March 29, 2016
As EDA’s IT Security Officer (ITSO) and Developer Team Leader, I ensure appropriate operational security posture is maintained for information systems and programs under the bureau’s control. I serve as principal advisor to the bureau CIO and senior management and provide guidance concerning IT security issues, incidents and potential threats. I am responsible for developing and maintaining the bureau’s IT security policies, procedures, standards, and guidance consistent with Departmental and Federal requirements. I also serve as EDA’s representative on many Department working groups. As the Development Team Leader, I manage current applications by analyzing program code, assisting with trouble shooting problems, overseeing day-to-day tasks/activates, and developing new application. I have served as an ITSO and Developer Team Leader at EDA for over 15 years. From 2013 to 2015, I had the pleasure of serving as Acting Chief Privacy Officer (CFO) and Acting Privacy Act Officer. My career in the federal government spans over 27 years and one of the many reasons I enjoy working for EDA is because of the mission in creating and promoting economic growth for the underserved.
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March 28, 2016
There is an element of synchronicity associated with blogging at this time on my work and career path at the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA). On March 28th, I will celebrate 28 years with the Philadelphia Regional Office of EDA so in some ways, I AM living history here at DOC, part of the EDA institutional knowledge base. EDA is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016 and I am proud to carry the torch cheerleading for and at EDA, a DOC program that has invested and leveraged billions of dollars in its role as the only federal agency focused exclusively on economic development.
Public service at EDA has provided me with a tremendous opportunity for professional and personal growth. Innumerable complex programmatic, legal and financial challenges required close work and creative collaboration with talented colleagues and customers mutually focused on benefitting and growing communities and regions by fostering job creation and private investment throughout our nation. Nowhere is this premise more evident to me than it is in my new role as Regional Director of the Philadelphia Regional Office. Visiting EDA project sites and interacting with skilled professionals in the field to hear their stories and needs firsthand, exchanging ideas to develop new strategic responses, tracking progress of implemented projects, these are the creative force and lifeblood of economic development work.
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March 25, 2016
I was surprised and humbled when asked to spotlight my career here at the U.S. Economic Development Administration. My first thought was that I have not yet accomplished what I set out to do—get a college degree, and I most certainly have not reached the high goals I set for myself when I started work in the Federal Government. However, I am very proud and humbled first as a woman, a black woman in a male-dominated workforce that I was given opportunities to succeed and move beyond the status quo without a degree. Despite not meeting pre-set goals, I am right where I am supposed to be at this time in my life’s journey.
Growing up in a large extended family in the Northern Neck of Virginia, I learned that you shared what you had to move the next generation forward. My grandparents had a family reunion every Sunday after church. The women, supervised by my grandmother, cooked large amounts of food and after everyone was fed, the remaining food, advice, and what little money they had was doled out to all the families needing it to make it through the next week. Both parents worked and instilled in their 12 children that hard work was the key to making it (success).,that you must rise early, show up at your appointed place—work or school, and make an effort to do better than you did the previous day. As the oldest child, I understood that it was my responsibility to set an example for my younger siblings. My parents set the tone for the family and I had to follow. My Mom got up early and went to work for 4-5 hours and came home and put on her 13 hats and worked some more.
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March 24, 2016
Every year since 1988, the President has proclaimed March as Women’s History Month. For me, this past month has been an opportunity to reflect on three women who have taught me important lessons, impacted my personal and professional story, and helped shape the attorney I’ve become: my mother, my first professional mentor, and my legal role model.
My mother and father met in Quito, Ecuador in the mid-1970s. Their story is something out of romcom movie --my mother, a Midwesterner from Iowa, speaking little to no Spanish meets my father with equal levels of English. Love concurs all; they marry and have three kids.
In Ecuador, I spent most of my idyllic childhood running outside, taunting llamas, and eating tangerines off trees that grew in our backyard. But my mom wanted her kids to have more options available to them and saw the U.S educational system as the best way to access these opportunities. When I was ten, we moved to permanently to Anchorage, Alaska.
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March 23, 2016
Quotes from philosophers take on a number of interpretations. Nietzsche’s quote has inspired me since an early age to use my creativity and expertise for the benefit of others. I have always challenged the “abyss” to help eliminate the barriers, or “monsters,” for others. Having the opportunity to work for an agency like EDA has nourished that mindset, allowing those famous words to come to fruition.
I was born in Denver at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center. I come from a Polish American family from Syracuse, New York. As an “Air Force Brat” I spent my early childhood in the Philippines, until several years later, at which time the family boarded a C-130 plane to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I am a 1999 graduate of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. I am proud to have been one of a handful of women that received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. I worked for several years in the private sector designing water and wastewater treatment plants and other projects related to water resources. My experience working directly with local communities to improve their quality of life by removing regulatory obstacles may have triggered my initial interest in public service.
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March 2016 Newsletter
On behalf of the Obama Administration, EDA and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) on March 17, announced the availability of $65.8 million through the Obama Administration’s Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative to communities which have historically relied on the coal economy for economic stability to develop new strategies for economic growth and worker advancement.
With this announcement, communities and regions that have been negatively impacted by changes in the coal economy -- including mining, coal fired power plants and related transportation, logistics and manufacturing supply chains -- can apply for resources to help strengthen their economies and workforces.
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March 2016 Newsletter
Under President Obama’s leadership, EDA has been innovating to reflect the current needs of the regions and communities we serve.
For example, since the President took office the agency has accelerated work in support of regional cluster initiatives by reforming and improving programs to support bottom-up regional cluster-based approaches.
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March 2016 Newsletter
This Women’s History Month, we celebrate the impact of women entrepreneurs and tech leaders. From Sheryl Sandberg to Daphne Koller to Natalie Massenet, women are shaping the digital landscape in the United States.
Yet the overall statistics on female entrepreneurs are sobering.
Women only make up 26 percent of the computing workforce. While women earn the majority of bachelor’s degrees, they hold only 12 percent of computer science degrees.
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March 17, 2016
In many parts of the country Americans are feeling the effects of our economy’s turn-around. With new job opportunities, new business growth and improving quality of life, these Americans and their communities are thriving. Unfortunately, in some of our urban areas this is not the case. Some of our neighborhoods are being left behind.
The US Department of Commerce (DOC) is partnering with the National League of Cities on Cities of Opportunity, a collaboration to connect these communities with Commerce resources that can help them transform their cities.
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