Posted by John Thomas Flynn

Amber Corrin with Federal Computer Week reports, “Teri Takai’s confirmation hearings on hold as the Defense Secretary reviews organizational structure…Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week elaborated on plans to shave $100 billion from the defense budget over the next five years, and on the chopping block are a number of areas of Defense Department information technology infrastructure and offices.

Under DOD’s current structure, the CIO serves as assistant secretary of defense for Networks and Information Integration. However, last month the Defense Business Board recommended the dissolution of DOD’s NII directorate, as part of a broader downsizing of defense organizations to meet the goal of saving $100 billion…” Read full story here… 

Teri Takai’s DOD CIO confirmation put on hold

Here’s the entire announcement from HP:

From: CFO, Cathie Lesjak
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2010 1:37 PM
Subject: Organizational Announcement
CATHIE LESJAK  CFO and Interim CEO

TO/ All HP Employees
SUBJECT/ Organizational Announcement

This is to advise you that Mark Hurd, Chairman and CEO of HP, has resigned from the company effective immediately.  Mark’s resignation was submitted at the request of the company’s Board of Directors as a result of inappropriate behavior in which he engaged that violated HP’s Standards of Business Conduct and undermined his ability to continue to lead the company.

At the request of the Board I have agreed to serve as interim CEO until a new, permanent CEO is hired.  During this time I also will continue to perform my duties as CFO. The Board has formed a committee to undertake a search for a new CEO, and candidates from inside the company as well as outside the company will be considered.  I have informed the Board, however, that I do not wish to be considered for the role of permanent CEO, and I have removed myself from being a candidate for that position.

While this news is unexpected, HP remains in an exceptionally strong position both financially and in the marketplace.  It is essential, however, that we remain focused and continue to achieve – if not exceed – our operational and financial objectives.

Because there is likely to be considerable media coverage of this announcement during the next few days, I wanted to be the first to share the facts with you.

Mark’s resignation followed an internal investigation into a claim of sexual harassment asserted against Mark and HP by a woman who is former contractor to HP. The investigation was conducted by outside counsel in conjunction with HP’s General Counsel’s office and was overseen by the Board.  Based on the investigation it was determined that the former contractor’s claim of sexual harassment was not supported by the facts.

The investigation did reveal, however, that Mark had engaged in other inappropriate conduct.  Specifically, based on the facts that were gathered it was found that Mark had failed to disclose a close personal relationship he had with the contractor that constituted a conflict of interest, failed to maintain accurate expense reports, and misused company assets.  Each of these constituted a violation of HP’s Standards of Business Conduct, and together they demonstrated a profound lack of judgment that significantly undermined Mark’s credibility and his ability to effectively lead HP.

As we regularly remind all employees, each of us is expected to adhere strictly to the Standards of Business Conduct in all of our business dealings and relationships.  This expectation applies with even greater force to HP’s CEO and other senior executives who, given their positions, must set the highest standard for professional and personal conduct.  The investigation that was conducted revealed that Mark had failed to meet this standard.

We recognize that this change in leadership is unexpected news.  We also know that HP’s success in recent years is due to the collective efforts and hard work of more than 300,000 talented employees who have formulated far-reaching strategies and achieved our objectives better than anyone else in the industry.

On Monday morning we will conduct an all-employee webcast to discuss this matter further and answer your questions.  To join the webcast please click on this link. <http://media.hp.com/program.aspx?key=HPLegal080910>

In closing, I would like to thank each of you for your contributions to HP, and to ask that in the weeks and months to come we do everything to ensure that HP’s future, like its past, is one of innovation, operational excellence, and the delivery of world-class products and services.

All the best.

Cathie

“I’m not going to get into the esoteric world of reprogramming a three decade old legacy computer application. Yes, it would require significant effort to reprogram, and it would take several months, and it probably would cost several million dollars. But he had a two year reprieve to address the problem. What? He thought the budget issue was going to go away?

But he sat on the problem, more important to be a hero to the state employee unions, his largest campaign donor by the way, rather than the taxpayers. And he thought he could avoid this issue in the future because he would have a new, much more flexible payroll system.

Unfortunately for Mr. Chiang, the issue’s not COBOL, it’s competence.”

Here’s the link to the whole story.

Posted by John Thomas Flynn

FireFox 3.0 users may need to launch the player in a separate window, to do so click here.

To view the Webcast in full screen, right click on the player and go to Zoom > Full Screen. Also, be sure to register to receive updates of the upcoming show schedule and to comment on any of the content here at Techleader.TV!

Paul Benedetto

Director

Office of Systems Integration

California Health and Human Services Agency

Live Webcast
Hosted By John Thomas Flynn
with Special Guest

Paul Benedetto

Director, OSI

Paul J. Benedetto was appointed Director of the Office of Systems Integration (OSI) by California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Kim Belshe’ in March 2009. Paul is charged with leading an organization that provides project management and integration to some of the largest IT projects in the state and nation.
Prior to his appointment as Director, Paul served as Chief Deputy Director for OSI. His public service career has spanned broadly across government departments including numerous state agencies and constitutional offices, where he has held multiple managerial and executive management positions.
He also served on Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review as part of the Acquisition Reform Team. This was a statewide effort to restructure, reorganize and reform state government.

Topics for discussion include:

OSI’s systems and projects portfolio Fiscal 2010-11

• Case Management Information and Payrolling System (CMIPS) for In-Home Supportive Services

• Child Welfare Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS)

• Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)

• Statewide Welfare Automation System (SAWS) which is comprised of several systems and projects:

• Statewide Fingerprint Imaging System (SFIS)

• Unemployment Insurance Modernization Project (UIMOD)

OSI Best Practices in the Project Life Cycle

Budget Impact on OSI Projects

Register Here!

As we indicated during Mark’s appearance last month on TechLeader.TV, with his boss, State CIO Teri Takai, he has built the strongest state CISO governance model in the U.S. and these accolades from SC Magazine are well deserved. TLTV will look forward to getting a copy of the magazine for Mark’s autograph.

FireFox 3.0 users may need to launch the player in a separate window, to do so click here.

To view the Webcast in full screen, right click on the player and go to Zoom > Full Screen. Also, be sure to register to receive updates of the upcoming show schedule and to comment on any of the content here at Techleader.TV!

Sunne Wright McPeak

CEO

California Emerging Technology Fund

Live Webcast
Hosted By John Thomas Flynn
with Special Guest

Sunne Wright McPeak

Sunne Wright McPeak is the President and CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), a statewide non-profit organization whose mission is to close the Digital Divide by accelerating the deployment and adoption of broadband. Prior to this Sunne was Secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She has also served as President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, and held the same position with the Bay Area Economic Forum. She also served more than fifteen years as a member of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. Topics to be discussed include:

• Rural broadband and the impact of CETF;
• Federal stimulus funding especially American Recovery and Re-Investment Act (ARRA) Rural Broad program;
• Reflections on ARRA Round 1;
• Is California closing the Digital Divide, and
• What are CETF accomplishments and what can we expect in the future?

Register Here!

Watch program here

www.TechLeader.TV

on April 27, 2010 at 11:30 AM PT

Please forward this message along to any colleague that may be interested!

TechLeader.TV is the nation’s first Video Webcast focusing exclusively on the public sector information technology & political landscape. In September 2009 TLTV began its fourth season with a stellar line-up of topics and guests. All these interviews are presented LIVE in streaming video format straight to your computer, and rebroadcast on Access.Sacramento Cable TV.