GovCIO Media & Research Federal Tech Leaders Flywheel Awards 2026

The Flywheel Awards recognize accomplishments by federal employees and programs that transform and innovate federal technology. At this year's Federal Tech Leaders Summit, we will be presenting the Flywheel Leadership Award.

This award recognizes federal technology leaders who are moving government forward. These honorees embody the vision, collaboration and dedication to drive meaningful progress across the federal technology landscape. They strengthen agency missions and help shape the future of technology in government.

All Flywheel Leadership Award finalists can be viewed here.

The Federal Tech Leaders Summit Flywheel Nominees

Megan Baird

Acting Administrator, Office of Apprenticeship, Employment and Training
DOL

Natalie Buda Smith

Director of Digital Strategy (AI)
Library of Congress

Sylvia Burns

CIO
FDIC

Sean Cairncross

National Cyber Director
White House

Brian Campo

Deputy CIO
Coast Guard

Jeff Claunch

Director, Enterprise Hosting Solutions
USDA

Susan Davenport

Chief Data and AI Officer
Department of the Air Force

Kirsten Davies

CIO
DOW

Dr. Josh Denny

CEO, All of Us
NIH

Jothi Dugar

CISO
NIH CIT

Jacob Glassman

Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology Foundations
DOW

Ty Hughes

Director of Cyber Security Integrity Center
State

Tom Keane

National Coordinator for Health IT
ONC

Chris Kraft

CIO
Secret Service

Chris Kuang

Director
U.S. Digital Corps

Mangala Kuppa

CIO and CAIO
DOL

Niki Maslin

CAIO and CTO
EPA

Kevin Murphy

Acting CDO and CAIO, Chief Science Data Officer
NASA

Vu Nguyen

CISO
DOJ

Jill Reilly

Acting Chief Innovation Officer
NARA

Amy Ritualo

Acting CAIO
State

Zack Schwartz

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology
VA

Stephanie Shutt

Chief of Staff
GSA FAS

Rangam Subramanian

Filing Season and Legislative Delivery Resource Director
IRS

Barry Tanner

Deputy CIO
Department of the Navy

Justin Ubert

Director, Cyber Protection
DOT

John Wagner

Chairman
National Laboratory Directors' Council

Joseph Welch

Executive Director for Transformation and Training Command
Army

Seth Whitworth

Acting Associate Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Cyber and Data, Acting CISO
Space Force

The efforts of the entire team continue to drive CORA to rapidly adapt to new threats and vulnerabilities in ways that were not possible with CCRI. The remediations of key indicators of risk during the assessment have expedited the most important fixes by leaps and bounds.

Charles Wille, JFHQ-DODIN

Cyber Defender 2025 Winner |

Our team and people across Navy and Marine Corps are working to modernize systems and capabilities for our Marines and sailors. Because, at the end of the day, getting them the capabilities that they need is the only thing that matters to us. We just want to make them the winners.

Beth Caswell, Department of the Navy

Digital Transformer 2025 Winner |

Data is a team sport and there are several airmen and guardians in the room. I thank each and every one of you because we wouldn’t be where we are today without every single one of you making data a part of your core DNA and everything that you do every single day.

Eileen Vidrine, Air Force

Data Advocate 2024 Winner |

As I accept this award for Interoperability Leader, a lot of people ask me what credentials do I have and what training did I have? And I simply say passion. ... I also say there’s a lot of i’s in interoperability: there’s innovation, ingenuity, intelligence, there’s industry, there’s not be willing to say that we innovate in silos and then there’s raising a hand and saying I want to help.

Amanda Cournoyer, Department of Veterans Affairs

Interoperability Leader 2023 Winner |

The Federal Tech Leaders Summit Flywheel Leadership Award