Citizen Services

Lauren Alexanderson is a human-centered researcher and product designer who has been helping government agencies develop user-driven products and services since 2008. Lauren currently serves as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer – Health Delivery, where she leads health experience design efforts to improve the experience that Veterans, caregivers, and clinicians have when interacting with the VA online. Since joining the VA in September 2017 through the United States Digital Service, Lauren has focused on establishing VA’s Office of the CTO’s human-centered design and research operations practice, leading agile health product teams, and helping VA to accelerate the adoption of high-impact technology solutions. Prior to joining the VA, Lauren spent a decade leading public health projects and initiatives nationally and internationally and two years working with health-focused nonprofit organizations. Lauren holds an M.B.A and a M.A. in Health Communication from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. from Brown University.

Neil C. Evans, M.D. is the Chief Officer for the Office of Connected Care in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics. In addition to his executive leadership role in Clinical Informatics within VHA, Dr. Evans is an active clinician, managing a panel of patients in the Primary Care clinic at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC).

Under Dr. Evans’ leadership, the Office of Connected Care is dedicated to improving services to Veterans, their families and Caregivers by increasing access, fostering continuity and promoting patient empowerment through digital health technologies. The Office of Connected Care manages VA's expansive telehealth program, VA’s patient portal, My HealtheVet, and the VA Mobile program.

Along with the rest of the Office of Connected Care leadership team, Dr. Evans oversees the development and implementation of enterprise-wide Veteran digital health strategies, transforming care delivery across the care continuum and geography, and facilitating alignment of health information technologies within VHA to produce a consistent experience for users and continuously improve based on user input, research and evaluation.

Dr. Evans began his VA career after completing medical school at Johns Hopkins University and his subsequent training in Internal Medicine through the Osler Medical Residency, also at Johns Hopkins. He received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware. He holds a faculty appointment in Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Dean Scontras is the Senior Director of Public Sector Sales at Auth0, responsible for all public sector initiatives including sales, marketing, partner efforts, and compliance.

Dean has spent the last two decades in public sector sales roles at high-growth cybersecurity and technology companies including Duo Security, MobileIron, and Hewlett-Packard. Prior to joining Auth0, Dean served as the vice president of U.S. public sector at Duo Security (acquired by Cisco), leading federal, state, local, and education sales initiatives, alongside securing the company’s successful FedRAMP certification.

He is a recognized industry leader and currently sits on the advisory board of Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) and DiversifyIT.

Dean lives in Ashburn, VA with his wife and their son and daughter, and their three dogs. He enjoys golfing, grilling, and rooting for the Washington Football team.

Brad Scalio is an associate principal architect at Red Hat where for the past three years he's been building solutions for healthcare as well as physical science customers. He obtained his Bachelors and Masters degrees in meteorology & atmospheric science; coming to Red Hat in 2017 with 20+yrs participating in the open source community of contributors, customers, and collaborators.

Jim Richberg’s role as a Field Chief Information Security Office (CISO) at Fortinet leverages his 35 years’ experience leading and driving innovation in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and cyber strategy. He currently focuses on measuring cybersecurity performance (ROI) and cyber risk management within government and companies, on improving election security, and on helping public and private sector organizations maximize their IT efficiency and security post-COVID-19 in the face of increasing operational complexity and budgetary pressure to “do more with less”.

Prior to joining Fortinet, Mr. Richberg served as the National Intelligence Manager for Cyber, the senior Federal Executive focused on cyber intelligence within the $80B+/100,000 employee US Intelligence Community (IC). He led creation and implementation of cyber strategy for the 17 departments and agencies of the IC, set integrated priorities on cyber threat, and served as Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on cyber issues. He brings a broad enterprise-level approach to cybersecurity honed as a member of the Executive team which created and oversaw implementation of the multi-billion dollar whole-of-government Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) that generated new Government cyber capability and enhanced cybersecurity in the private sector and critical infrastructure.

Mr. Richberg’s broad operational, analytic and leadership experience –including his 20 years at CIA-- gives him practical insight into difficult cyber problems ranging from advanced threat capabilities to supply chain integrity and insider threat. He has extensive experience engaging with audiences ranging from Heads of State and CEO’s to analysts and IT staff. He brings a strong focus on strategic problem solving (identify and solve the key problem vs. the most visible one) and on framing complex problems in comprehensible terms that facilitate analysis and formulation of solutions.

Julie Strothman is the 18F user experience team manager. With an emphasis on inclusive design, Julie has worked on apps to make affordable housing findable, to help agencies provide support to people experiencing homelessness, and to help citizens assess their community’s health through public health and environmental data.

Ed Walters serves as GSA’s Chief Customer Officer. In this role, he leads the agency’s Office of Customer Experience (OCE) focusing solely on improving customer experience and fostering a customer-first mentality.

Ed’s spent the last 22 years sharing his expertise in the private and public sectors, most recently serving as Vice President of Marketing and Communications at ACT. Ed’s also previously served as General Manager of Strategy and Research at ConocoPhillips and as Chief Marketing Officer and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2009. His career also includes a range of experience such as serving as Brand Manager at Kraft Foods as well as working with start-ups and as an Intelligence Officer for the U.S. Army, during which Ed’s developed successful strategies for customer retention, loyalty, and advocacy.

Ed was awarded the Superior Public Service Medal by the Secretary of the Army. His military awards include the Ranger Tab, Airborne Wings, and Pathfinder Badge. His military education includes the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course, the Infantry Officer Advanced Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, SERE-C training, and the Army Master Fitness Trainer course.

Ed is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Rachael Horvath is Deputy Director of the Web & Emerging Technology Group in the Office of Communications at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Ms. Horvath has been with CMS for over 20 years and worked in several areas spanning outreach and education, advertising, consumer research, direct response campaigns and now digital services. Most recently she has worked to help lead the eMedicare initiative which focuses on updating Medicare’s digital services and supporting the program’s omnichannel transformation. Ms. Horvath has a degree in Sociology from Loyola University in Maryland and a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Communications & Promotions from Johns Hopkins University.

Karen S. Howard is the Director of the Office of Online Services for the IRS (Internal Revenue Services).

Ms. Howard joined the IRS in August of 2020 with over 35 years of private sector retail, manufacturing and financial services consumer direct operations and marketing leadership experience.

In her public service role with the IRS, she and her team are charged with translating the taxpayer community’s voice and behavior, and internal stakeholder requirements, into an empowered user experience that enables easy access to tax-related information and simplified ways to fulfill tax obligations with digital tools and services.

Karen has a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Carolina University and several industry certifications in various project management methodologies and master data management.

Wendy Bhagat is the Director of the Product Marketing & Delivery Group at Federal Student Aid (FSA). Federal Student Aid provides more than $120 billion in grants, loans and work-study funds to students every year. Wendy leads a team of individuals dedicated to raising awareness about the availability of federal student aid and loan repayment options along with engaging with FSA customers. The Group offers support and guidance through multiple communication channels including websites, social media, email; text/push notifications, paid media, webinars, and in-person events. The team also provides tools and resources for individuals and organizations assisting students and borrowers through the financial aid process. Prior to her work at FSA, Wendy served as a Senior Vice-President at First Book, an international nonprofit. Wendy has a J.D. from Catholic University of America and a B.A. from the University of Virginia. With two children in college, Wendy has gone through the financial aid process as a parent!