Kathleen M. Adams

Biography

Kathleen Adams is the former senior vice president and director of the Civil Government Sector at SRA International. SRA, which was acquired by Computer Sciences Corporation in 2015, was a leading provider of information technology services and solutions to clients in national security, civil government, and health care and public health. She was responsible for the management, performance and growth of all of SRA’s civil and health business. SRA’s Civil Sector provided management consulting, program management, and information technology solutions to assist clients in achieving their missions. Under her leadership, the Civil Sector business at SRA attained over 25 percent organic growth each year as well as increased profitability each year. She also developed and oversaw corporate-wide initiatives to improve SRA’s position in the marketplace, including identifying candidate companies for acquisition and participating in due diligence efforts. Before joining SRA in September 1999, Ms. Adams was the assistant deputy commissioner for Systems at the Social Security Administration (SSA). She was responsible for overseeing all information technology to support Social Security’s programs. This included managing all activities relating to strategic planning; design, development and integration of applications; and the information technology infrastructure, including telecommunications and systems operations. These systems accounted for more than one quarter of the United States budget and touched the lives of all Americans. Before serving as the assistant deputy commissioner, Ms. Adams was the associate commissioner for Systems Design and Development. Throughout her federal government career, she held a variety of technical and managerial positions in information systems, operations, and budget components in SSA and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Ms. Adams is active in Women in Technology and the Industry Advisory Council (IAC), and served as the program chair of the IAC Executive Leadership Conference. She served on the Enterprise Systems Board of Directors for the Information Technology Association of America, and was the chair of the e-Gov Task Group of this association. She was a member of the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion and served as the chair of the Benefit Payment Sector Group of that Council as well as the chair of the federal chief information officer’s Year 2000 Committee. She chaired the Information Technology Technical Commission of the International Social Security Association and served on the Office of Management and Budget’s Information Technology Resource Board. Ms. Adams was also a member of the Harvard Policy Group, which addressed ways to use technology to improve delivery of services at all levels of government. Ms. Adams has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive, SSA Commissioner’s Citations, and awards from Government Computer News, the Federal Executive Board, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Senior Executives Association Achievement Award. She was selected by Federal Computer Week to the Federal 100 and received the prestigious Eagle Award in 1997 from Federal Computer Week. She was Government Computer News’ Executive of the Year in 1999. She also received the Leadership Award from Government Executive Magazine. Ms. Adams was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received her BA from the University of Maryland. She completed the Program for Senior Managers at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

Research Interest

 Business & Organisational Development  Management