I’ve just received word that Dawn Meyerriecks, one of the great’s of American technology, has just returned to federal service. Dawn has delivered real capability into some of the nation’s largest, most complex enterprises. And she has built communities of technologist as she did that, giving many of us someone to look up to and attempt to model themselves after.
I feel really good about the choice of Dawn for this incredibly demanding position. The intelligence community needs her at a time like this.
For more, see the DNI press release, which I’ll post below:
Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that he has selected Dawn Meyerriecks, an expert in technology and operations management, to be the new Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Acquisition and Technology.
Meyerriecks has extensive experience in designing, building and fielding intelligence and information technology solutions for the government and private industry. She was formerly the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) chief technology officer and the senior vice president for AOL Product Technologies.
“Dawn is well respected for her work in designing, acquiring and delivering effective intelligence and information systems for the Department of Defense, and for providing some of the best commercial products for the public and private sector,” Blair said. “Her understanding of the entire end-to-end process of acquisition will help us deliver state of the art technology efficiently and when it is needed to maintain our advantage over our adversaries.”
The DDNI for A&T is the DNI’s senior acquisition executive and science and technology advisor responsible for integrating science and technology across the IC enterprise, and for ensuring excellence in achieving cost, schedule and performance in acquisition. The office also is responsible for generating and developing research and development advances capable of transforming U.S. intelligence, and providing intelligence advantage over future adversaries.
“Dawn will help us keep pace with the leading edge of technology which is critical to the IC’s ability to deliver better intelligence,” Blair added.
The recently published 2009 National Intelligence Strategy places emphasis on science and technology and research and development by leveraging the explosive pace of technological innovation to improve the IC’s productivity, effectiveness and agility for the entire community.
Since 2006, Meyerriecks has worked as an independent consultant for government and commercial clients. Previously, she was the senior vice president for AOL Product Technologies where she was responsible for full lifecycle development and integration of all consumer-facing AOL products and services, including the relaunch of aol.com, AOL Instant Messenger, and the open client platform.
Prior to AOL, Meyerriecks worked for seven years beginning in 1998 at DISA where she was the CTO and technical director for the Joint Interoperability and Engineering (JIEO) Organization. Her last assignment was to charter and lead a new Global Information Grid Enterprise Services (GIG) organization. Meyerriecks worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1983 to 1998 as a senior engineer and product manager before her tenure at DISA.
Meyerriecks holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University with a double major in business and management science, and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Loyola Marymount University.
She co-chaired a soon-to-be-released acquisition reform study for the National Academy of Sciences, and has served on advisory boards to the National Counterterrorism Center, Sun Federal, Cranite Systems, and the Defense Science Board Summer Studies.
Meyerriecks holds numerous honors and awards for her government service work and for work in private industry including the Government Computer News, Department of Defense Person of the Year for 2004; InfoWorld, 2002 and 2001 CTO of the Year; CIO Magazine, 2002 20/20 Vision Award; Business Week 2.0, 20 Young Execs You Need to Know, 2001; Federal Computer Week, 2000 Top 100 of the year for the government sector; the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, November 2001; the Senior Executive Service Exceptional Achievement Award in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003; and the National Performance Review in August 1996. In November 2001, she was featured in Fortune magazine as one of the top 100 intellectual leaders in the world.
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I agree – this is a very good development. (applause)
Jim, Good hearing from you. I’m hoping Dawn gets an update on your JCTD soon.
Bob