Agencies must know their customer first before they can deliver an excellent experience

Barbara C. Morton joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006. A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Barbara attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, earning a degree in psychology and philosophy. After receiving her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, Barbara completed two clerkships in the New England area and thereafter pursued an LL.M. in constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center, which she completed in 2005.

While at VA, Barbara has served in a variety of capacities, to include at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals as a Staff Attorney in the Office of Veterans Law Judges, Special Counsel to the Appellate Group, Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman, Executive Assistant to the Chairman, and Director of Management, Planning & Analysis. She recently joined the Veterans Experience Office as Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer.

She has published a variety of law review articles, including two pieces relating to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Barbara dabbles in the arts, to include painting, photography, ceramics, and stained glass, and she loves following professional tennis and basketball. She also enjoys volunteering for various Veteran-centered causes, to include events at Arlington National Cemetery and the annual Toys-for-Tots campaign.

Lori Ruderman, Initiative Lead for the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ ReImagine BuySmarter Initiative. BuySmarter is an innovative new HHS-wide program to use technology to streamline and modernize federal acquisitions across the Department to achieve significant economies of scale and gain Department-wide efficiencies.

Ms. Ruderman has over 30 years’ experience in diverse range of leadership and management roles. With a Master’s Degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, Ms. Ruderman spent more than 20 years of her career serving in the healthcare space. During the course of her career to-date, Ms. Ruderman has served as the director of a not-for-profit health program and has served as a hospital administrator for two different healthcare systems before joining the federal government in 2008. Since entering public service, Ms. Ruderman has spent the past ten years in the federal Shared Services environment with the majority of that time focused on federal acquisitions.

Ms. Ruderman brings a passion and innovative energy to this unique opportunity to revolutionize acquisitions for the Department’s $24B in annual spend on goods and services.

Mr. Guy Kiyokawa is the Deputy Director of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Falls Church, Virginia. The DHA is a joint Combat Support Agency enabling the Army, Navy, and Air Force medical services to provide a medically ready force and ready medical force to Combatant Commands in peacetime and wartime. The DHA directs ten joint shared services to include the TRICARE Health Plan which provides worldwide medical, dental and pharmacy services to more than 9.4 million uniformed service members, retirees and their families, health Information technology, medical logistics, research & development, education & training, public health, facility management, budget & resource management, and contracting. The DHA also oversees health care delivery in the National Capital Region, managing the two military hospitals – Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

Mr. Kiyokawa has led healthcare organizations as a civilian executive and a uniformed officer for over twenty-five years. As deputy director, he assists the DHA director in leading a workforce of more than 5,700 military and civilian personnel at locations around the world, to include multiple sites in the National Capital Region; Aurora, Colorado; Dover AFB, Delaware; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego, California; Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois; Sembach Air Base, Germany; and Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Mr. Kiyokawa recently led a joint team comprised of senior medical officials and was responsible for implementing elements of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. This law included some of the most sweeping reforms in decades in how the Military Health System (MHS) is structured to support its readiness mission.

Prior to joining the senior executive service, Mr. Kiyokawa served in the U.S. Army as a Medical Service Corps officer. He completed his military service as the Chief of Staff of the DHA, where he played a pivotal role in standing up the Defense Health Agency. With the creation of the DHA, he drew upon his decades of experience leading people and organizations though large-scale change.

Mr. Kiyokawa previously served as the Director for Facilities, US Army Medical Command where he was responsible for all facets of life cycle management for 33.4 million square feet of medical infrastructure. This included managing a $260M annual Sustainment, Restoration, and Modernization program, environmental and energy management programs, the Army Fisher House Program, facility master planning, and serving as the senior government representative during design, construction, transition, and initial outfitting of new medical facility construction.

Mr. Kiyokawa also served as an Aeromedical Evacuation Pilot, flying the UH-1V Huey helicopter.

Mr. Kiyokawa’s career features leadership positions at all levels of health care operations including clinics, community hospitals, regional medical centers, and regional medical commands. He served as the Executive Assistant to the Army Surgeon General, LTG James B. Peake, and is a Diplomate in the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Mr. Kiyokawa was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He holds a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from Baylor University and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Quimby Kaizer is a Principal in KPMG’s Advisory Practice. She leads the Federal People and Change practice and the Department of Veterans Affairs account. Over her 25 year management consulting career, she has maintained a passion for tackling complex transformation initiatives through business strategy and pragmatic operational improvement approaches that result in organizational changes that are embedded and sustained to improve mission performance. She holds an MBA from The College of William Mary, is a certified Lean Sigma Master Black Belt, and an Executive Fellow of the KPMG Government Institute.

Jason Miller is an executive editor and reporter with Federal News Network. As executive editor, Jason helps direct the news coverage of the station and works with reporters to ensure a broad range of coverage of federal technology, procurement, finance and human resource news.As a reporter, Jason focuses mainly on technology and procurement issues, including cybersecurity, e-government and acquisition policies and programs.