Program

Executive Perspectives on Open Government Opportunities and Challenges

Session Objectives:

• How agencies define "transparency"
• Perspectives on the "downside" or possible unintended consequences of increased transparency
• Why government employees, managers, and legislators resist moving toward transparency
• Case examples of how increased transparency leads to more accountability
• Observations on early Administration efforts to make government operations more open, including the IT Dashboard, usaspending.gov, recovery.gov, and data.gov
  • What's working, what's not so far, and what more needs to be done?
  • What is the plan to continue to evolve current tools and information portals?
  • Can these data sources be integrated to enable more valuable analysis?
  • Who is using this information and for what purposes

Rob Pinkerton

Rob Pinkerton is the Director of Government Solutions for Adobe Systems where he has responsibility for Adobe’s enterprise go-to-market and solutions development strategies for global government. Pinkerton has 18 years experience in government and technology. He has worked at county, city, state and Federal levels of government including as an emergency medical response technician in Virginia, a law clerk in the City of Baltimore, and as Legislative Council in the United States Senate during the 104th-106th Congress.

Prior to joining Adobe, Pinkerton was Vice President of Product Management for LexisNexis’ Enterprise Data Fusion Product which was developed for U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to perform complex data analysis. For five years, he worked for Siebel Systems (now part of Oracle Corp) as Director of the Global Public Sector product business, where he was responsible for Siebel’s second fastest growing product line and over 200 global public sector customers using enterprise case management and CRM.

Pinkerton has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, a law degree from the University of Baltimore, and a BA in economics, political science, and history from the University of Richmond. He was awarded a patent for co-inventing a system for processing intelligence information (held by Oracle). He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and son.

Alan Cohn

Alan D. Cohn is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy (Strategic Plans) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Cohn is responsible for directing the Department’s strategic planning activities, including the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS Strategic Plan, Strategic Requirements Planning Process, and other related activities. He also represents DHS on a number of interagency strategy reviews. Cohn is a member of the career Senior Executive Service and served as the Office of Policy’s Senior Transition Officer for the 2008-2009 Presidential transition.

Cohn previously served as Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response Policy in the DHS Office of Policy Development from June 2006 to December 2007. During that time, he was responsible for developing and coordinating Department-wide policies regarding the Department’s preparedness, response, and recovery missions. Cohn received the Secretary’s Silver Medal in 2007 for his work in that position.

Prior to joining DHS in June 2006, Cohn was counsel at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington, D.C. He practiced labor and employment law and counseled clients with respect to homeland security issues.

Cohn is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a course he developed on domestic preparedness law and policy. He authored chapters on mutual aid agreements and federal preparedness grant funding in A Legal Guide to Homeland Security and Emergency Management for State and Local Governments (American Bar Association 2005), and has written and spoken on a variety of homeland security and emergency management-related issues.

Cohn has been a certified emergency medical technician (EMT) since 1990, and has been associated with FEMA’s National Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Response System since 1995. He was a Planning Officer on the Fairfax County US&R Task Force (VATF-1) from 1998 to 2006. Cohn served as a US&R officer in the Joint Field Office in Austin, Texas for Hurricane Rita in 2005, and in the National Response Coordination Center during the initial FEMA US&R response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as during the 1995 and 1996 hurricane seasons. He responded to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as an EMT with the New York City emergency medical services system.

Cohn received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and his law degree cum laude from Georgetown Law.

Price Floyd

Price B. Floyd was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs on 8 June, 2009. He serves as staff advisor and assistant to the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense for public information, internal information, and community relations as well as information training and audiovisual matters in support of DoD activities, leading a worldwide public affairs community of some 3,800 military and civilian personnel.

Prior to joining the Defense Department, Floyd was the Director of External Relations for the Center for New American Security (CNAS). CNAS was an unheard of start-up national security think tank when Floyd joined their staff in 2007 and by the time he left in June 2009, it had become one of the preeminent national security think tanks in the country.

Floyd also served at the U.S. Department of State from 1989 until 2007. He brings more than 15 years of communications and diplomatic experience with the U.S. Department of State, most recently as the Director of Media Affairs. There he developed and implemented media strategies to promote the foreign policy agenda of the Department, from elections in Afghanistan and Iraq to the responses to the tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Pakistan. From 1998 to 2000 Floyd served as Executive Assistant to State Department Spokesman James P. Rubin, where he prepared the spokesman for daily press briefings, coordinated media appearances, and was chief interlocutor for the spokesman throughout the department. He served on the staff of Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright from 1997 to 1998, traveling to over 50 countries to coordinate meetings and public events, including visits to North Korea in 1999, and trips to the Middle East, Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia. From 1995 to 1997, Floyd served in the Economics Section and the office of the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, Germany. Prior to serving in Germany, he was seconded to the United Nations International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia (ICFY) where he served as Deputy Envoy to the government in Montenegro and reported on their compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions to halt the import of banned weapons and material to the Bosnian Serb-controlled areas of Bosnia. Floyd also served as the first Bosnia Desk officer from 1993 to 1994, working on the War Crimes Tribunal and negotiations for the signing of the Bosnian constitution. He began his career at the State Department assisting the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 1990-1993.

Floyd has received numerous awards for his service including the State Departments Superior Honor Award for his work during the Bosnia War, Superior Honor Award for service during the Pakistan Earthquake Relief Effort, and the Service Medal from the United Nations and European Union for work in Montenegro as part of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia.

Floyd is a native of Ft. Worth, Texas and received a B.A. in political science from Texas Wesleyan University. Floyd and his wife Elizabeth Waters live in Chevy Chase, Maryland with their three extremely active children, Matthew, Sabine, and Benjamin.

Dee Dee Myers

• White House Press Secretary, 1993-1994
• Political Analyst and Commentator
• Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair
• Author, Why Women Should Rule the World

Dee Dee Myers is the first woman and one of the youngest people ever to serve as White House Press Secretary. During the first years of the Clinton Administration, Ms. Myers explained the actions of the new president to a vigilant press corps and to the nation. She earned the respect of both with her sharp political instincts, sense of humor and ability to explain complex subjects in straightforward language.

Ms. Myers brings the same sense of clarity and humor to her speeches that she brought to the White House briefing room, and she talks candidly about the players in Washington and the world of politics. She is uniquely qualified to comment on the complex dynamics at work in the relationship between the president and the press. She also speaks personally and eloquently about the issues facing women in Washington and in leadership positions of all kinds.

Ms. Myers' new book, Why Women Should Rule the World (Harper Collins, 2008), a New York Times bestseller, makes the case that women's increasingly powerful role in public life is reshaping the world -- and making it better. And it's not because women are the same as men, she says, but often because of the ways they are different. Blending memoir, social history, and a call to action, Ms. Myers argues that empowering women makes business more productive, politics more representative, and communities healthier and fairer. In a highly competitive and increasingly fractious world, women possess the kind of critical problem-solving skills that are urgently needed to break down barriers, build understanding, and create the best conditions for peace. In other words, it's not about political correctness; it's about self interest.

Since leaving the White House, Ms. Myers has worked as a political analyst, commentator and writer. She is currently a Contributing Editor to Vanity Fair magazine and a frequent guest on broadcast and cable television networks. Ms. Myers was also an original consultant to the NBC series, The West Wing, and contributed story lines and technical advice throughout the show's long, prizewinning run.

Before joining the Clinton presidential campaign in 1991, Ms. Myers worked on a variety of local, state and national campaigns. She served as press secretary for Dianne Feinstein in her 1990 bid for governor, and worked on the presidential campaigns of Governor Michael S. Dukakis and Vice President Walter F. Mondale. She also worked on the staffs of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and California State Senator Art Torres.

Ms. Myers is a 1983 graduate of Santa Clara University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband Todd S. Purdum, National Editor of Vanity Fair, and their children.