During a fireside chat, CISA Chief of Strategy Valerie Cofield highlighted ways CISA is helping federal agencies meet the zero trust mandate laid out in Executive Order 14028 by communicating regularly and using the Technology Modernization Fund to help federal agencies modernize securely. Cybersecurity depends on communication and partnership, she said.

Department of Veterans Affairs Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office Acting Deputy CIO Laura Prietula argued that women looking to pursue positions in IT should request salaries and compensation based on what they believe they’re worth — not based on previous salaries. Between the gender pay gap and motherhood penalty, women need to advocate for the value they bring and get compensated accordingly, Prietula said.

Lt. Gen. Mary O’Brien, recently confirmed to be the new CIO for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, encouraged women to adopt a problem-solving approach and not limit themselves if they want to pursue motherhood and national security careers. She told the story of how she learned to manipulate older technologies such as floppy disks and worked with limited bandwidth and data storage so she and her children could stay in touch with her deployed husband, which became a theme in how she approached her work as well.

O’Brien called on women leaders in government to speak up and make themselves available to inspire and mentor younger women and show them different ways to serve in government, even if they don’t meet all the qualifications for certain positions. For example, women with liberal arts degrees or with ADHD can still serve in DOD, she said.

Army DEVCOM is working toward making work more accessible with its future of work initiative, the agency’s CTO Charneta Samms added. DEVCOM is looking to hire across the country and collaborating with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to tap hubs of innovation.