Telecommunications specialist Ken Riordan has returned to Nokia as principal architect for its U.S. government-facing task force.

In his new position, Riordan will build on his prior experience servicing federal clients with cell technologies in order to spearhead the creation and implementation of communications networks for Nokia’s public sector customers, the Finland-based company said Tuesday.

Riordan commented that he is “thrilled” to again partner with Nokia, where he previously worked for nearly seven years from 2011 to 2018.

He began at the company as head of its device business segment, where he developed and sold consumer data devices and femtocell products. Riordan then designed and offered in-building wireless products as Nokia’s senior director of small cell products, before rising to the position of senior director of business development for the enterprise’s mobile networks department.

Prior to that, Riordan spent over 12 years with Motorola performing work surrounding mobile handsets and consumer data devices. 

Regarding his new appointment, Riordan shared, “Much like my previous work with Alphabet’s project Loon, our success will depend on leveraging Nokia’s deep portfolio of technology assets and adapting those assets to the unique needs of our Federal Government customers,” Riordan explained.

At Loon LLC, an Alphabet-owned organization, Riordan occupied the role of head of product management for connectivity solutions, wherein he was at the forefront of a high-altitude platform station project. During his time at Loon he also launched the inaugural commercial HAPS network and was on the ground floor of the HAPS Alliance, in which he will continue to participate on Nokia’s behalf as president and member of the board of directors.

In the past, Riordan also resided on the executive board of the Small Cell Forum and acted as technical committee chair and forum vice-chair at the Wireless Innovation Forum.

As principal architect at Nokia, Riordan will be focused on adapting emerging commercial technologies, especially 3GPP and 5G, for the needs of the federal government. His efforts will be targeted to tactical communications, security and resilient networks.

Leslie Henderson, formerly chief of the contracting office for information technology at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, has been named chief of policy and oversight within the acquisition and contracting organization at DCSA.

Henderson previously led a group of contracting professionals and oversaw a portfolio of contracts and transactions worth more than $2.7 billion as head of the contracting office for IT programs at DSCA.

Prior to DSCA, she spent more than a decade at the Office of Personnel Management, where she served as supervisory and lead contract specialist, purchasing agent and business support specialist. She also worked for the National Background Investigations Bureau when it was still under OPM.

Yemi Oshinnaiye, deputy chief information officer of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will join the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in May to serve as CIO, Federal News Network reported Monday.

He will succeed Russell Roberts, who will step down as TSA CIO after more than four years in the role.

Oshinnaiye was appointed to his current position at USCIS in March 2019 and previously spent nearly two years at Reston, Virginia-based Dev Technology Group as chief technology officer, according to his LinkedIn profile.

His USCIS career started in 2012 as an IT specialist and he later served in the roles of branch and associate chief prior to being promoted to division chief of enterprise infrastructure in 2016.

He worked for Electronic Data Systems earlier in his career.

The Potomac Officers Club will assemble several leaders from the worlds of government and business at POC’s 3rd Annual CIO Summit, which is scheduled to take place on April 26 at the Hilton-McLean in Virginia.

John Sherman, the Defense Department’s CIO and acting chief digital and artificial intelligence officer, will deliver a keynote address to the in-person event.

Drew Myklegard will serve as acting deputy federal chief information officer at the Office of Management and Budget following the retirement of Maria Roat, who held the official post, in March, GovernmentCIO reported Friday.

As acting deputy federal CIO, Myklegard will assist Clare Martorana, federal CIO and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, in executing the President’s Management Agenda and implementing office objectives for cybersecurity, data, customer experience and information technology modernization.

Myklegard has been serving as OMB’s associate deputy federal CIO since January. Prior to that, he spent more than eight years at the Department of Veterans Affairs, where he previously led the DevSecOps product engineering division.

Commenting on Myklegard’s appointment, Martorana said, “In just a few months with our team, Drew has already made an outsized impact in executing on OFCIO’s strategic priorities.”