Susan Wedge: IBM’s Managing Partner Wins Her First Wash100 Award
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Susan Wedge: IBM’s Managing Partner Wins Her First Wash100 Award

Susan Wedge is the IBM Consulting’s Managing Partner for the U.S. Public & Federal Market. Commanding a robust $2.2 billion portfolio, she leads a team of over 4,000 professionals across government, education, life sciences, and healthcare industries. 

 

Susan Wedge’s efforts were recognized with a Wash100 Award in 2024, placing her among the top 30 winners. Get to know more about her background and contributions here. 

 

Who is Susan Wedge?

 

Susan Wedge is a prominent figure in the consulting industry. She oversees the delivery of consulting services and technology solutions, aiming to improve the performance of government, education, healthcare, and life science customers within the U.S. 

 

Wedge’s career at IBM began in 2002 as a Senior Consultant and Program Manager, where she enhanced the performance of an Intelligence Community customer. Her journey within the company saw ascending leadership roles, including Senior Partner and Growth Platform Leader for the U.S. federal operational transformation practice and Senior Partner in the civilian and health aspects of the U.S. federal market business. 

 

Wedge started her career at American Management Systems. She focused on financial planning for the company’s public sector clients, progressing from an intern to a consultant and principal. She left the firm after seven years. 

 

Susan Wedge holds a Bachelor of Science with Distinction from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, concentrating in Finance and Management Information.

 

Susan Wedge is a Wash100 Award Winner in 2024

 

In 2024, Susan Wedge won her first Wash100 Award for bringing new technology ideas to government clients. 

 

Wedge has been using artificial intelligence, ensuring its open use to improve government works. Under her guidance, IBM has focused on advocating responsible AI use. This includes making operations more efficient at the Veterans Benefits Administration and freeing over 500 claims specialists for more important tasks.

 

Additionally, her work has played a big role in IBM’s $2.6 billion project to update the Internal Revenue Service’s tech systems. This contract award is a part of Wedge’s many impactful works across IBM and the government contracting market.

 

Impact of Susan Wedge on IBM Consulting’s Clients in the Public Sector

 

Here are some of the key initiatives and leadership strategies that Susan Wedge has delivered for IBM Consulting’s clients.

 

Addressing Supply Chain Security

 

IBM works with the Department of Defense to strengthen the security of the microelectronic supply chain, ensuring these vital military components are locally and reliably manufactured. They are also key components in mobile devices, computers, and advanced weapons systems.

 

Susan Wedge is tasked to lead this project for IBM. She ensures the continued delivery of secured microelectronics and supply chain services through the 20-year Trusted Foundry program.

 

In July 2023, IBM received Trusted Supplier Accreditation from the DOD Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA) for delivering embedded security services.

 

Modernizing Grant Management Systems

 

Susan Wedge’s team at IBM Consulting works with its Red Hat counterpart to revolutionize the Department of Education’s G5 grants management system. 

 

Their mission is to enhance the system’s functionality and user-friendliness, thereby streamlining the administration and distribution of grants. The plan is to adopt a user-centered design and agile methodologies to align the system’s development with actual user needs.

 

Acquisition of Octo Consulting

 

Susan Wedge is a part of IBM’s strategic acquisition of Octo Consulting worth $1.2 billion. It is marked as the most substantial deal in IBM’s consulting history. 

 

This acquisition is expected to amplify IBM’s influence with public sector clients, including those in the U.S. government. It mainly includes adopting artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud computing to fulfill the requirements of their clients.

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Partnership Between DARPA & ARPA-H on Cybersecurity Competition Turns Spotlight on Healthcare Infrastructure
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Partnership Between DARPA & ARPA-H on Cybersecurity Competition Turns Spotlight on Healthcare Infrastructure

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health is now working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on the Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge.

The two-year contest, also known as AIxCC, seeks to enhance the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure software by having commercial competitors develop artificial intelligence-powered capabilities that can identify and resolve vulnerabilities, ARPA-H said Thursday.

The challenges that participants have to overcome are based on real-world software.

As an AIxCC collaborator, ARPA-H will contribute an additional $20 million to the contest’s prize money. The agency will also work to ensure that vulnerabilities in healthcare CI software are addressed by the competition and that transition pathways are provided for resulting technologies focused on hospital IT, biotech equipment and medical devices.

ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn cited the inability of commercial-off-the-shelf tools to protect healthcare systems from cyber threats as the reason for its partnership with DARPA.

“We need rapid progress to close these gaps, which is why ARPA-H is partnering with DARPA on AIxCC to drive the development of next-generation digital security tools that can address this urgent challenge,” Wegrzyn explained.

Partnership Between DARPA & ARPA-H on Cybersecurity Competition Turns Spotlight on Healthcare Infrastructure

Cyber experts, government leaders and industry visionaries will speak about the dynamic and evolving role of cyber in the public sector at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit, which will take place in June. Register now to attend this important event!

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DIU Taps Firefly Aerospace to Conduct Study, Demo Launch & On-Orbit Services
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DIU Taps Firefly Aerospace to Conduct Study, Demo Launch & On-Orbit Services

Firefly Aerospace will analyze its rapid space launch and mission support capabilities as part of the Sinequone project, a Defense Innovation Unit-led initiative intended to advance future operations beyond geosynchronous orbit, or xGEO.

The company said Thursday its trade study will set the foundation for up to two demonstrations of rapidly launching its Elytra Dark spacecraft and delivering multiple payloads to xGEO using the vehicle.

Once Firefly Aerospace completed the study and secured approval from DIU to proceed, the company will launch the first on-orbit mission in the following 18 months.

“As international and commercial initiatives ramp up in this region, the Firefly team is prepared to execute missions that support the growing infrastructure, provide space domain awareness, and help protect our nation’s critical assets on and around the Moon,” said Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.

The Sinequone project is a prototyping effort launched by DIU to help enable the delivery of capabilities and assets to one or more orbits in xGEO. Firefly Aerospace was among the 94 companies that submitted 112 solution briefs in response to the Sinequone solicitation.

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Velos’ Jeff Trauberman Reflects on Space Industry Transformation & Discusses Leadership Values
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Velos’ Jeff Trauberman Reflects on Space Industry Transformation & Discusses Leadership Values

Jeff Trauberman, vice president of strategy, analysis and government engagement at Velos, has spent over 30 years in the space industry. Before joining the company earlier this year, he held leadership roles at Virgin Orbit and Boeing.

Trauberman recently participated in an interview with the Potomac Officers Club in which he shared his thoughts on the evolving space market and highlighted his leadership strengths.

In this excerpt from the interview, Trauberman discusses how changes in the private sector space realm have transformed the federal space acquisition landscape:

“We are now seeing a significant expansion of smaller start-ups seeking to provide more rapid, agile capabilities and new technologies to federal customers in competition with large primes. This shift is fueled by the accelerated growth in the commercial, non-governmental markets for capabilities that were previously driven by the federal sector, such as unmanned aircraft, space systems and information technology. These market trends have enabled federal customers to obtain many new capabilities more quickly and affordably, but it has really challenged the acquisition system and program managers to adapt.”

For more of Trauberman’s insights, read the full Executive Spotlight interview on the Potomac Officers Club website.

POC members have the opportunity to participate in their very own Executive Spotlight interview. To browse our membership options and unlock the full range of benefits POC has to offer, click here.

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Senate Bill Seeks to Streamline Approval Process for Commercial Space Launches
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Senate Bill Seeks to Streamline Approval Process for Commercial Space Launches

Six senators have proposed a bipartisan bill that would direct the Federal Aviation Administration to solicit industry feedback and eliminate duplicative requirements to help streamline the application process for commercial space launches as part of efforts to maintain the U.S. competitive edge in space.

The Licensing Aerospace Units to New Commercial Heights Act — a.k.a. the LAUNCH Act — would require the Department of Commerce’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, or CRSRA, to facilitate the licensing process for satellites and private remote sensing space platforms.

“The LAUNCH Act would make sure the federal government isn’t standing in its own way by streamlining the approval process for commercial space launches and reducing the regulatory burden placed on innovators,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a statement published Wednesday.

The legislation would also direct the FAA and CRSRA to offer assistance to applicants as they undergo the licensing process for space launches and satellites.

Cornyn introduced the bill with Sens. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz.

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New 30-Year Navy Shipbuilding Plan Anticipates Austere Funding Conditions, Proposes FY2025 Vessel Decommissionings
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New 30-Year Navy Shipbuilding Plan Anticipates Austere Funding Conditions, Proposes FY2025 Vessel Decommissionings

The U.S. Navy has released a new 30-year shipbuilding plan that will see the decommissioning of 19 vessels in fiscal year 2025, USNI News reported Tuesday.

The plan says that the vessels, which include combat and support ships, are to be decommissioned to free up resources that can be invested in the building of platforms more capable of meeting current threats.

The plan also reveals that of the 19, 10 will not have reached their expected service lives.

The Navy is also projecting two funding scenarios that would determine the maximum size of its fleet by the 2040s.

The better funded scenario would see the Navy fleet reaching 381 hulls by 2043, the number needed for the service to meet its National Defense Strategy obligations.

The more austere scenario would see a fleet of 348 hulls by 2042. The Navy is reportedly preparing for this scenario.

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Revised CISA Guidance on DDoS Offers New Attack Classifications & Threat Mitigations
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Revised CISA Guidance on DDoS Offers New Attack Classifications & Threat Mitigations

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, along with the FBI and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, has updated its guidance regarding distributed denial-of-service — or DDoSS — attacks which was originally released in 2022.

CISA said Thursday that the revised guidance, titled “Understanding and Responding to Distributed Denial-Of-Service Attacks,” now classifies DDoS attacks into three types: volumetric, protocol and application.

A volumetric DDoS attack seeks to overwhelm a target’s available bandwidth. A protocol attack takes advantage of the vulnerabilities of the target’s network protocols. An application attack targets specific applications or services being run by the target.

The revised guidance also comes with new visual aids and recommendations on how to defend against DDoS attacks based on type.

CISA and its partners called on relevant stakeholders to review the revised guidance to better prepare and defend against the threat of DDoS.

Revised CISA Guidance on DDoS Offers New Attack Classifications & Threat Mitigations

Cyber experts, government leaders and industry visionaries will speak about the dynamic and evolving role of cyber in the public sector at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit, which will take place in June. Register now to attend this important event!

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DOJ Seeks Comments on Proposed FOIA Business Standards
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DOJ Seeks Comments on Proposed FOIA Business Standards

The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy has begun soliciting public comments on the proposed Freedom of Information Act business standards developed to support federal shared services.

DOJ is seeking input to inform the development of the final business standards for federal agency FOIA case management systems, according to a Federal Register notice published Monday.

The proposed business standards developed using the Federal Integrated Business Framework seek to help federal agencies better coordinate and determine the technology and services that they can adopt and commonly share with other agencies.

“The shared business standards will make it easier for agencies to acquire FOIA technology and, in turn, improve efficiency and consistency in processing requests across the Federal government,” according to a blog post published Thursday on the Office of Information Policy’s website.

DOJ is asking commercial vendors, FOIA requesters and other interested stakeholders to share their thoughts on whether the draft business standards appropriately document the business processes covered, suggest changes to the draft business standards and offer comments on the usefulness of the draft standards.

Comments are due May 17.

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SOSi to Help Washington State Agency Boost Access to Language Interpretation Services; Charles O’Brien Quoted
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SOSi to Help Washington State Agency Boost Access to Language Interpretation Services; Charles O’Brien Quoted

SOSi has secured a three-year contract from the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries to provide a software and management platform designed to help healthcare and vocational providers communicate with injured workers and crime victims with limited English language proficiency.

The company said Thursday the secure web-based platform would help ensure the delivery of on-demand and scheduled language interpretation services by enabling round-the-clock user capability to request, cancel, edit and verify interpretation assignments.

The scheduling platform would also log service execution and completion and, through SOSi, allow interpreters to submit invoices to the insurers.

“We have honed our proprietary resource management and scheduling technology through years of hands-on experience supporting large-scale federal programs of similar size and scope,” said Charles O’Brien, vice president for civil solutions at SOSi. “The quality and accessibility of our industry-leading language services will enhance Washington State L&I’s assistance programs and ultimately benefit the state’s workers and crime victims.”

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Michael Sulmeyer Nominated as DOD Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy
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Michael Sulmeyer Nominated as DOD Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy

President Joe Biden has nominated Michael Sulmeyer, principal cyber adviser to the secretary of the Army, to serve as assistant secretary for cyber policy at the Department of Defense.

In his current position at the U.S. Army, Sulmeyer advises the secretary on cyber strategy, readiness and capabilities, the White House said Thursday.

Prior to joining the Army, he was the director of the Rapid Vulnerability Review within the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

His government career also included time as special assistant to the president and senior director of cyber policy at the National Security Council and senior adviser to the commander of U.S. Cyber Command.

Sulmeyer previously served as director of the Cybersecurity Project at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and as an instructor at the University of Texas School of Law.

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear cyber experts, government and industry leaders discuss the latest trends and the dynamic role of cyber in the public sector. Register here.

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