Advertise on podcast: The Buzz with ACT-IAC

Justin Wade is the new chair of ACT-IAC Voyagers’ 2027 Professional Development Program and CTO of the Interior Business Center at the U.S. Department of the Interior. We talk about why this is a critical moment to develop agile leaders amid rapid technology shifts and increased pressure for efficiency. Wade shares his lifelong path in IT, from learning programming in first grade, studying computer science at CU Denver, early leadership as a Unix system administrator, entrepreneurial work with venture capital-backed startups, and then federal roles including Associate CIO for the Office of the Secretary, highlighting lessons in resilience, balancing technical depth with business strategy, and leading through uncertainty. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

In case you missed it, this is ACT-IAC’s Emerging Tech and Innovation conference keynote remarks from NASA Johnson Space Center CIO Dr. Troy LeBlanc. He outlines how 65 years of human spaceflight have produced an explosion of imagery and mission data, from priceless Apollo film archives to near real-time ISS downlinks and millions of photos per expedition. He explains the need to organize, secure, and rapidly process data for confident, safe decisions, while preserving public trust as AI makes altered images harder to detect. LeBlanc describes NASA’s approach to image provenance through policy and C2PA standards, plus AI to accelerate cataloging, metadata tagging, and near real-time downlink analysis to flag issues or restrictions. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

A fireside chat from ACT-IAC’s Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference with Seval Oz, senior advisor (and nominee for assistant secretary) in USDOT’s Office of Research and Technology, and Amy McKenna of SAIC. Oz describes how DOT migrated to Google-based workspace IT and uses large language models to cut RFI analysis from six weeks to 24–48 hours. She explains the “Interstate 2.0” corridors initiative, where 23 states are forming adjoining-state teams to enable data interoperability across major routes (including I-10 and I-35) and prioritize a first use case of work zones and lane closures, convening states, industry, and academia. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

In this episode of The Buzz with ACT-IAC, we are in conversation with Ratima Kataria, VP of Health and IT Strategy at ICF. We talk about her career journey from satellite communications and semiconductors into federal health, including serving on the government side during COVID-19, and how high-stakes environments shaped her leadership values. Kataria explains ICF’s work helping federal agencies modernize at the intersection of enterprise modernization, data strategy, and responsible AI adoption amid fragmented data, legacy platforms, and demand for AI-enabled services. She describes a “think big, start small” approach focused on mission-aligned tech strategy, data governance and interoperability, platform consolidation, and scaling trusted AI use cases. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

In this episode we feature ACT-IAC’s Acquisition and Innovation Forum's keynote fireside chat with Ann Marie Johnson and OMB/OFPP’s Mathew Blum on the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) to restore common sense, put mission first, and shift from compliance to empowered business judgment. Blum explains the executive order’s call for a simpler, clearer FAR structured for speed and describes streamlining the FAR to statutory roots, including deviations that reduced the FAR by about 25%. They discuss change management, learning resources, and mission measures of success, speed, reduced cost, and competition, including small business participation, and how AI could improve information access, accelerate tasks, lower costs, and help buyers find existing contract vehicles. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

In this episode we feature ACT-IAC’s Acquisition and Innovation Forum's  Lunch & Keynote Fireside Chat between Geoff Edwards and NASA Financial Systems Office Director Chi Okonkwo, who shares her career path from consulting to OPM modernization and then NASA. Okonkwo explains how NASA finance and acquisitions are modernizing legacy systems together, shifting the CFO role from retrospective reporting toward real-time analytics and performance insights, and pursuing responsible AI for future financial, budgeting, and risk needs, including fraud, waste, and abuse detection. She reflects on major NASA transformations, including the post-shuttle workforce realignment, commercialization partnerships, and implementing SAP with sustained clean audit opinions. Okonkwo emphasizes iterative modernization, governance, resilience, and leadership transparency, and advises prioritizing relationships and collaboration, including through ACT-IAC programs. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

At an ACT-IAC panel on moving from fragmented to frictionless, unified customer experiences, SSA’s Michelle Liu explains SSA’s Service Index, a framework and catalog mapping services across online, phone/IVR, and in-person channels to customer journeys, data, and processes to identify dead ends, gaps, and priorities. She illustrates friction with an SSI address-change journey that fails online and in IVR, forcing repeat intent/authentication and eventual field-office completion, and shows how the index supports channel parity, policy review (e.g., questioning unnecessary in-person SSI return-to-U.S. requirements), call routing, content alignment, and LLM-based call categorization (e.g., why customers call for tasks available online).  Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Health Innovation Summit ICYMI episode, features a panel on Rural Health Transformation, moderated by Avery Muse, following a DocuSign/Microsoft “Medicare Connect” demo showing verified digital ID, secure record access, consent signing, appointments, claims status, and transportation support. Panelists from HHS, CMS, cybersecurity, and DocuSign discuss rural challenges: 20% of the U.S. is rural, staffing can be 60% or less, 180+ rural hospital closures since 2010, and one-third of rural patients drive 25+ miles for care, with rural areas leading in chronic disease. They explain the $50B CMS-managed program, state applications and allocations, CMS oversight via a PMO, spending guardrails across 11 categories, and clawback authority.  Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

The episode features historian and leadership educator Jared Peatman discussing his book A Hell of a Regiment, a 10+ year research project on the 20th Maine and its pivotal role at Gettysburg as a story of ordinary civilians rapidly becoming an effective unit under national stakes. Peatman explains his lifelong interest in Civil War history, why the 20th Maine’s rank-and-file stories matter, and how training under West Point–trained Adelbert Ames, motivation to build a reputation back home, and trust enabled performance. He highlights Joshua Chamberlain’s transferable skills, communication, empathy, and lifelong learning, along with his handling of the Second Maine mutineers, persuading most to reengage and providing crucial manpower at Gettysburg. The conversation covers Little Round Top’s tactical significance, the bayonet charge decision under time pressure, and the veterans’ postwar hardships, memory-making, and commemoration. Peatman also promotes a June 3rd ACT-IAC “Small Bites” event tied to the book release. A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine | ACT-IAC Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

ACT-IAC’s 2026 Health Innovation Summit featured a panel on mission-critical AI decision-making across CMS, FDA, and NCI. Panelists described AI’s growing day-to-day role, including secure NIH-wide tools, productivity gains (reported time savings), and reducing administrative friction like performance reviews, emphasizing impact occurs when AI is embedded in workflows with “human in the lead.” The session closed with vendor guidance: show products via video, be future-focused, lead with data-sharing and tool strengths, and bring a “total package.” Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Proud to have Gary Washington on today's show. He is a former Air Force member, longtime federal IT leader, and former USDA CIO (eight years), now Chief Strategy Officer at ACT-IAC. Washington recounts his career across agencies including Treasury, HHS, FDA, OMB, and USDA, and explains how military discipline shaped his emphasis on documented plans, accountability, and trust. He discusses common resistance to change in large organizations, USDA’s shift from decentralization toward centralization, and implementing the White House-driven IT Modernization Centers of Excellence through inclusive, business-driven governance, performance measurement, workforce education, RPA training, and results such as deactivating 37 data centers and consolidating networks and end-user support. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

A panel discussion from CX Summit event, on unifying customer data to deliver seamless service across channels. Panelists describe diverse customers and the consequences of siloed data, including repeated identity verification, poor experiences, and high stakes errors like incorrect benefit payments or misdirected medications. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

CX Summit panel discussion on the role of humans in AI-driven service delivery, defining “human in the loop” (active review in workflows) versus “human on the loop” (oversight and intervention when flagged). Panelist also discuss adoption approaches, emphasizing employee trust, governance, readiness, and change management. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Stephanie Hubka, founder of Protos Learning, who has spent 20 years designing human-centered learning strategies and has trained leaders in 50+ countries, is working with ACT-IAC on the business value of AI training for non-technical leaders. Hubka argues organizations often treat AI as either a magic fix or an existential threat, when it is better understood as a capability amplifier that requires humans in the loop. She emphasizes anchoring AI training to real work and quick wins, using everyday language instead of jargon, and building data literacy without turning everyone into analysts. Successful adoption depends on psychological safety, experimentation, and trust, with learning teams acting as strategic partners who understand the business. She shares how ChatGPT quickly drafted an outline but failed to create a quality, human training experience, reinforcing that transformation is ultimately about people. Stephanie's passion for training is equaled only by her love of exploring the globe; an avid traveler, she has visited all 7 continents, 70 countries, and all 50 US states. AI Training Series: From Turing to ChatGPT: The Evolution of AI | ACT-IAC Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Shak McCants, the newly appointed 2027 Voyagers Chair and CEO of MacMore. Shak shares her inspiring journey from a part-time office manager to CEO, emphasizing the importance of mentorship, hard work, and a commitment to people. She discusses her vision for the Voyagers program, her career growth, and valuable insights into building lasting government and industry relationships. Shak's candid perspective on maintaining company culture, flexible leadership, and creating job opportunities makes for an enlightening discussion perfect for anyone navigating the GovCon space. As she prepares to lead the new Voyagers class, Shak aims to instill the qualities of being a flexible change agent in upcoming leaders. Agile Product Discovery Course | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IAC Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org. Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join. Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate.   Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells Courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)