GSA Leadership Speakers

Edward J. O'Hare

Edward J. O’Hare serves as Assistant Commissioner for GSA’s Integrated Technology Services (ITS) portfolio within the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS).  He is responsible for the largest “Fee for Service” Information Technology (IT) procurement and services operation in the United States government.

ITS is responsible for the development, planning, management and operations of all government-wide GSA IT and Telecommunications contracts.  Mr. O’Hare leads a highly skilled and diverse workforce that manages more than seven thousand contracts providing products, services, and solutions to nearly 135 federal agencies and departments in approximately 190 countries.  GSA’s FAS ITS portfolio consists of the IT Schedule 70 program, the Office of Management and Budget - chartered IT Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), the Network Services programs, and several strategic government-wide initiatives such as the Managed Service Office for Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12) and the SmartBUY software strategic sourcing program.  ITS actively works with GSA’s customers and industry partners to ensure that its array of IT and Telecommunications offerings are relevant and timely in support of the broad-ranging missions of federal, state and local customers. 

Mr. O’Hare has a long history with GSA, highlighted by many recognized accomplishments that represent significant contributions to effective and efficient government.  In 1996, he was named Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Federal Supply Service where he led the development of GSA Advantage! and GSA Auctions electronic commerce systems.  These early e-tools for GSA customers earned the ComputerWorld Smithsonian Award and were named "Best Fed on the Web" by Government Executive magazine for the two years in a row. 

From 2002 to 2003 he served as Assistant Commissioner for Global Supply and helped put those programs back on the map and strengthened the supply chain capability to meet specialized needs, including those of the military in preparation for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. 

After a few years of service within the private sector IT industry, Ed O’Hare returned to GSA in 2006 to serve as the first Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Strategic Planning and Business Process Improvement in the newly designed Federal Acquisition Service.  Under his leadership FAS completed necessary steps to prepare for and launch the new organization enterprise-wide, with a balanced organizational perspective for strategic business planning and performance management.  He also championed FAS strategic objectives to facilitate the evolution of FAS, and directed the evaluation of Business Process improvement methodologies that led to establishment of an effective program of Lean Six Sigma expertise and capability within the new Service.  In 2007 he was named CIO for FAS.  He oversaw the FAS implementation of GSA’s consolidated, unified technical support capability, provided leadership and guidance for the development and management of FAS business support systems, and soon was tapped to provide IT infrastructure functionality for the Presidential Transition facility to ensure it was ready to go upon completion of the 2008 national election. 

Mixed in among his executive leadership years with GSA, Ed O’Hare has served as a vice president at Dynanet and a senior professional with Booz Allen Hamilton.  But his commitment to public service has brought him back to GSA where he continues to devote attention and energy to bringing effectiveness, efficiency and innovation to the federal government.

Karl Krumbholz

As the Director of Network Services Programs, Karl Krumbholz is responsible for GSA telecommunications development programs and the management of wide area and regional contracts providing services to approximately 135 Government agencies and 11 regions.  His responsibilities include the Networx Program, FTS2001 and Crossover contracts, Metropolitan Area Acquisitions, Connections, SATCOM II, Federal Relay, and regional local services contracts. 

Mr. Krumbholz began his career at the GSA Federal Technology Service in 2002 as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Service Development with additional responsibilities as the Networx Program Manager.  Prior to the award of the Networx contracts, he was assigned as Acting Assistant Commissioner for Service Development and Service Delivery, Federal Technology Service.  His responsibilities included the development of new programs and the management of ongoing contracts to include the FTS2001/Crossover Program and activities associated with Networx transition planning and post award contract management and operations.  Upon establishment of the Federal Acquisition Service, Mr. Krumbholz was selected as the Director of Network Services Programs under the Office of Integrated Technology Services and promoted to the Senior Executive Service.

Prior to coming to GSA, Mr. Krumbholz worked for eight years in the Information Technology (IT) sector for BDM and TRW as a Director and program manager of IT and Telecommunications services.  His business unit provided test and evaluation, technical and program management, and transition management support to the GSA Federal Technology Service, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and other DoD Services and Agencies. He provided technical and program management support to DISA in the implementation of the Global Information Grid, in transitioning DoD from FTS2000 to FTS2001, and in the transition of telecommunications services to the Defense Information System Network (DISN).  He assisted GSA and the Interagency Management Council’s FTS2001 Transition Task Force in tracking and coordinating the overall progress of the FTS2001 transition for all Government Agencies. 

Prior to joining BDM, Mr. Krumbholz served 26 years as an officer, pilot, and acquisition manager in the U.S. Navy.  His career included operational tours in aviation squadrons and aboard ship including squadron command, three assignments in acquisition management at the Naval Air Systems Command, and as Director of Naval Armaments at the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, Belgium.  Mr. Krumbholz retired from the Navy as a Captain (06).

Mr. Krumbholz holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MS in Aeronautical Engineering from The Naval Postgraduate School, and an MBA from The George Washington University.   He attended the Program Manager’s course at the Defense Systems Management College and the Advanced Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University.  He is a 2005 FED 100 Awardee.

Plenary Session Speakers

Steve Gilliland, June 22 Lunch

Steve Gilliland, CSP, is one of the most in-demand and top-rated speakers in the United States and Canada. Steve's motto is "If you take care of people, the business will follow." Implementing this principle, he has helped people grow their businesses and expand their lives by teaching them to rethink their work, their relationships and themselves. Steve launched his full-time speaking career and built a multimillion-dollar company on the same philosophy he expounds to his audiences. If you continually learn more about your company, your industry, your customer and yourself, you will always be a leader. You will be purpose-driven rather than process-driven, and you will make a difference.

A talented speaker and author, Steve Gilliland has an appeal that transcends barriers of age, culture and occupation. He is one of the seven percent of speakers in the world, among the 5,000 who belong to the International Federation for Professional Speakers, to hold the designation of Certified Speaking Professional. He has also been recognized by Who's Who for Speakers and Business Professionals. Steve has shared the platform with such distinguished people as Ken Blanchard, the late Governor Ann Richards, Rudolph Giuliani, Bruce Jenner and Bob Eubanks, as well as Jack Canfield, creator and cofounder of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

His audiences and clients are a Who's Who list of American businesses and nonprofit organizations. He speaks to more than 250,000 people annually and influences the lives of millions through his keynote speeches, books, CDs and DVDs. An extensive array of these products has been utilized by small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, U.S. government agencies, churches, school districts and nonprofit organizations. Speaking the language of active business leaders, his new book, Mum's The Word, identifies eight lessons in leadership.

Whether Steve is kicking off an event, training all day or closing a convention, his entertaining and interactive style helps audiences connect and relate as he shows them how to open doors to success in their careers, their relationships and their lives. They leave with a renewed sense of enthusiasm for which they are and for what really matters. Steve is not only a speaker who challenges people to change; he motivates them to do so.

Dr. Marci Rossell, June 23 Morning Plenary

Marci Rossell electrifies audiences nationwide, speaking on the nexus of economics, politics, culture and the media. Her animated style was honed when she served as the popular, lively Chief Economist for CNBC in the months immediately following September 11th. She takes complex economic issues, often dull in the button-down business press, and makes them relevant to people’s lives, families and careers.

Prior to her career in broadcast journalism, Marci served as Corporate Economist and Investment Spokesperson for OppenheimerFunds, which is one of the nation’s largest mutual fund companies. Before moving to Wall Street, she was an expert witness for Deloitte and Touche in court cases involving economic issues. Marci began her career as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Marci earned a PhD in Economics from Southern Methodist University, where she was named one of the Young Alumni of the Year in 2002. She brings a world of experience—from Main Street to Wall Street—when discussing the U.S. economy, international events and movements in capital markets.

Donna Brazile, June 23 Lunch

Veteran Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile is an adjunct professor, author, syndicated columnist, television political commentator, Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation at the Democratic National Committee, and former chair of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. Last, but never least, she is a native of New Orleans.

Aside from working for the full recovery of her beloved New Orleans, Ms. Brazile’s passion is encouraging young people to vote, to work within the system to strengthen it, and to run for public office.

A New Orleans native, Ms. Brazile began her political career at the age of nine when she worked to elect a City Council candidate who had promised to build a playground in her neighborhood; the candidate won, the swing sets were installed, and a lifelong passion for political progress was ignited. Four decades and innumerable state and local campaigns later, Ms. Brazile has worked on every presidential campaign from 1976 through 2000, when she served as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore, becoming the first African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign.

Author of the best-selling memoir Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics, Ms. Brazile is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated newspaper columnist for United Media, a columnist for Ms. Magazine, and an on-air contributor to CNN, NPR, and ABC, where she regularly appears on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

In August 2009, O, The Oprah Magazine chose Ms. Brazile as one of its 20 remarkable visionaries for the magazine’s first-ever O Power List. In addition, she was named among the 100 Most Powerful Women by Washingtonian magazine, Top 50 Women in America by Essence magazine, and received the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s highest award for political achievement. A former member of the board of directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, responsible for leading the state’s rebuilding process in the aftermath of two catastrophic hurricanes; Ms. Brazile is the proud recipient of honorary doctorate degrees from Louisiana State University and Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically Black, Catholic institution of higher education in the United States.

Ms. Brazile is founder and managing director of Brazile & Associates LLC, a general consulting, grassroots advocacy, and training firm based in Washington, DC.