Change Agent

Robert Zitz (Chapter 12 of Leaders: Their Stories, Their Words) is retiring from the public service after more than 32 years of dedicated government service to his country. He held key positions as Deputy Director, Mission Support Directorate, The National Reconnaissance Office,  Deputy Associate Director at the United States Secret Service, and Deputy Under Secretary of Preparedness and National Protection & Programs at Department of Homeland Security to name a few.

In the book, we discussed what's next for him and, as he's retiring from government (but not retiring completely), our conversation will continue. Stay tuned...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the article that was written about his retirement, (got goeint - Chronicling the future of geospacial intelligence http://www.gotgeoint.com/archives/geoint-visionary-rob-zitz-retires-from-government-service/), USGIF President Keith Masback said "With all of that said, there seemed to be universal agreement during the ceremony and in the discussion afterwards, that Rob’s most critical lasting legacy may well be his devotion to developing the next generation of Intelligence Community leaders. He continuously mentored and developed young minds and inspired everyone he has come in contact with. Rob Zitz is truly a leader among leaders in the GEOINT community."

Rob has joined the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in the company's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Group as Senior Vice President and Chief Systems Architect. In this role, Zitz will help shape the group's solutions in airborne, maritime, national security space, and ground ISR programs, along with associated processing, exploitation, and dissemination  systems.  

He is a change agent in every sense of the word. In our conversation he spoke about what that means... "One of the lessons of a successful change agent is you've got to be good at visioning. You've got to be able to foresee the future and understand what the possibilities are. Visioning involves understanding the strategic changes that will irrevocably change your customers’ operating environment. These changes include threats, geopolitical shifts, economic trends, health issues, climate change, etc."

When I asked him what was next, Rob said "I'm talking now to the leadership of the intelligence community to see how I can continue to contribute. I expect to work on transformation, meaning helping to connect the dots inside the Intelligence community, the military community, the Homeland Security community, and law enforcement community. I expect I will continue to be in a position to help integrate and share information up, down, back and forth, and sideways." 

 We look forward to seeing how Rob writes this next chapter in his life.
_______________________________________________________________

SAIC is a FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health.  The company's approximately 41,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets.  It is headquartered in McLean, Va. (PR Newswire)

Not to be missed!

It's not often I write a post about an upcoming talk but in this case, I'm making an exception. My esteemed colleague and friend, John Lazar will be the guest on Global Abundance Alliance, Coaching For the New Millenium on Sunday, June 15th at 10:00 am Eastern (details below).

"Traditionally, we think of coaching as being confined to some athletic or physical endeavor such as sports or personal fitness. Fifteen, even ten years ago, coaching for individuals to produce success in their personal and business lives was virtually unheard of. Yet in today's world, coaching is credited with giving many people and companies that extra edge to attain top success in their field.

The Global Abundance Alliance is proud to present John Lazar, MA, MCC, a Professional Coach, for this month's Learning Leader Call. John describes himself as a "change agent with diverse experience in consulting and telecommunications industries." He is "committed to delivering solutions that develop competitive, agile organizations and productive, engaged teams and individuals."

Date: June 15, 2008
Time: 10-11:30 am ET, (7-8:30 am PT)
Conference Call: Dial - (712) 432-9998
Enter Access Code - 875617#

Don't miss it!

Best..
Donna Karlin

***Note re republishing my blog: Should you care to include all or part of any article from my weblog in one of your publications you have my permission to do so provided that you credit me for the material, mention where it was obtained and also my copyright. A suggested form might be "The above (or following) article is included with the permission of Donna Karlin betterperspective.blogspot.com and is Copyright ©2003-2008 by Donna Karlin. All rights reserved."