Recognizing Women Who Make a Difference at OIT
As Women’s History Month 2023 draws to a close, we’d like to share the submissions we received when we asked OIT staff to tell us about women at OIT who have made a difference. Congratulations to those who were recognized and thank you to the staff who submitted names.
Nahideh Teymourlouei
Deputy Director, DMAM
Submitted by: Marlene Biggs, AMG, DSSM
Nahideh is CMS’s version of the Energizer Bunny and her enthusiasm is infectious. She fosters a no judgement environment…a let’s-all-jump-in and can-do attitude that is unsurpassed. It was my pleasure to work with her on the HETS CWF/BIC direct data transition. Her knowledge, recall memory, and direct approach were inspiring.
OIT needs more Nahidehs! She made you feel good about yourself and the work you were doing. You were praised for your efforts and never dwelled on the mistakes. I hope her positivity stays with me for the remainder of my career!
Deputy Director, DSPPO
Submitted by: Elizabeth Schweinsberg, Digital Services Expert, USDS
Leslie is the all-around font of knowledge for all things security and privacy policy. She is a force behind shepherding ADOs across CMS in upgrading from ARS 3.1 to 5.0, after leading the process for getting ARS updated to version 5.0.
Additionally, she is the driving force behind CyberGeek, aka security.cms.gov, which is improving knowledge management of all things security for ADOs and ISSOs at CMS. And, she is also available to help teams understand their privacy and SORN obligations to our beneficiaries and partners.
I want to acknowledge Leslie because she touches so many aspects of security and privacy processes at CMS, not just with ISPG or OIT, but across all the centers and offices. That kind of reach is rare, and inspirational.
Kris Bruscha
Director, DIMES
Submitted by: Elizabeth Schweinsberg, Digital Services Expert, USDS
Kris leads the DIMES team, owners of one of the most used Identity systems at CMS, not just internally but also by our partners such as hospitals and providers and people seeking health insurance from the Marketplace. She helps facilitate over 300 tools using IDM, getting new ones onboarded monthly. Additionally, Kris has been leading the team through strategic improvements to the division while empowering the team members to take on harder tasks.
I want to acknowledge Kris as an excellent partner whose every action seeks to improve the experience of both the users of DIMES’ products as well as the teams incorporating them into their applications.