Top cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) professionals from across the federal government and industry gathered on May 21 at Morton’s in Washington, D.C., to honor the America 250 Powering Progress Award winners.
At a special edition of Tech Tonic on Thursday evening, MeriTalk celebrated the award winners, who were nominated by their peers across the federal government and industry. There were two categories for the awards, including the Cyber Defenders and AI Innovators.
“MeriTalk is pleased to acknowledge those of you who are doing the work to drive the important innovation across the federal government in our space,” said Caroline Boyd, principal of government programs for MeriTalk, at the awards ceremony.
“Thank you as a whole for the work that you do,” Boyd said.
The complete list of winners can be found here. MeriTalk also chatted with some of the awardees last night to hear what receiving the award meant to them.
AI Innovators – Government
Awarded the AI Innovators award in government, the Revolution Crossroads team representing the Smithsonian and Library of Congress said the award signifies cross-agency collaboration and innovation.
“We’re really honored to get this award, because it recognizes innovation across branches and across agencies coming together and working on something together that uses AI in a very innovative way that preserves our cultural history,” Natalie Buda Smith, director of digital strategy at the Library of Congress, told MeriTalk.
Mangala Kuppa, chief information officer (CIO) at the Department of Labor, said it was “amazing” to receive the AI Innovators award.
“I take this award on behalf of the hard working team,” Kuppa said. “We are trying to be pioneers with AI adoption in the Labor Department. So, this award means to me the hard work of the team, as well as our leadership, who is very pro-innovation and always encouraging us to do what we do. I think this is a reflection of their support, as well as my team’s hard work. I am honored to receive this award on behalf of them.”
Larry Allen, associate administrator for governmentwide policy and chief acquisition officer at the General Services Administration, said the government AI Innovators award helps give recognition to the acquisitions aspect of government.
“It’s not often that people that work in the acquisition world, get recognized for our accomplishments that really govern how IT is acquired,” Allen said. “We also have a technology policy office that works actively on cutting-edge AI, among other things, and vets it for other agencies to use. But out of my office does come all of the AI terms and conditions that govern how contractors sell, so kind of neat, we don’t always get that recognition.”
Travis Hoppe, former chief AI officer (CAIO) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the AI Innovators in government award reflects the hard work the CDC has put into developing an AI strategy and a vision for the intersection of public health and emerging technologies.
“[What] I’m most proud about is that we have put together guidelines for our state, and county, and city jurisdictional partners, and tribal partners on maturity models for AI, and … agentic deep research for AI, and like these are the things that we should be doing as federal partners, and to like actually release them out is a huge accomplishment,” Hoppe told MeriTalk.
He gave a shout-out to Ben Rogers, acting deputy CAIO at CDC, and to everyone at the CDC for “doing an amazing, incredible job.”
AI Innovators – Industry
Kicking off the AI Innovators in the industry category, Dan Tadross, head of public sector at Scale AI, accepted the award.
“It’s certainly a recognition of all the work that Scale has done to help support accelerating the adoption of AI in the federal government,” Tadross told MeriTalk.
Guy Cavallo, chief innovation officer at Planet Technologies, also accepted the AI Innovators award, saying, “It’s great being part of a team that’s doing so much with AI across government.”
“I really appreciate MeriTalk recognizing the private sector that’s helping the government implement one of the most revolutionary technologies that we’ve ever had to,” Cavallo said. “It’s been great, and I appreciate receiving the award.”
Austin Keller, director of data science at IntelliDyne, was awarded the AI Innovators award in industry and said the achievement recognize work that happens on the backend and isn’t always visible. “[Our work] … doesn’t always get seen, except for the very little bit of front end work, so with all the movement, and AI, and all the time that it takes to keep up with what’s current, it’s nice to see this recognition come across.”
Cyber Defenders – Government
The Cyber Defenders award winners in government include Joshua Kossoy, director of the IT Infrastructure Operations Department at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
“It’s an honor to be nominated. It’s an honor to, obviously, to get the award. I’m really here because of my team, who supports me and makes me look good,” Kossoy told MeriTalk.
“It’s nice to be honored. IT professionals, especially in the government, have had a hard year … and it’s nice to have a moment to be recognized under these times. I’m grateful to my team for all of the support that I get from them, and for putting up with me. And my family too.”
Mark Gorak, the principal director for resources and analysis in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the Department of Defense (DOD) – rebranded to the Department of War – also received the Cyber Defenders award.
“I’m honored to receive an award from MeriTalk. It’s great to be recognized by an organization that brings industry and government together to solve our national challenges,” Gorak said. “I appreciate the recognition, and I appreciate us getting together for a common cause and a common mission.”
Cherilyn Pascoe, director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, was also recognized in the Cyber Defenders government category.
“It’s a great recognition of the hard work of our team to advance cybersecurity innovation, and we’re grateful to be able to share this with so many other wonderful federal leaders,” Pascoe said.
Cyber Defenders – Industry
Awarded the Cyber Defenders award in industry, Joseph Wingo, director of DOD business strategy at Armis, said that while he’s now two years into his retirement from the U.S. military, he’s “honored to kind of be recognized with our shifted mission from the military to the to the industry side in supporting cybersecurity, because it’s what I lived and breathed for 25 years.”
Also winning the Cyber Defenders award in industry is Curtis Arnold, chief scientist for cyber at Core4ce, who said the award “means a lot because it’s really a team contribution.”
“It’s really reflective of the team that works for me and focuses on a lot of the advances for the department and customers, and so I’d like to give a shout out to all my team, but especially Alex Bender and Grace, who helped to get here,” Arnold told MeriTalk.
Daniel Wilbricht, president of Optiv and ClearShark, said the Cyber Defenders in industry award “is not my award, this is an award for the entire organization.”
“I believe that our culture is our success, and our people make us who we are. You know, we do a lot in cybersecurity. The DOD and IC is our primary … focus area, and it’s the engineers, it’s the client directors, and it’s the backend system of the entire team that really make this award possible,” Wilbricht said.
Felipe Fernandez, federal CTO at Fortinet Federal, also took home the Cyber Defenders award in industry.
“This means a lot, not just to me, but to all of us at Fortinet Federal as a reflection of the hard work and dedication put forth by our team,” Fernandez said. “The mission to delight our customers is enough to keep us motivated, but this award adds welcome fuel to the fire.”