The Future of Defense
Management Reform
Symposium
Hosted by IDA
Bios
The Future of Defense
Management Reform Symposium
Hosted by IDA
Bios
The Future of Defense Management Reform Symposium
Hosted by IDA
Bios
Symposium Bios
James R. Dominy
IDA
Mr. James Dominy has been a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) since 2007, specializing in resource management issues. Prior to joining IDA, he served for 31 years in various financial management positions in the Department of the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 1995. From 2002 until his retirement in 2007, Mr. Dominy was Director of Program and Financial Control, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), responsible for managing the Department’s budget development and budget execution processes. He earned BA (Political Science) and MA (Public Administration) degrees from the University of Iowa, and an MS (Management) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.
Mark E. Easton
Former Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Department of Defense
Mr. Mark Easton served as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO), in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) from May 2009 until December 2020. In that capacity, he was the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/ Chief Financial Officer, as well as to Defense senior leaders, on all issues involving the amended Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and related financial management reforms. His portfolio also included responsibility for the Department Manager’s Internal Control Program and annual financial audit support and remediation. Following extensive audit readiness efforts, DoD executed its first comprehensive Financial audit in fiscal year 2018.
Prior to becoming the DCFO, Mr. Easton was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Director for Financial Operations. In this position, he was responsible for Department of the Navy financial improvement initiatives that involved systems and processes employed by 9,000 Navy-Marine Corps financial managers. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in January 2003, initially serving as Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Cleveland, and the Senior Navy Client Executive for DFAS.
Mr. Easton retired from the Navy at the rank of captain in September 2002, following a 29-year career in the Navy Supply Corps, serving in assignments both afloat and ashore, as a logistician and financial manager. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Easton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Miami University (Ohio) and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of various personal awards, including the Presidential Rank Award (Distinguished and Meritorious), the DoD Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the 2019 Scantlebury Award for Distinguished Leadership in Financial Management Improvement. Recently retired from federal service, he currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the National Defense Industrial Association.
David R. Graham
IDA
David Graham joined IDA in 1984. He served as a Deputy Division Director in the Strategy, Forces, and Resources Division until 2019, and is now an adjunct staff member. At IDA, Graham has led a wide range of IDA studies, with study teams of up to 20 professional staff, and has contributed to a number of National panels and study groups. Areas of focus include: national security roles and missions, organizational effectiveness, human capital management, and defense and the economy. Prior to joining IDA, he studied the government regulation of industry at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2000, Graham was awarded IDA’s Goodpaster Award for research excellence. He holds a BA degree from Wabash College and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Janet Hale
Former Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security
Janet Hale has had over 30 years in public and private service in areas including technology, human resources, acquisitions and finance beginning with federal roles at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, and Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Hale eventually held leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Telephone Association.
Ms. Hale returned to federal government service in 1999, serving as Associate Administrator for Finance/Chief Financial Officer at the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2001, Ms. Hale moved to the Department of Health and Human Services, where she was the Assistant Secretary for Budget, Technology and Finance until 2003.
In 2003, Ms. Hale served as the first Under Secretary for Management for the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for the financial, IT, human capital and administrative services for the $40 billion organization. In this role, she was responsible for the integration of 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, including consolidation of 22 different human resource servicing offices, 98 separate payroll systems, 19 financial management centers, 13 procurement systems and hundreds of legacy IT systems.
Ms. Hale concluded her professional career as a director at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she served as senior advisor on strategic government procurements, policy and operations from 2006 to 2016.
She has a Bachelor of Science from Miami University and a Master’s degree from Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government.
Christopher Hanks
IDA
Over the course of his 30-year career as a defense analyst, Dr. Christopher Hanks specialized in the areas of logistics, working capital fund operations, and defense business transformation. Since his retirement, he has published three papers on financial management at the DOD, all grounded in what he learned as a researcher at LMI, RAND, and IDA about how the DOD works. The first, published in July 2009 in the Defense Acquisition Review Journal, reviews the history, motivations, and key figures underlying the passage of the CFO Act of 1990 and makes the case for "reviewing the bidding." The second, published in the Spring 2012 issue of Armed Forces Comptroller, describes the (then nascent) status of managerial cost accounting in the Department. The third, published in the Spring 2014 issue of the Journal of Government Financial Management, offers rebuttals to the various arguments that have been made, and continue to be made, for continuing the pursuit of private-sector-style financial statements at the DOD. As a member of the Financial Management Panel, Dr. Hanks will offer five reasons why the production of private-sector-style financial statements has never made sense for the Department and will not help to improve its effectiveness, efficiency, or transparency.
Veronica E. Hinton
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy
Ms. Veronica Hinton is the Principal Director for Civilian Personnel Policy. She assumed the duties of the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy on January 01, 2021. Her responsibilities include development and oversight of civilian personnel plans, policies and programs that affect over 930,000 defense employees worldwide. Her portfolio spans the full spectrum of the Human Capital Lifecycle, to include systems evaluation and improvement, performance management, strategic workforce and succession planning, leader development, and talent acquisition, development and sustainment.
Prior to this appointment, Ms. Hinton served as the Department of the Treasury’s Associate Chief Human Capital Officer for Human Capital Strategic Management. In this executive role, she was responsible for Department-wide policy, programs, and oversight in all areas of human capital management, including human resources, labor and employee relations, human capital evaluation, and strategic planning and performance management affecting 100,000 employees.
Before joining Treasury, Ms. Hinton held various leadership positions in the Department of the Air Force and Department of Defense. She served as the Director of the Air Force Senior Executive Management Office and the Director for Personnel Service Delivery Transformation at Headquarters United States Air Force, the Deputy Director for Manpower, Personnel, and Services at Headquarters Air Combat Command, and the Deputy Director for Human Resources Strategic Programs and Advisory Services in the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service.
Ms. Hinton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Texas State University, a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. She is a graduate of the Department of Defense Senior Leader Development Program and is a Senior Certified Human Resources Professional by the Society for Human Resource Management.
Her awards include the Secretary of the Treasury Meritorious Service Award, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence, and five Secretary of the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.
Asif Khan
Director, Financial Management and Assurance Team, Government Accountability Office
Asif Khan is a Director at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the Financial Management and Assurance team. He focuses on financial management issue areas on GAO’s High Risk List. His current focus is on improving financial management at the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Khan supports oversight of these departments’ financial management transformation efforts through financial and performance audits and recommendations for removing impediments to financial statement auditability, strengthening internal controls, and modernizing business processes.
Mr. Khan joined GAO in January 2009, after almost 20 years in public accounting, most of it with major firms auditing and advising U.S. government agencies. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Government Financial Manager, and Certified Information Systems Auditor.
Katharina McFarland
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition
Katharina McFarland joined the SAIC Board in 2019. Prior to her onboarding, Ms. McFarland was a Director for Engility Holdings, Inc. from 2017 to 2019.
In 2017, she retired from civil service as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition. She was appointed to this position in 2012 by then President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During her ASD tenure, she was also appointed Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisitions, Logistics & Technology and Army Acquisition Executive. Prior to her 2012 ASD appointment, McFarland served as President of the Defense Acquisition University from November, 2010 to May, 2012. From May, 2006 to November, 2010, she was the Director of Acquisition, Missile Defense Agency. Ms. McFarland began her civil service career in 1986 at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps as a general engineer.
Ms. McFarland received an Honorary Doctoral degree in Engineering from the University of Cranfield, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Queens University in Kingston, Canada, with accreditations in Materials, Electronics and Civil Engineering.
David L. Norquist
34th Deputy Secretary of Defense
David Norquist has thirty years of public and private sector experience in defense and national security. As a senior advisor to Covington & Burling, LLC, he provides strategic advice and helps clients in the aerospace and defense sector navigate policy and regulatory challenges.
David, a non-lawyer, joined the firm after serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense. In this role, he was responsible for the day-to-day business operations of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), managing the Pentagon’s budget, and overseeing efforts to reform the military's acquisition and accounting practices. David also championed a multipart effort to improve cybersecurity across DoD and the defense industrial base, including the establishment of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), and expanded investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous platforms. In addition, he helped realign defense investments toward new warfighting domains in space and cyber space and long-range weapons, including hypersonics, as well as modernizing the nuclear triad. During the ongoing pandemic, he co-chaired the DoD COVID-19 Task Force and with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched Operation Warp Speed. Most recently, he was selected by the incoming Biden Administration to support the transition by serving as Acting Secretary of Defense.
David previously held the position of Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, and served as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on all budgetary and financial matters. Earlier in his career, he was selected by President George W. Bush to be Chief Financial Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and also served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in the Office of the Comptroller.
David has Capitol Hill experience as a professional staff member on the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Defense.
David began his career as a Presidential Management Fellow and a Program Budget Analyst for the Department of the Army. During his eight years with the Army, he worked at Army Headquarters, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, and as the Director of Resource Management at Menwith Hill Station in the United Kingdom.
Howard Risher
Independent Consultant
Howard Risher is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), where he has worked on studies related to employee compensation and performance in the federal government. He was a member of the project team for the 2004 report Recommending Performance-Based Federal Pay. He previously was a member of the NAPA teams that prepared reports on the Senior Executive Service and on a new personnel system for federal IT specialists. He has been responsible for consulting studies for several federal and state agencies, including the 1990 study for OPM that led to the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act and the locality pay system. He has also consulted with the United Nations on pay and performance issues and has authored reports for the OECD.
Previously in his career, Dr. Risher worked as the compensation practice leader for two national consulting companies. He has also served as a Senior Fellow in the Wharton School’s Center for Human Resources.
Early in his career he worked as a compensation director for a large diversified corporation. His experience includes years of experience as a consultant to the private sector as well as to higher education. He has published over 40 articles on pay and performance and has developed four books. His most recent book is Planning Wage and Salary Programs (Scottsdale, AZ, WorldatWork). He serves as the editor of the journal, Compensation and Benefits Review. Dr. Risher received his Ph.D. in business and applied economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972.
Arun Seraphin
Professional Staff Member, Senate Armed Services Committee
Dr. Arun A. Seraphin is a Professional Staff Member on the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. His areas of responsibility include acquisition policy, Pentagon management issues, Department of Defense’s science and technology programs, information technology systems, technology transition issues, defense laboratories, Small Business Innovation Research program, manufacturing programs, and test and evaluation programs. As such he assists Senators in their oversight of DOD policies and programs, including in the authorization of budgets, civilian nominations, legislative initiatives, and hearings. He rejoined the committee staff in 2014, after previously serving there between 2001 and 2010. In 2009, he was named one of ten Defense “Staffers to Know” by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Seraphin served as the Principal Assistant Director for National Security and International Affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). During this time, he both led (in an Acting capacity) and served as the deputy director of the OSTP National Security and International Affairs division. His areas of responsibility included developing and implementing White House initiatives and policies in areas including defense research and engineering; weapons of mass destruction; defense manufacturing and industrial base; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; cybersecurity; and promoting innovation in government research and engineering organizations. He also led interagency groups on small business programs and on improving the quality of the Federal STEM workforce. He was on detail to OSTP from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he was the Special Assistant for Policy Initiatives to the Director of DARPA.
Dr. Seraphin has also worked on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science’s Subcommittee on Research as a professional staff member. He began his work in Congress in the Office of Senator Joseph Lieberman as the 1999-2000 Materials Research Society - Optical Society of America Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. In these positions, he covered both civilian and defense research and development programs.
Between 1996 and 2000, Dr. Seraphin worked in the Science and Technology Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses, where his research included work on defense technology transition, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), export controls, technology forecasting, and international research cooperation. His work included detailed technical analyses supporting the DARPA MEMS program, the Army Science and Technology Master Plan, and the Military Critical Technologies Program.
In 1996, Dr. Seraphin earned a Ph.D. in Electronic Materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he performed research on silicon nanotechnology. His research focused on the development of novel silicon nanostructures and tailoring their optical properties. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science with a concentration in American Government and Engineering Science with a concentration in Materials Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
David A. Sparrow
IDA
David A. Sparrow received a Ph.D. in physics in 1974, and spent 12 years as an academic physicist. He joined IDA in 1986 and has been a Research Staff Member ever since, with brief forays into management and government service. He was the first Director of the IDA Simulation Center from 1989 to 1990, and Assistant Director of the Science and Technology Division from 1993 to 1997. He then joined the government for a two-year stint as Science Advisor on Modeling and Simulation to the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation. Since returning to IDA, he has focused on technical issues in system development, especially ground combat systems‐expansively defined to include unexploded ordinance (UXO), counter mine, and, occasionally, missile defense. He has authored ~100 refereed papers and invited talks on various academic and national security topics.
James P. Woolsey
President, Defense Acquisition University
Mr. James P. Woolsey is President of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), a position he has held since January 2014. In that role, he is responsible for delivery of learning products through the DAU regions, the Defense Systems Management College, and the College of Contract Management; curriculum development; online learning programs; learning technology; and library services for a major Department of Defense corporate university. DAU is strategically located within five geographical regions across the country and provides a global learning environment to develop qualified acquisition, requirements, and contingency professionals who deliver and sustain effective and affordable warfighting capabilities.
He previously served as the first Deputy Director for Performance Assessments (PA) in the office of Performance Assessments and Root Cause Analyses (PARCA). In standing up the PA organization, he created the processes and practices that allowed it to perform its statutory responsibility of assessing the progress of all Major Defense Acquisition Programs. The new office also made a substantial contribution to re-invigorating the Defense Acquisition Executive Summary process and provided the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics with unique analyses to give him improved visibility into the status of the MDAP portfolio.
Mr. Woolsey was previously an Assistant Director in the Cost Analysis and Research Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses. His responsibilities included management of the division’s cost analysis and research, and leadership of a wide range of cost and acquisition studies. His work included a congressionally-directed cost benefit analysis of the F-35 alternate engine, an evaluation of KC 767A lease prices, C-5 re-engineering costs and benefits, F-22 production readiness, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile costs, and space launch alternatives. Mr. Woolsey also served on a Defense Science Board Task Force on long-range strike.
Mr. Woolsey’s other previous positions include service as a structures engineer for F/A-18 aircraft at Naval Air Systems Command, and work as an engineer for Lockheed Martin airlift programs in Marietta, GA.
Robert O. Work
32nd Deputy Secretary of Defense
Secretary Robert O. Work is the Distinguished Senior Fellow for Defense and National Security at the Center for a New American Security and the owner of TeamWork, LLC, which specializes in national security affairs and the future of warfare.
Secretary Work previously served as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, where he was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business of the Pentagon and developing the Department’s $600 billion defense program. He is widely credited for his work with leaders in the Department and the intelligence community on the “Third Offset Strategy,” which aimed to restore U.S. conventional overmatch over its strategic rivals and adversaries. He was awarded DoD’s Distinguished Public Service Award (twice), the National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
Prior to serving as Deputy Secretary, Secretary Work spent one year as CEO of the CNAS, after serving as Undersecretary of the Navy from 2009–2013 in the first Obama administration. As the principal civilian deputy to the Secretary of the Navy, he was responsible for the smooth running of the U.S. naval global business enterprise, with over 500,000 active duty personnel and 200,000 government civilians, and a budget of $160 billion. He was twice awarded the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
After spending 27 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and retiring as a colonel, Work spent time first as a Senior Fellow and later as Vice President for Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. While there, he authored or co-authored eight major monographs on maritime affairs, defense strategy and technologies, and military operations. He was a regular contributor to defense periodicals and frequently testified before Congress. He was an adjunct professor at George Washington University, teaching roles and missions of the armed forces and defense analysis, and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Marine Corps Association.
Secretary Work is a Senior Counselor at the Telemus Group. LLC, a consulting firm specializing in defense forecasting, wargaming and qualitative analysis; and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, an organization renown for systems engineering and integration, technology research and development, and analysis. He is on the Board of Directors for Raytheon, and Board of Advisors for Govini, a big data and analytics firm committed to transforming the business of government through data science.
Secretary Work received his B.S. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Masters in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Secretary Work lives in Northern Virginia with Cassandra, his wife of 39 years. Their daughter, Kendyl, is an analyst at the National Counterterrorism Center.
Symposium Bios
James R. Dominy
IDA
Mr. James Dominy has been a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) since 2007, specializing in resource management issues. Prior to joining IDA, he served for 31 years in various financial management positions in the Department of the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 1995. From 2002 until his retirement in 2007, Mr. Dominy was Director of Program and Financial Control, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), responsible for managing the Department’s budget development and budget execution processes. He earned BA (Political Science) and MA (Public Administration) degrees from the University of Iowa, and an MS (Management) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.
Mark E. Easton
Former Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Department of Defense
Mr. Mark Easton served as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO), in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) from May 2009 until December 2020. In that capacity, he was the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/ Chief Financial Officer, as well as to Defense senior leaders, on all issues involving the amended Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 and related financial management reforms. His portfolio also included responsibility for the Department Manager’s Internal Control Program and annual financial audit support and remediation. Following extensive audit readiness efforts, DoD executed its first comprehensive Financial audit in fiscal year 2018.
Prior to becoming the DCFO, Mr. Easton was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Director for Financial Operations. In this position, he was responsible for Department of the Navy financial improvement initiatives that involved systems and processes employed by 9,000 Navy-Marine Corps financial managers. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in January 2003, initially serving as Director, Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Cleveland, and the Senior Navy Client Executive for DFAS.
Mr. Easton retired from the Navy at the rank of captain in September 2002, following a 29-year career in the Navy Supply Corps, serving in assignments both afloat and ashore, as a logistician and financial manager. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Easton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Miami University (Ohio) and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of various personal awards, including the Presidential Rank Award (Distinguished and Meritorious), the DoD Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the 2019 Scantlebury Award for Distinguished Leadership in Financial Management Improvement. Recently retired from federal service, he currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the National Defense Industrial Association.
David R. Graham
IDA
David Graham joined IDA in 1984. He served as a Deputy Division Director in the Strategy, Forces, and Resources Division until 2019, and is now an adjunct staff member. At IDA, Graham has led a wide range of IDA studies, with study teams of up to 20 professional staff, and has contributed to a number of National panels and study groups. Areas of focus include: national security roles and missions, organizational effectiveness, human capital management, and defense and the economy. Prior to joining IDA, he studied the government regulation of industry at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2000, Graham was awarded IDA’s Goodpaster Award for research excellence. He holds a BA degree from Wabash College and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Janet Hale
Former Under Secretary for Management, Department of Homeland Security
Janet Hale has had over 30 years in public and private service in areas including technology, human resources, acquisitions and finance beginning with federal roles at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation, and Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Hale eventually held leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Telephone Association.
Ms. Hale returned to federal government service in 1999, serving as Associate Administrator for Finance/Chief Financial Officer at the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2001, Ms. Hale moved to the Department of Health and Human Services, where she was the Assistant Secretary for Budget, Technology and Finance until 2003.
In 2003, Ms. Hale served as the first Under Secretary for Management for the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for the financial, IT, human capital and administrative services for the $40 billion organization. In this role, she was responsible for the integration of 22 agencies and 180,000 employees, including consolidation of 22 different human resource servicing offices, 98 separate payroll systems, 19 financial management centers, 13 procurement systems and hundreds of legacy IT systems.
Ms. Hale concluded her professional career as a director at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she served as senior advisor on strategic government procurements, policy and operations from 2006 to 2016.
She has a Bachelor of Science from Miami University and a Master’s degree from Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government.
Christopher Hanks
IDA
Over the course of his 30-year career as a defense analyst, Dr. Christopher Hanks specialized in the areas of logistics, working capital fund operations, and defense business transformation. Since his retirement, he has published three papers on financial management at the DOD, all grounded in what he learned as a researcher at LMI, RAND, and IDA about how the DOD works. The first, published in July 2009 in the Defense Acquisition Review Journal, reviews the history, motivations, and key figures underlying the passage of the CFO Act of 1990 and makes the case for "reviewing the bidding." The second, published in the Spring 2012 issue of Armed Forces Comptroller, describes the (then nascent) status of managerial cost accounting in the Department. The third, published in the Spring 2014 issue of the Journal of Government Financial Management, offers rebuttals to the various arguments that have been made, and continue to be made, for continuing the pursuit of private-sector-style financial statements at the DOD. As a member of the Financial Management Panel, Dr. Hanks will offer five reasons why the production of private-sector-style financial statements has never made sense for the Department and will not help to improve its effectiveness, efficiency, or transparency.
Veronica E. Hinton
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy
Ms. Veronica Hinton is the Principal Director for Civilian Personnel Policy. She assumed the duties of the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy on January 01, 2021. Her responsibilities include development and oversight of civilian personnel plans, policies and programs that affect over 930,000 defense employees worldwide. Her portfolio spans the full spectrum of the Human Capital Lifecycle, to include systems evaluation and improvement, performance management, strategic workforce and succession planning, leader development, and talent acquisition, development and sustainment.
Prior to this appointment, Ms. Hinton served as the Department of the Treasury’s Associate Chief Human Capital Officer for Human Capital Strategic Management. In this executive role, she was responsible for Department-wide policy, programs, and oversight in all areas of human capital management, including human resources, labor and employee relations, human capital evaluation, and strategic planning and performance management affecting 100,000 employees.
Before joining Treasury, Ms. Hinton held various leadership positions in the Department of the Air Force and Department of Defense. She served as the Director of the Air Force Senior Executive Management Office and the Director for Personnel Service Delivery Transformation at Headquarters United States Air Force, the Deputy Director for Manpower, Personnel, and Services at Headquarters Air Combat Command, and the Deputy Director for Human Resources Strategic Programs and Advisory Services in the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service.
Ms. Hinton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Texas State University, a Master of Science degree in Human Resource Development from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. She is a graduate of the Department of Defense Senior Leader Development Program and is a Senior Certified Human Resources Professional by the Society for Human Resource Management.
Her awards include the Secretary of the Treasury Meritorious Service Award, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence, and five Secretary of the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.
Asif Khan
Director, Financial Management and Assurance Team, Government Accountability Office
Asif Khan is a Director at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the Financial Management and Assurance team. He focuses on financial management issue areas on GAO’s High Risk List. His current focus is on improving financial management at the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Khan supports oversight of these departments’ financial management transformation efforts through financial and performance audits and recommendations for removing impediments to financial statement auditability, strengthening internal controls, and modernizing business processes.
Mr. Khan joined GAO in January 2009, after almost 20 years in public accounting, most of it with major firms auditing and advising U.S. government agencies. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Government Financial Manager, and Certified Information Systems Auditor.
Katharina McFarland
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition
Katharina McFarland joined the SAIC Board in 2019. Prior to her onboarding, Ms. McFarland was a Director for Engility Holdings, Inc. from 2017 to 2019.
In 2017, she retired from civil service as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition. She was appointed to this position in 2012 by then President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During her ASD tenure, she was also appointed Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisitions, Logistics & Technology and Army Acquisition Executive. Prior to her 2012 ASD appointment, McFarland served as President of the Defense Acquisition University from November, 2010 to May, 2012. From May, 2006 to November, 2010, she was the Director of Acquisition, Missile Defense Agency. Ms. McFarland began her civil service career in 1986 at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps as a general engineer.
Ms. McFarland received an Honorary Doctoral degree in Engineering from the University of Cranfield, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Queens University in Kingston, Canada, with accreditations in Materials, Electronics and Civil Engineering.
David L. Norquist
34th Deputy Secretary of Defense
David Norquist has thirty years of public and private sector experience in defense and national security. As a senior advisor to Covington & Burling, LLC, he provides strategic advice and helps clients in the aerospace and defense sector navigate policy and regulatory challenges.
David, a non-lawyer, joined the firm after serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense. In this role, he was responsible for the day-to-day business operations of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), managing the Pentagon’s budget, and overseeing efforts to reform the military's acquisition and accounting practices. David also championed a multipart effort to improve cybersecurity across DoD and the defense industrial base, including the establishment of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), and expanded investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous platforms. In addition, he helped realign defense investments toward new warfighting domains in space and cyber space and long-range weapons, including hypersonics, as well as modernizing the nuclear triad. During the ongoing pandemic, he co-chaired the DoD COVID-19 Task Force and with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched Operation Warp Speed. Most recently, he was selected by the incoming Biden Administration to support the transition by serving as Acting Secretary of Defense.
David previously held the position of Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, and served as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on all budgetary and financial matters. Earlier in his career, he was selected by President George W. Bush to be Chief Financial Officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and also served as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in the Office of the Comptroller.
David has Capitol Hill experience as a professional staff member on the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Defense.
David began his career as a Presidential Management Fellow and a Program Budget Analyst for the Department of the Army. During his eight years with the Army, he worked at Army Headquarters, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, and as the Director of Resource Management at Menwith Hill Station in the United Kingdom.
Howard Risher
Independent Consultant
Howard Risher is a consultant to numerous organizations, including the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), where he has worked on studies related to employee compensation and performance in the federal government. He was a member of the project team for the 2004 report Recommending Performance-Based Federal Pay. He previously was a member of the NAPA teams that prepared reports on the Senior Executive Service and on a new personnel system for federal IT specialists. He has been responsible for consulting studies for several federal and state agencies, including the 1990 study for OPM that led to the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act and the locality pay system. He has also consulted with the United Nations on pay and performance issues and has authored reports for the OECD.
Previously in his career, Dr. Risher worked as the compensation practice leader for two national consulting companies. He has also served as a Senior Fellow in the Wharton School’s Center for Human Resources.
Early in his career he worked as a compensation director for a large diversified corporation. His experience includes years of experience as a consultant to the private sector as well as to higher education. He has published over 40 articles on pay and performance and has developed four books. His most recent book is Planning Wage and Salary Programs (Scottsdale, AZ, WorldatWork). He serves as the editor of the journal, Compensation and Benefits Review. Dr. Risher received his Ph.D. in business and applied economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1972.
Arun Seraphin
Professional Staff Member, Senate Armed Services Committee
Dr. Arun A. Seraphin is a Professional Staff Member on the staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. His areas of responsibility include acquisition policy, Pentagon management issues, Department of Defense’s science and technology programs, information technology systems, technology transition issues, defense laboratories, Small Business Innovation Research program, manufacturing programs, and test and evaluation programs. As such he assists Senators in their oversight of DOD policies and programs, including in the authorization of budgets, civilian nominations, legislative initiatives, and hearings. He rejoined the committee staff in 2014, after previously serving there between 2001 and 2010. In 2009, he was named one of ten Defense “Staffers to Know” by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Seraphin served as the Principal Assistant Director for National Security and International Affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). During this time, he both led (in an Acting capacity) and served as the deputy director of the OSTP National Security and International Affairs division. His areas of responsibility included developing and implementing White House initiatives and policies in areas including defense research and engineering; weapons of mass destruction; defense manufacturing and industrial base; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; cybersecurity; and promoting innovation in government research and engineering organizations. He also led interagency groups on small business programs and on improving the quality of the Federal STEM workforce. He was on detail to OSTP from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) where he was the Special Assistant for Policy Initiatives to the Director of DARPA.
Dr. Seraphin has also worked on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science’s Subcommittee on Research as a professional staff member. He began his work in Congress in the Office of Senator Joseph Lieberman as the 1999-2000 Materials Research Society - Optical Society of America Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow. In these positions, he covered both civilian and defense research and development programs.
Between 1996 and 2000, Dr. Seraphin worked in the Science and Technology Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses, where his research included work on defense technology transition, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), export controls, technology forecasting, and international research cooperation. His work included detailed technical analyses supporting the DARPA MEMS program, the Army Science and Technology Master Plan, and the Military Critical Technologies Program.
In 1996, Dr. Seraphin earned a Ph.D. in Electronic Materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he performed research on silicon nanotechnology. His research focused on the development of novel silicon nanostructures and tailoring their optical properties. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science with a concentration in American Government and Engineering Science with a concentration in Materials Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
David A. Sparrow
IDA
David A. Sparrow received a Ph.D. in physics in 1974, and spent 12 years as an academic physicist. He joined IDA in 1986 and has been a Research Staff Member ever since, with brief forays into management and government service. He was the first Director of the IDA Simulation Center from 1989 to 1990, and Assistant Director of the Science and Technology Division from 1993 to 1997. He then joined the government for a two-year stint as Science Advisor on Modeling and Simulation to the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation. Since returning to IDA, he has focused on technical issues in system development, especially ground combat systems‐expansively defined to include unexploded ordinance (UXO), counter mine, and, occasionally, missile defense. He has authored ~100 refereed papers and invited talks on various academic and national security topics.
James P. Woolsey
President, Defense Acquisition University
Mr. James P. Woolsey is President of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), a position he has held since January 2014. In that role, he is responsible for delivery of learning products through the DAU regions, the Defense Systems Management College, and the College of Contract Management; curriculum development; online learning programs; learning technology; and library services for a major Department of Defense corporate university. DAU is strategically located within five geographical regions across the country and provides a global learning environment to develop qualified acquisition, requirements, and contingency professionals who deliver and sustain effective and affordable warfighting capabilities.
He previously served as the first Deputy Director for Performance Assessments (PA) in the office of Performance Assessments and Root Cause Analyses (PARCA). In standing up the PA organization, he created the processes and practices that allowed it to perform its statutory responsibility of assessing the progress of all Major Defense Acquisition Programs. The new office also made a substantial contribution to re-invigorating the Defense Acquisition Executive Summary process and provided the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics with unique analyses to give him improved visibility into the status of the MDAP portfolio.
Mr. Woolsey was previously an Assistant Director in the Cost Analysis and Research Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses. His responsibilities included management of the division’s cost analysis and research, and leadership of a wide range of cost and acquisition studies. His work included a congressionally-directed cost benefit analysis of the F-35 alternate engine, an evaluation of KC 767A lease prices, C-5 re-engineering costs and benefits, F-22 production readiness, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile costs, and space launch alternatives. Mr. Woolsey also served on a Defense Science Board Task Force on long-range strike.
Mr. Woolsey’s other previous positions include service as a structures engineer for F/A-18 aircraft at Naval Air Systems Command, and work as an engineer for Lockheed Martin airlift programs in Marietta, GA.
Robert O. Work
32nd Deputy Secretary of Defense
Secretary Robert O. Work is the Distinguished Senior Fellow for Defense and National Security at the Center for a New American Security and the owner of TeamWork, LLC, which specializes in national security affairs and the future of warfare.
Secretary Work previously served as the Deputy Secretary of Defense, where he was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business of the Pentagon and developing the Department’s $600 billion defense program. He is widely credited for his work with leaders in the Department and the intelligence community on the “Third Offset Strategy,” which aimed to restore U.S. conventional overmatch over its strategic rivals and adversaries. He was awarded DoD’s Distinguished Public Service Award (twice), the National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
Prior to serving as Deputy Secretary, Secretary Work spent one year as CEO of the CNAS, after serving as Undersecretary of the Navy from 2009–2013 in the first Obama administration. As the principal civilian deputy to the Secretary of the Navy, he was responsible for the smooth running of the U.S. naval global business enterprise, with over 500,000 active duty personnel and 200,000 government civilians, and a budget of $160 billion. He was twice awarded the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
After spending 27 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and retiring as a colonel, Work spent time first as a Senior Fellow and later as Vice President for Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. While there, he authored or co-authored eight major monographs on maritime affairs, defense strategy and technologies, and military operations. He was a regular contributor to defense periodicals and frequently testified before Congress. He was an adjunct professor at George Washington University, teaching roles and missions of the armed forces and defense analysis, and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Marine Corps Association.
Secretary Work is a Senior Counselor at the Telemus Group. LLC, a consulting firm specializing in defense forecasting, wargaming and qualitative analysis; and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, an organization renown for systems engineering and integration, technology research and development, and analysis. He is on the Board of Directors for Raytheon, and Board of Advisors for Govini, a big data and analytics firm committed to transforming the business of government through data science.
Secretary Work received his B.S. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Masters in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Secretary Work lives in Northern Virginia with Cassandra, his wife of 39 years. Their daughter, Kendyl, is an analyst at the National Counterterrorism Center.