ACT-IAC Voyagers Announces 2017 Graduating Class

CAMBRIDGE, Md., May 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC), the premier public-private partnership dedicated to improving government through education and its collaborative programs and events, announced the successful completion of the Voyagers program by  the 13th graduating class in program history. Thirty-two program participants completed this 9-month leadership development training which ran from September to May.

The unique and highly-competitive program maintains a 1:1 ratio of government to industry participants which gives individuals the opportunity to learn what it's like to "walk in the other's shoes."  This year's class participated in formalized leadership trainings, mentoring program, two off-site events, planned breakfast and afternoon sessions.  Each program participant is nominated to the program by someone in their respective company or agency, and then vetted by a panel of senior executives.  The 2017 Voyagers graduates completed the program at the 37th Annual Management of Change (MOC) conference held in Cambridge, MD. 

"Bridging Government and Business is this year's theme for the 2017 Management of Change Conference.  How appropriate that the ACT-IAC professional development programs such as Voyagers, also has this same belief as a key underlying tenet of this program.  As Chairs and Vice Chairs, we were fortunate to have a strong slate of nominees and to expand the program from 24 to 32 candidates this year.   Each Voyager brought their individual energy, creativity and perspectives to work together; contributing to each other's growth and development.  I'm grateful to have been a part of this year's class working with these 32 incredible individuals and excited to have them graduate and see what comes next in their careers," said Kristen Knapper, Voyagers Government Chair.

"The ACT-IAC Voyagers program is a premier professional development program for emerging leaders in our industry.  This year's class experienced a stellar program that dramatically impacted their career development with real time return on their investment.  The program provided a curriculum based on best practices, introduced the team to historical military leadership lessons and facilitated face-to-face interaction with business and government leaders to learn from their experiences and successes.  Most importantly, the Voyagers Class of 2017 experienced the value of teamwork and demonstrated the power of working as a team to accelerate results, win and have fun," said Mark Valcich, Voyagers Industry Chair.

2017 Voyagers Program government graduates are:

• Helynsia Brown, Smithsonian Institution
• Joshua Camire, United States Department of Agriculture
• Tina Chen, Environmental Protection Agency
• Kamillah Connolly, Department of Homeland Security, ICE
• Loray Harmon, Department of the Interior
• Tamar Knighton, Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Kimberly McLaughlin, Veterans Affairs
• Jasmine Miller, Department of Homeland Security, CBP
• Chelsea Rainier, Department of Homeland Security
• Stephanie Shutt, General Services Administration
• Patrick Sisk, Securities and Exchange Commission
• Elisabeth Sundin, General Services Administration, FAS
• Edward Walsh, Veterans Affairs
• Kimberly Womble, United States Department of Agriculture
• Nahed Yousofy, Department of State
• Briana Zack, General Services Administration, ITS

2017 Voyagers Program industry graduates are:

• Jay Ahn, CSRA
• Aliza Ali, Leidos
• Justin Bean, Accenture
• Frederic de Vaulx, Prometheus Computing
• Jeff Derogatis, AT&T
• Megan Eunpu, Genesys
• Mike Fischer, BRMi
• Raymond Holder, DXC Technology
• Rebecca John, CGI Federal
• Dan Kovalcik, IntePros Federal Inc.
• Cory McConnell, ICF
• Juan Robles, Karsun Solutions
• Brandon Shreckhise, The Ambit Group
• Jay Strotman, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Joshua Temple, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Ryan Tran, Acqutech Consulting Group, LLC

Kristen Knapper, General Services Administration, and Mark Valcich, Intel Corporation, were the 2017 Voyagers Chairs.  Both graduated from the ACT-IAC Partners program in 2012. Vice Chairs this year included Warren Blankenship from General Services Administration, Jimmy Jones from Department of Transportation, Brian Baker from CA Technologies, and Mike Barrera from GAMA -1 Technologies.

ACT-IAC also announced the opening of applications for the 2018 Voyagers Program. Applications are currently available on the ACT-IAC website for the 2018 Voyagers Class. The application deadline is 5:00 pm ET on July 28, 2017. For more information on the ACT-IAC Voyagers Program, please visit the website under the Learning Tab.

About ACT-IAC – Advancing Government Through Education, Collaboration and Action
The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) is a non-profit educational organization established to improve government's service delivery and operational performance through the effective and innovative application of technology. ACT-IAC provides a unique, objective and trusted collaborative forum where government and industry executives are working as partners to address critical issues, apply best practices and pioneer innovative solutions. ACT-IAC also provides high-quality learning and educational opportunities to improve the knowledge and expertise of the government workforce – both public and private. Further information about ACT-IAC can be found at www.actiac.org. 

SOURCE American Council for Technology

Related Links

http://www.actgov.org