Zielinski departure triggers leadership changes at GSA

By Mark Rockwell

By Mark Rockwell

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As Bill Zielinski prepares to leave GSA to be Dallas CIO, his departure has set up a series of leadership changes at GSA.

"For other agencies, that are directly involved in the response effort, such as the Small Business Administration and Health and Human Services, or Treasury, they may have been busy before, but they're even busier during the response," he said. "Clearly that made them have to think about where they were putting their energies."

NOTE: This story was first published by FCW.com.

The General Services Administration is shifting personnel to fill in as its top IT category manager prepares to depart.

Bill Zielinski, GSA's current assistant commissioner of the Information Technology Category for the Federal Acquisition Service told FCW in a May 20 interview that he will become the Dallas CIO on June 8.

Zielinski said his last day at GSA will be June 5. He announced his move in an internal agency email in late April, saying he was leaving to take a new position for a large city in the western U.S.

As Zielinski leaves, GSA is adjusting ITC and Office of Telecommunications Services (OTS) personnel. OTS oversees the GSA's $50 billion, next generation Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions telecommunications contract and the adoption of the new contract by federal agencies.

On June 7, current ITC deputy assistant commissioner for category management Laura Stanton, will step into Zielinski's position in an acting capacity. The agency also tapped Vera Ashworth, vice president at CGI Federal, to become deputy assistant commissioner for ITC on May 26.Those moves were unveiled in late April.

Additionally, according to an internal May 18 staff email from OTS Director Allen Hill obtained by FCW, Tracey Malick, current OTS deputy director, will become OTS acting executive director. Hill said he will become acting deputy assistant commissioner for Category Management.

According to the memo, Brad McCall will become director of the Telecom Management Support Division, serving in Malick's previous role.

Fred Haines, will serve as OTS acting deputy director and Maria Filios will serve for 120 days as the acting director of the Supplier Engagement Division, temporarily filling in for Haines.

Zielinski told FCW that federal agencies' response to the pandemic has shown the value of IT modernization.

"What we're seeing during the response has shown pandemic is a mixed bag," he said. "For some agencies, we've seen little to no impact in terms of their day to day operations. For some agencies, especially for those who had moved early on with EIS and awarded contracts and had things scheduled, we're not seeing a lot of impact," he said.

"There was also a portion of agencies who weren't as prepared for things like telework or remote work and from a normal operations perspective we may have been seeing some slowing of activity as they addressed the immediate operational impacts," Zielinski said.

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