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The Secretary’s Award for Innovation 2023

The Secretary’s Award for Innovation recognizes individuals or teams that employ a strategic and enterprise-wide approach to strengthening the DHS mission and its operations. The nominees should exhibit an ongoing record of high standards of achievement and innovation. The work of the nominee(s) may have resulted in superior performance and/or significant operational improvements in the manner in which capabilities are developed and deployed. The nominee’s achievement/contributions should include maximizing the effectiveness of people, processes, and technologies; providing wise stewardship of resources; and enhancing the capabilities of Component/DHS employees.

Geoffrey Berry

Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Kyle Nester

U.S. Coast Guard

Stephen Styk

Science and Technology Directorate

Addressing the Threats to HBCUs

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

William Byrd
Kevin Fitzgerald
Jennifer Grissom
Sean Haglund
Guy Johnson
Richard McKee
John McKenzie
Bradley Smith
Jason Stewart
Curt Tilley

Advance Travel Authorization Team

Office of General Counsel

Esther Allred
Andrew Fausett
Adil Haq
Katherine Ruhs

Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Lori Vislocky

Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans

Casie Antalis
Daniel Delgado
Ihsan Gunduz
Mike Huston
Adam Hunter
Morgan Plumer

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Kathryn Anderson
Manpreet Dhanjal
Robert Mace
Avideh Moussavian
Shannon Slattery

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Mike Balero
Matthew Davies
Katrina Deyo
Monte Hawkins
Matthew Kim
Adina Pantella
Fran Swearengen

ATD Micro App Support Team

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Pargat Bajwa
Dustin Bell
Kamillah Connolly
Bobby Jerath
Alberto Ramirez
Jose Villafane
Kevin Wetzel
Jeffrey Wilson

CISA's School Safety Task Force

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Lindsay Burton
Don Hough
Aimee Manjarres
Heather Steege
Katie Ross
Ryan Streeter
Julia Treanor

CISM Counseling Service Portal Team

Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers

Vincent Fields
Sean McCue
Brandon Ridens
David Slusher
Brandon Spragins
Crystal Vazquez-Barrett

Detention Oversight Division

Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman

Akiyia Baines-Jackson
Christopher Brundage
Marjorie Ceant
Susan Collins
Amber Talian Corneiro
Melissa Corpancho
Adam Griffee
Joshua Grimm
Madeline Maysonet
Richard McCaffrey
Maryellen Meymarian
Richard Murphy
Melba Padilla
Emily Pukuma
Chiara Rodriguez
Edwin Rosado
Maciej Soboczynski
George Sullivan
Angela Williams

DHS Intelligence Mobile Application Team

Management Directorate

Anil Dewan
James Lanoue
Bruce Shortnacy
Courtney Winship

Office of Intelligence and Analysis

Stevie Davis
Max Lassiter
Tony Sanchious
Benjamin Stefano
Lori Vislocky

HACK DHS CVAS Integrated Program Team

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Christian Cosans

Management Directorate

Hemant Baidwan
Wendy Core
Amanda Day
Joan DeJesus
Anil Dewan
Sohl Han
Lawrence Knachel
Martha Palacio
Brenda Peterson
Matthew Ryan
Kazankina Stewart

Homeland Security Start-Up Studio Team

Science and Technology Directorate

Benjamin Henry
Megan Mahle
Jennifer Peters
Kalpana Reddy
John Rein

Litigation Modernization Team

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Tahani Afaneh
Philip Ambrosi
Jacqueline Bettis
Suzanne Carmody
Leah Carter
Jim Czerwinski
Amanda D'Angelo
Elaine Dismuke
Tracy Dolphin
Stacey Falkoff
Kimberly Finley
Jonathan Fleshner
Carollyn Jackson
Alexandria Kaphle
Tate Keenan
Joey Lonjers
Diana Mondragon
Gregory A. Moore
Stephanie Muffett
Marc Salvia
Christie Sharpe
Louisa Slocum
Stephanie West

MMI Team

Management Directorate

Laura Chewning
Sara Lettie

Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans

Scott Meeks
Nadwa Mossaad
Marc Rosenblum
Justin Schon

Science and Technology Directorate

Lorraine Castillo
Damian Garcia

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Kenneth Blanchard Jr.
Brandy Urbine

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Debra Rode

Operation Bulwark

U.S. Department of Justice

Andrea Surratt

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Matthew Closson
Christopher Johnston
Mark Martinez
Arran McWhirter
Robert Nieves
Adam Ouzer

PREA Team

Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

Elena Feroz
Tammany Kramer
Thomas Sharp
Annie Wong

R6 FMI Data Analytics Team

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Brian Bartley
John Bowman
Donald Broadwater
Rebecca Dake
Darrin Dutton
Lauren Fulton
John Garvin
Gilbert Giron
Jeremy Hughes
Sabaa Ismail
Nicholas James
Lisa Jennings
Justin McBride
John Miles
Pedro Perez
Trey Rozelle
Lee Schmidt
Michael Segner
Matthew Valentin
Braydon Williams
Loukisha Williams

Burden Reduction Team

Management Directorate

Dawn Barton
Dana Chisnell
Robert Dorr
Tyrone Huff
Yvette Jenkins
Jeff Mitchell

Office of General Counsel

Holly Allen
Christina McDonald

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Michael McManus
Rita Young

Streamlined Case Processing Team

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Toshanna Barnett
Shawn Benjamin
Eimee Cook
Matthew Davis
Kristopher Deaver
Bonnie Douglas
Melanie Egan
Jacqueline Eaton
Cassandra Gilbert
Guani Gomez
Pamela Hensley
Kouassi Honnoukpe
Michael James
Andrew Jensen
Michael Jeter-Boldt
Nathaniel Lanfranca
Michael Lewis
Hui-Lan Lin
Joseph Lipinski
Daniel May
Marie McGee
Ryan McGuire
Melissa Myers
Paul Novak
Julie Powers
Elfriede Roberts
Kathy Sepponen-Gosh
Terri Steele
Dawn Stephens
Marilyn Teunis
Leslie Tritten
Kellie Weir
Jennifer Wilson
Joseph Wrightman
Bin Xu
Michelle Young

Support Services Branch Acquisition Team

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Donald Carter
Shunte Gray
Parker Holloway
Deonna Johnson
Denise Lynch
Matthew Rabkin
Patrick Tarleton
Brenda Taylor
Edward Taylor

Tri-Bureau Digital A-File

Management Directorate

Kim Kern
Emily Lattanzi
Penny Pastiva
Martha Rosa
Alice Tam

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Dana Barber
Rafael Castro
Yentzu Chen
Marcy Cullen
Andrea Freiberger
Rudy Gomes
David Jennings
Paul Johnson
Ryan Koder
Damien Long
Gil McManus
Rob Paulette
Marques Richardson
Ron Sartini
Nick Steele
Tae Um
Larysa Yarmolenko

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Tawada Adams
Bonnie Arellano Seagrove
Erik Aubin
Emilia Bakopoulos
Alex Bastidas
Stephanie Cuevas
Michael Davis
Carrie Davison
Delorean Dhillon
Leigh Erbe
Mark Ficco
Mark Garrison
Adriane Harris
Nathaniel Johnson
Eric Lafferty
Matthew Lightner
Brian Lorimor
Rocio Mora
Jake Ortiz
Courtney Ray
Kenneth Simpson
Jason Thompson
Kelly Tumminelli
Timothy Tyler
Roberto Venegas

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Pargat Bajwa
Dustin Bell
Steven Chen
Erin Clifford
Kamilah Connolly
Madelyn Dempsey
Bobby Jerath
Manuel Ramirez
Ronald Seely
Christopher St. John
Jose Villafane
Kevin Wetzel
Jeffrey Wilson

TSA ESVP and I&A Parsing Tool Team

Transportation Security Administration

Lindsey Alazraki
David Baker
Josh Martin
Dan Sears
Erinn Wagner

TSA RAPID Cloud Deployment Team

John Bogers
Thomas Fealy
Kimberly Johnson
Aarika Lewis
Harender Marpu
Christopher McBroom
James Simoneau

 

USCG Base Galveston FAST Implementation Team

U.S. Coast Guard

Alexis Agaman
Chad Brick
Jessica Cramer
Megan Lange
Lauren Lukehart

USSS TSD eUAS Team

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Adam Jacoff

Science and Technology Directorate

Kai-Dee Chu

U.S. Secret Service

Latoya Armstrong
Jowone Avant
Robert Bryerton II
Andrew Burnett
Laura Conner
Justin Cosio
Brent Harris
Andrew Holcomb
Michael Reynolds
David Stoker
Christopher Taylor
Christopher Teschke
Jason Tucker

Last Updated: 04/14/2023
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