Webinar: Q&A Panel: Intersection of Cost Estimation and Program Management by Department of Homeland Security/OCFO

About This Webinar

Hear from key acquisition stakeholders at DHS regarding their perspective on managing IT programs in the Government, how a cost estimator can add value to a program, what metrics they use to gauge whether a program is on cost and schedule and much more!

Presenters

Alex Hoover

Associate Director for Physical and Cyber Security Engineering

Mr. Alex Hoover became the Associate Director for Physical and Cyber Security Engineering within the Office of Science and Engineering’s (OSE) Systems Engineering and Standards Division (SESD) January 9, 2017.

Previously, Mr. Hoover served as a Test Area Manager for the Cybersecurity and Homeland Security Enterprise Systems Deputy Directorate within the Office of Test and Evaluation (OTE) in the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Prior to coming to DHS, Mr. Hoover was a civil servant in the Navy as a Systems Engineer for Combat Direction Systems Activity, Dam Neck, Virginia. He supported fleet cybersecurity analyses and served as an Operational Test Director. Mr. Hoover was commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy in 1991. He served in the Combat Logistics and Cruiser Destroyer Fleets on a number of assignments ranging from nuclear weapons security to Acquisition policy and support.

Courtney Robertson

Senior Program Manager

Mr. Courtney B. Robertson is a Senior Program Manager for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Insurance Program, “Pivot” IT Modernization. He has been working in government for 16 years supporting numerous agencies (including FBI, FDA, NIH, and GSA) in a project or program manager capacity. Courtney is currently the Program Manager of the Pivot Program, which is one of the five designated Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pilot agile information technology programs. These agile programs are transforming how the DHS approaches agile development, as well as working to improve the acquisition lifecycle framework requirements required of future programs. Pivot is currently working towards its Acquisition Decision Event 3 gate occurring in September 2020, and if approved Pivot will transition into its operations and maintenance phase. Pivot is currently ahead of schedule and underbudget, and has become a case study for DHS agile development. Courtney holds a BA in History, and Anthropology as well as a Masters in Business in Administration.

Kammy Mann

Operations Research Analyst

Ms. Katharine (Kammy) Mann is an Operations Research Analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, Cost Analysis Division (CAD) IT / Agile Software Development Team.

Jen Carpenter

Component Lead Analyst

Jennifer Carpenter became a Component Lead Analyst within the Office of Program Accountability & Risk Management (PARM) Acquisition Governance Division (AGD) in May 2016. In this role, Mrs. Carpenter supports major Acquisition Programs in the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.

Previously, Mrs. Carpenter served as the Chief for the Program Support and Technical Oversight Branch in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), aiding with Systems Engineering Life Cycle oversight of Acquisition Programs. Prior to this, Ms. Carpenter was the Program Manager for the Infrastructure Protection Gateway Acquisition Program in CISA.

Prior to coming to DHS in 2008, Mrs. Carpenter worked for ESRI, supporting nautical chart and infrastructure mapping needs of the Federal government.

Kyle Eaton

Tommy Reynolds

Thomas Reynolds is the Deputy Director of the Cost Analysis Division within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity he leads the Division’s cost estimating and cost analyses efforts to enable DHS acquisition and resource decision making using objective cost estimates and cost analyses on all major Departmental acquisition programs.