Jim Garrettson, founder and CEO of Executive Mosaic, presented Michael Conlin, chief business analytics officer for the US Department of Defense (DoD), with his first Wash100 Award on Tuesday.
Executive Mosaic has given the most prestigious award in all of government contracting (GovCon) to Conlin for his pushing data science in the defense department and working to improve talent recruitment to shift DoD’s culture.
After working for two years as the first chief data officer (DCO) for the Department of Defense, Conlin became DoD’s chief business analytics officer in June 2020. Dave Spirk, former CDO of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), also succeeded Conlin in the role in June.
During his tenure as DoD CDO, Conlin advocated heavily for information technology systems and technology, clean and reliable data use and the increasingly important role CDOs are playing in today’s federal sector.
During Potomac Officers Club’s (POC) 2019 Data Management Forum in April 2019, Conlin delivered a keynote address focusing on enhancing oversight and management while trying to improve affordability and performance for DoD.
You can still register here to watch POC’s most recent events in Potomac Officers Club’s Event Archive.
He expressed a strong desire to change the culture within the department and stressed the importance of data science. He noted that building a data science team and hiring talent are important to the Pentagon’s future. “I need talent to change the culture,” Conlin said.
In a recent interview, Conlin spoke about navigating the cultural challenges within the department, gaining data visibility and the evolving role of CDOs.
“This is ultimately about improving affordability and performance of the Department,” he said. “What’s the data, who can access it under what policy for what purpose, roles and responsibilities, identity management, all of this is a combined set of solutions that we have to put in place. That’s the essence of the role.”
Conlin previously served as chief technology officer for the U.S. public sector at DXC Technology. He also held several IT-related leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard and its former subsidiary EDS.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Michael Conlin on his 2020 Wash100 Award selection. His drive to improve DoD’s workforce, its culture and its use of data science have demonstrated an incredible devotion, leadership and vision for the GovCon sector.
About The Wash100
The Wash100 Award, now in its seventh year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.
Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.
