. Halota describes herself as a very optimistic and positive person, saying, “there is so much to be grateful here.” She cites an incident recently when she was in a taxi and the driver was from Afghanistan. He said, when you live in the U.S., you’ve hit the lottery. The sentiment rung true for Ms. Halota, as it does for us here on the Young Professionals committee.

Although Ms. Halota enjoys her work – and, as described above, is extremely successful at it—if she completely changed courses today, she would choose to be more active in missionary and volunteer work, expanding the work that she already does. One of her passions is The Mustard Seed Project (MSP), a non-profit which provides acts of mercy and acts of mission in east and central Africa. Ms. Halota is particularly active in Rwanda, leading mission trips there and ultimately joining the Board of Directors in 2013.

She has traveled extensively with the MSP, describing it as a land of 1,000 hills and lakes with unbelievable beauty. Ms. Halota also travels around as a consultant and as a speaker. For example, She was the CISO Spotlight featured speaker at last year’s Black Hat conference and spoke at the inaugural Privacy and Security Summit in October as well. Above and beyond these prestigious engagements, she reveres the Grand Canyon as an inspirational spot that she would recommend to any traveler.

Asked about which of her special projects or undertakings she is most proud of, Ms. Halota cited her work with the International Consortium of Minority Cyber Professionals (ICMCP). Launched in 2014 to bridge the cyber divide that results from the ongoing underrepresentation of minorities in the fast-growing field of cyber security, they will sponsor their first-ever National Conference of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals in March 2016. Once again, Ms. Halota will be a featured speaker.

Ms. Halota was named Secure Computing Magazine’s 2009 Chief Security Officer of the Year and was also named 2009 Mid-Atlantic Information Security Executive of the Year (Commercial Category) by the Executive Alliance. She has been featured in Secure Computing Magazine and is well-known around DC and in the cyber community generally. We were happy to be granted the gift of some of her time and— albeit unnecessarily—wish her luck in her upcoming appearances. We’ll be following you!

Exceptionally Effective Communication, Balanced by a Good Workout - An Interview with Ashley Baber

Ashley Baber is currently the Director of Account Management and Customer Success at Cvent, a leading cloud-based enterprise event management platform, where she brings a decade of experience in customer success and SaaS technology. Recognizing customer success as a primary pillar of company growth, Ms. Baber built the Cvent AM department from inception to a 40-person team and has since increased renewal rates from 78% to 97%. Her ultimate goal is to ensure Cvent customers derive maximum value from their investment in meetings and events technology. Ms. Baber graduated with a BS degree from James Madison University. She is motivated by human psychology, customer experience and obsessively looks for ways to improve time-to-value.

Asked about managerial skills that she values, Ms. Baber cites her currecnt company, Cvent, which was founded by 3 lawyers. Among them, now President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Chuck Ghoora, Ms. Baber cites as an exceptionally effective communicator, highlighting for her the importance of honing communication as a skill. It can always be improved upon, she reflects, manifesting itself in better public speaking and leadership. Even in managing a team of 50, Ghoora remained level-headed, which Ms. Baber aims to emulate on a daily basis. Using these skills, she has driven the adoption of new technologies across the organization and is a vocal supporter of embracing automation, new software, data-driven team building, and a host of disruptive approaches to growth, which have paid off immensely for the company.

When the going gets tough, Ms. Baber turns to exercise. She describes herself as a workout fanatic, enjoying 20-30 minutes as soon as she comes home from work. It helps balance the day and put everything in perspective, she says. She loves to listen to house music while working out and is also learning to play the guitar, so she can strum along with her favorite country tunes.

When she’s not busy racking up sales and introducing new ideas at Cvent, Ms. Baber is an avid travel fan. She wants to go “everywhere”, citing Bali and Indonesia at the top pf her list. Visiting friends abroad is one of her favorite types of travel, with visits in the works for Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Ms. Baber is currently an active member of Women in Technology. She is passionate about serving as an influencer on social media channels, Twitter in particular. She has nearly 3,000 followers and tweets about women in technology, women in leadership and customer success. She has found this is a great way to connect with younger women in technology in particular.  Ms. Baber is beginning to take on speaking engagements outside of Cvent to further be a role model and an example for other women in the technology industry. The Young Professionals were glad to catch her in a calm moment between her busy schedule hours. We look forward to following her future success!

Because She’s the Most Qualified – An Interview with Cathy Tilton

By Laura Harcourt

Cathy Tilton is Chief Technologist for Biometrics at CSRA.  She has over 30 yearsof technology development and management experience including systems architecture/engineering, system integration & test, and project management in both government and commercial environments covering a broad range of applications.  Professionally, she is best known as a subject matter expert on biometrics and biometric standards, having served as the US head of delegation to ISO on this topic and industry advisor to Purdue’s biometrics program.  Personally, she is active in her church and community.  She is a former Army officer with degrees in Systems and Nuclear Engineering.

Today, Cathy speaks with us about:

The project she’s most proud of:

I’ve been blessed to have a lot of interesting projects…right now, I’m working on applying technology to child sexual exploitation. Being able to make a difference in that area, I think, is really rewarding.

The best manager she’s known:

I had a manager early in my career that made a difference for me. On the outside, he was very gruff, and, you know, not your warm, fuzzy kind of manager, but he really gave me a lot of opportunities. I remember I was working on my Masters degree, down to writing the thesis, and I was really having trouble finding the time to do it. I thought I’d have to take a leave of absence to finish it – I was working sixty hours a week or more – and I went in to tell him I was going to take a month or two off to do this, and – like I said, he was kind of a gruff guy – he came back and told me that because my thesis was related to work, he’d put me on a special project which would allow me to work on my thesis as my job. It just blew me away, the last thing I expected him to say when I walked in his office was “we’re gonna support you on that.” It took me six years to finish my Masters, working full-time, with kids, and I didn’t want to stumble at the finish line.

Her favorite travel adventures:

I was really fortunate that for years I got to head the U.S. delegation to ISO (International Organization for Standardization). They have a subcommittee on biometrics, and I headed the U.S. delegation to that subcommittee for, oh, gosh, twelve years. They would meet every six months in a different country. Some places were more interesting than others, you know, you went with whatever country offered to host the meeting, but it not only gave me the opportunity to see those countries, but to interact over the years with people from the different countries, and get their perspectives and get to know them. I have friends now in Korea, and the U.K., and Germany, who I still keep in touch with from doing that.

It was funny, at the first meeting where I came in as head of the U.S. delegation – I didn’t find this out until a couple years later – one of the guys on the U.S. delegation came to me and told me about how one of other heads said to him: “Why does the U.S. have a woman head of delegation?” He was surprised they asked that question and said, “Well, I think it’s because she’s the most qualified!”

Cultural differences:

I think having so much international travel broadens me, and helps me to be a lot more accepting of other people, the way they think and where they’re coming from. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything, but you can at least understand better, and sometimes you just agree to disagree about certain things.

On challenges for women in the workplace:

I never saw myself that way…I came into the workplace from the Army, and engineering school, where there wasn’t a lot of women, so I came into my career with those previous steps. I saw myself just like everybody else…I think if you have confidence in yourself, you can overcome a lot of the challenges that you have.

Work Hard, Be Confident – An Interview with Jo Decker

By Laura Harcourt

Jo A. Decker serves as Vice President of Business Development, Sales and Operations for the Global Solutions Division of General Dynamics Information Technology. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic development of solutions and services for U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, federal and commercial customers.  Ms. Decker served as Vice President of Business Development for the Defense Solutions Division until December of 2015.

Ms. Decker came to General Dynamics IT after a 30-year career as a senior executive with the U.S. Navy. She served in many of the most senior positions in the Department, her most recent as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics.  She has been recognized for her many accomplishments including the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Award, the highest award that a defense civilian can receive, several Department of Navy distinguished civilian awards, the Department of Defense Senior Women’s Leadership Award and the Naval Intelligence Distinguished Civilian Award.

If your job could grant you any wish with regards to working there, what would it be?

To do more to expose youth to a wider range of aspects of our business. People coming in often don’t see a career path except becoming more specialized in whatever they started as, and they find themselves bucketed by narrow positions. Confidence is key. Don’t be intimidated. Try things you think you’re not qualified for. If you’re competent and hard-working, there are plenty of opportunities for you.

In the theme of trying new things, can you tell us a little about your early career?

I started off in the first generation of professional women, beginning in naval intelligence, then moving to building fighter jets, neither of which I had studied for, but you get there and learn enough about the technical aspects to become conversational in the subject.

Describe some of the specialized skills you use regularly. How did you come by them?

I often reverse engineer my thinking. In chess, you don’t think chess move by chess move, you think in terms of checkmate – the strategic, big picture. Envision an outcome and the steps to get there. Patience is a skill, and it takes patience to get through all your steps until you arrive at your goal.

What music are you grooving on?

I love music and dancing. Blues, jazz…niche stuff like flamenco and EDM. I love listening to my loud music and driving down the road. Can’t beat it.