Paula Friedman serves as acting program executive officer for joint medical information systems at the TRICARE Management Activity, where she provides acquisition oversight and guidance to staff responsible for automated clinical capabilities for the Military Health System.
Before joining TMA, the 20-year information technology veteran served as program manager for the Global Combat Support System-Joint program at the Defense Information Systems Agency, where she worked with stakeholders to reduce the timeframe of deploying new software from every 18 months to between four and six months.
According to the agency, that implementation resulted in a new tool for a geospatial fuel and real-time status of fuels and munitions, meeting a primary requirement of Central Command’s logistics director.
The Government Accountability Office cited that implementation in an October 2011 report as once of seven successful IT investments in the federal government.
She was also recognized in the Military IT and Signal magazines for her efforts, as well as by the Office of the Director for Operational Test and Evaluation and the former Office of the Secretary of Defense for Networks and Integration Information.
Her other previous IT experience includes managing development of prototype and operational information systems such as a tool for architecture design, analysis and planning.
That tool aimed to link business processes with logical and physical configurations of software, hardware and networks.
She also oversaw development of an operational threads analysis tool for a joint warrior interoperability initiative, linking command and control mission threads with joint automated capabilities.
In managing a non-combatant evacuation operations tracking system, she oversaw development of mobile tools to track status of Pentagon-sponsored personnel from evacuation and staging areas to a designated safe-haven.
Friedman has served as a panel member and speaker on agile acquisition and IT capabilities at the International Test and Evaluation Association and at the National Defense Industrial Association.
In 2004, she completed level three certification for program management under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act and completed an executive program manager’s course in February 2006.
She attended the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Va. in August 2002 and holds a bachelor’s degree in management studies from the University of Maryland-University College.