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The White House E-Government Team
by Ted Leventhal
The job shuffle at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that began with the departure of Director Mitchell Daniels in the spring continued last week.
OMB announced that Chief Technology Officer Norman Lorentz is leaving government to join the Herndon, Va.-based systems integrator DigitalNet Government Solutions as senior vice president supervising contracts with the Homeland Security Department.
At OMB, Lorentz, most recently the acting administrator for e-government initiatives following Mark Forman's departure from that job last month, directed the effort to reshape federal information technology planning along business models.
Before joining OMB, Lorentz was senior vice president and chief technology officer of Dice Inc. He spent six years at the U.S. Postal Service, most recently as chief technology officer, and before that worked for 18 years with US West (now Qwest Communications).
OMB also announced last week that it has picked Karen Evans to succeed Forman as OMB's e-government administrator. Evans comes to OMB from the Energy Department, where she was chief information officer, and she also served as vice chairwoman of the Federal CIO Council.
Evans has more than 20 years' experience in the federal IT sector, serving previously as the assistant director for information services and division director for information services management at the Justice Department. Before that, she was the Agriculture Department's director for applications management.
The tech community warmly received the news of her appointment to the job. Through her work at Energy and the CIO Council, Evans "has demonstrated that she has the vision, commitment, leadership and determination to move the federal IT enterprise forward," Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, said in a statement.
"In the technology arena, there are those who 'get it' and those who 'get it done,'" said Bill Conner, president, chairman and CEO of the digital-security company Entrust. He called Evans "one of those highly valued leaders who possesses both essential qualities."
Homeland Security, Commerce, FCC Fill Jobs
Elsewhere in the Bush administration, the Homeland Security Department has named David Bolka, Lucent Technologies' vice president for special projects, to lead its Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, which was formed to test and deploy technology used to "reduce homeland vulnerabilities." Before working at Lucent, Bolka was a scientist with AT&T Bell Laboratories. A career naval officer, Bolka was a major project manager with the Naval Sea Systems Command's submarine combat systems. He retired from the Navy in 1986.
Commerce Secretary Donald Evans also has appointed Elizabeth Prostic, his senior policy adviser, as the department's chief privacy officer. She will be responsible for creating a network of privacy advocates and synthesizing privacy policies throughout each bureau in the department while continuing her previous responsibilities. Before joining Commerce, Prostic worked for the Senate Commerce Committee staff of John McCain, R-Ariz.
At the FCC, meanwhile, Chairman Michael Powell has named wireline competition adviser Christopher Libertelli as his senior legal adviser and Sheryl Wilkerson as his legal adviser for wireless and international issues. Libertelli came to the FCC in 1999 from the Washington law firm Dow, Lohnes & Albertson. Wilkerson was staff counsel to the Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee and before that the vice president of legislative affairs with the wireless telecommunications company ArrayComm.
Top Cheney Aide To Join Lobbying Firm
Cesar Conda, the senior domestic policy adviser to Vice President Richard Cheney, will leave the White House later this month to join the lobbying and consulting firm Anderson Murphy Pitts. Insurance lobbyist Tom Anderson launched the firm earlier this year, and it is growing rapidly.
Before joining the administration, Conda was a top technology aide to then Sen. Spencer Abraham, a Republican from Michigan, and was responsible for drafting e-signature legislation. As a lobbyist, Conda initially will be responsible for tax policy, energy and high-tech issues.
Anderson Murphy Pitts' clients include the American Council of Life Insurers, the American Insurance Association and the Financial Services Coordinating Council.
Sen. Breaux Will Not Lobby For Movie Industry
On the lobbying front, Sen. John B. Breaux, D-La., removed his name from consideration for the top lobbying job with the Motion Picture Association of America.
Although he called the movie industry "one of America's greatest industries," Breaux said in a Monday statement that "representing the association on a full-time basis is not what I would be interested in doing."
The Baton Rouge Advocate earlier had reported that the senator was withdrawing his name from consideration. Breaux has said he will decide whether to run for re-election to the Senate after the Louisiana governor's race is decided in November.
In other lobbying news, the U.S. Telecom Association has hired Ed Merlis, formerly with Xenophon Strategies, to be its senior vice president for law and strategy. Merlis' friends on Capitol Hill include Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who said in a statement that the two have worked together for more than 30 years. Merlis also worked with the National Cable Television Association, and spent 10 years as senior vice president for legislative and international affairs with the Air Transport Association.
And Josh Mathis, the political director to Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is leaving Capitol Hill to become vice president of the lobbying firm The Petrizzo Group, whose clients include the Electronic Industries Alliance. Before joining Boehner's staff, Mathis was executive director of Americans for Technology Leadership, advocating limited government regulation of technology. He also was a consultant with the lobbying firm DCI Group.
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