The Pragmatics Newsletter

8/10/2019 The Pragmatics Newsletter

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Volume 19 Issue 2 May 2014

Pragmatics, Inc. An Employee-Owned CompanyCMMI Level 5 ISO 9001ISO/IEC 20000-1 ISO/IEC 27001

2014 Pragmatics, Inc. All rights reserved. .

From the CBDO ............................................................................... 2PragmaticSERVES Supports Food for Others .................................

5

Pragmatics Sponsors AFCEA Homeland Security Conference ....... 6Pragmatics University Upgrade ....................................................... 6Pragmatics Hosts Fifth Take Your Child To Work Day ..................... 7Pragmatics Toastmasters Club ........................................................ 8Employee Spotlight .......................................................................... 9Michelle Geddes, New Director of HR ............................................. 9Pragmatics in the News ................................................................... 9Staying Safe and Secure on Social Media .................................... 10Michael Mauldwin Participates in Triathlon for Green Beret .......... 11Baby/Wedding/Family News .......................................................... 12Security Corner .............................................................................. 13New Employees ............................................................................. 13

EditorsLinda AlkireReynetta ForrestDr. Long Nguyen

ContributorsNicole CoxDerry GoberdhansinghMichael Mauldwin

Anne NozniskyRhea SimpsonRick Wilmoth

Design Nicole Cox

The Pragmatist addresses topics relevant to Pragmatics employees andcustomers. If you would like to contribute, please contact Linda Alkire [email protected].

The Pragmatist , Pragmatic Agility, and the Pragmatics logo are registeredtrademarks of Pragmatics, Inc. CMMI is registered in the U.S. Patent andTrademark Of ce by Carnegie Mellon University. All other company, braor product names mentioned herein are or may be trademarks or registeredtrademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

State of the Corporation Meeting

Pragmatics Names Sean CohanVice President, TSG

Pragmatics Welcomes Michelle Geddes

In This Issue

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From the CBDOChange is inevitable, and this is particularly true in todays government IT services market. As new challenges continueto arise, Pragmatics is proactively making strategic changes and investments to remain adaptable, competitive, andforward-focused.

For example, we are investing in our business intelligence and wireless networking capabilities as areas of futuregrowth. We also continue to re ne our business development and capture processes by adding greater rigor. have held several classes in proposal writing and review and have added these classes to Pragmatics University onSkillPort, where they are available to all employees.

Our executive team is always looking for ways to make Pragmatics a better company and to best meet the needs of ourclients. We have excellent processes and tools in place, but we can and will do more to ensure continued growthand greater improvement in all aspects of our business while maintaining the outstanding client satisfaction scoreswe recently received in a survey conducted by an independent rm. And our focus on client satisfaction, primprovement, and community engagement are core values that underlie everything we do as a company.

What can you do? Raise the bar: ask yourself how you can do better, bring the greatest value to the client, andhelp them solve their future challenges. Go the extra distance: remain focused on collaboration, innovation, strongteamwork, and enthusiasm. Continue to look for opportunities where we can provide new services to our clients. Lookfor the gap between what we and our competitors provide we want to identify and ll that gap.

I remain excited about the future and about how we can continue to deliver outstanding service and greater ef cieto our clients. With your help and support, we will do it!

Dr. Kim NguyenChief Business

Development Of cer

May 2014 2


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May 2014 3

Pragmatics Holds Annual State of the Corporation Meeting The annual Pragmatics State of the CorporationMeeting offers employees the opportunity to hearhighlights of the great service we provide our clientsand learn details about the companys successesduring the year. The 2014 meeting was held atcorporate headquarters in Reston, Va., on May 9.

Approximately 150 employees gathered on site,and many joined the meeting from offsite locationsvia WebEx.

Chief Operating Of cer Joe Brockkicked off the meeting with a welcometo employees. Brock, Chief BusinessDevelopment Of cer Dr. Kim Nguyen, and ChiefFinancial Of cer Mike Zaramba continued themeeting with a presentation focused on:

Company overview: the Pragmaticsvision, core values, and mission - ourcorporate brand; our competencies;our executives; and our of ce locations

Signi cant accomplishments of the past year:new and expanded customer engagementsand commitment to quality practices

Human resources and nancial news: keypersonnel, training, PragmaticSERVESactivities, and nancial highlights for the year

Thriving in the current government IT market:strategy and vision for the future

CEO and Founder Dr. Long Nguyen concludedthe presentation. Employees then participated ina question-and-answer session, followed by lunch.

CEO Dr. Long Nguyen and COO Joe Brock thankemployees for coming.

CBDO Dr. Kim Nguyen, COO Joe Brock, CEO Dr.Long Nguyen, and CFO Mike Zaramba answer

employees questions.

CFO Mike Zaramba addresses thecompanys nancial future.

CBDO Dr. Kim Nguyen discussesPragmatics strategy for future success.


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May 2014 4

Pragmatics Names Sean Cohan Vice President, TSG

On April 23, Sean Cohan was honored with a reception in recognition of hisnew role as Vice President, TSG. The reception was hosted at Pragmaticsheadquarters, with 20 managers and executives in attendance.

Cohans wife, Michelle, and daughter, Amber, also attended the reception.CEO Dr. Long Nguyen, COO Joe Brock, and Sean Cohan each spokeabout the signi cance of the occasion.

Amber and Michelle Cohan, COO Joe Brock, and CEO Dr. Long Nguyen join in a toast to Sean Cohan (center).

Vice Chairman Kimmy Duong presents owers to Michelle Cohan.

Pragmatics issued a press release on April 2announcing the appointment of Sean Cohanas Vice President of the Technology SolutionsGroup (TSG). In this role, Cohan providesoversight and direction for Pragmatics

corporate subject matter experts and thedelivery of consulting services across thecompany and in support of clients. He reportsto Chief Operating Of cer Joe Brock.

Cohan previously served as a technicaldirector in the Pragmatics Defense andIntelligence Solutions Division. His morethan 25 years of experience in softwaredevelopment was instrumental in Pragmatics

attainment of CMMI

Maturity Level 5, as well as in the development ofPragmatic Agility , our proprietary methodology which combines agiledevelopment with CMMI Level 5 practices.

Cohan joined Pragmatics in 2004 as a software architect and has since heldincreasingly responsible positions, including senior technical consultant.During that time, he led numerous initiatives that resulted in the improveddelivery of software solutions and contributed to Pragmatics growth.Prior to joining Pragmatics, Cohan served as a technical consultant forcompanies such as Texas Instruments, SITEL Technology Services, andNASD Regulations, Inc.

Brock said, I am extremely pleased to make this announcement. SeanCohans wealth of experience in software development and informationtechnology systems engineering for a broad range of government customersmake him a natural choice to lead TSG. He is an excellent addition to thePragmatics executive team, and we look forward to the innovative solutionsand strong leadership he will bring to TSG.


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May 2014 5

PragmaticSERVES Supports Food for OthersFrom March 17 through April 4, Pragmatics held a food drive to bene tFood for Others, a nonpro t organization that distributes food to families inneed in northern Virginia.

Pragmatics employees donated an impressive 898 pounds of food

(as well as a cash donation) to the organization. This was one of thelargest donations they have received recently, and the donations will helpunemployed and low-income families.

PragmaticSERVES thanks everyone who donated so generously to this greatcause. To donate to or learn more about Food for Others, vis it their website at:http://www.foodforothers.org/index.html.

Special thanks go to Trader Joes in Reston, Va.,for providing donation bags.

Pragmatics employees Nicole Cox and Dorin Groza unload donations at

the Food for Others warehouse in Fairfax, Va. Employees donated an impressive 898 pounds of food.


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Pragmatics Sponsors AFCEA Homeland Security Conference

May 2014 6

The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association(AFCEA) held its annual Homeland Security Conference at theRonald Reagan Building and International Trade Center fromMarch 10-12. Pragmatics was a sponsor of this years event,which focused on industry and government coming together todiscuss topics that affect homeland security.

Industry members and high-level decision makers from acrossthe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were on hand.Pragmatics was represented by Debra Fireline, Director ofPragmatics Federal Civilian Agencies (FEDCIV) Division;Chris Hegedus, Vice President and General Manager ofFEDCIV; Kimberly Gianni, IV&V Subject Matter Expert; DerryGoberdhansingh, Senior Manager, Business Development;Greg Kulms, Senior Project Manager; and Vickie McCray,Program Manager for a Department of State contact.

The conference offered a great opportunity to meet with keyDHS personnel, including:

Charlie Armstrong, Customs and Border Protection CIO Mark Borkowski, Component Acquisition Executive, Customs and Border Protection, and

Assistant Commissioner Of ce of Technology Innovation and Acquisition (OTIA) Margie Graves, DHS Deputy CIO Latetia Henderson, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Assistant Administrator of the

Of ce of Acquisition Luke McCormack, DHS, Chief Information Of cer (CIO) Sandy Peavy, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers CIO John Streufert, Director of Federal Network Resilience

There were numerous panels on trending topics such as mobility and interoperability, informationsharing, big data, and cybersecurity. Two panels held on the last day attracted the most attendees:the Procurement Executives Roundtable and the CIO Roundtable. These panels provided aninformative view of the DHS landscape challenges and future vision, as well as opportunities acrosseach component over the next several years.

The conference was a great success for Pragmatics; we made strides toward our goal of promotingPragmatics with industry and DHS executives.

Derry Goberdhansingh

Pragmatics Vice PresidentChris Hegedus poses a question

at the Procurement ExecutivesRoundtable.

P h o

t o C o u r t e s y o

f : M i c h a e

l C a r p e n

t e r

P h o

t o g r a p h y

Pragmatics University UpgradePragmatics upgraded environment of learningis coming your way!

The Pragmatics University SkillPort eLearningresource offers you the ability to control yourlearning seven days a week, 24 hours a day.We recently renewed our partnership withSkillsoft for the next three years, and weveupdated our content. We now have more than1,400 courses, 1,600 books, and 2,000 videosfrom which you can choose.

Pragmatics University SkillPort 8 will beavailable on June 6. The upgrade will providea new, easier-to-use interface and remove theexisting requirement for a Java browser plug-in requirement for most contents. The systemwill be easier for you to access.

Keep an eye on your Pragmatics email foradditional announcements regarding thisupgrade.

For more information on SkillPort,contact John OKeeffe, Training Manager,at (703) 890-8384 or via email [email protected].


7/14May 2014 7

Pragmatics Hosts Fifth Take Your Child To Work Day On April 24, Pragmatics held its fth Take Your Child to Work Day at Resheadquarters. Twelve children, aged four to 15, participated.

Take Your Child to Work Day is a nationally recognized event designed to givechildren insight into their parents careers and workplaces. The day promotes astrong work ethic and respect for work-life balance.

The event kicked off with breakfast and a presentation by CBDO Dr. Kim Nguywho talked to the children about the important work their Pragmatics parents doevery day. Praggy the Panther, the Pragmatics mascot, made a special visit andposed for photos with the children. Pragmatics Rapid Integration Test Environment(RITE) Lab Manager Alex Lyon gave the children a tour of the lab, describing thecomponents, what they are used for, and how the company utilizes the lab for ourwork with clients.

Chief Facility Security Of cer Rick Wilmoth concluded the activities witngerprinting demonstration.

RITE Lab Manager Alex Lyon (right) givesthe group a tour of the lab.

The children and CBDO Dr. Kim Nguyen pose for pictureswith mascot Praggy the Panther.

CFSO Rick Wilmoth answers questions about the importance ofsafety and ngerprints.


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Pragmatics Toastmasters Club

May 2014 8

In the April meetingof the PragmaticsToastmasters Club,participants learnedabout three versatileingredients used incooking, the dangersof a prescriptiondrug, and runninga marathon! Thedynamic rangeof topics that canbe discussed in aToastmasters meeting

is limited only by thespeakers imaginations. Speakers are encouraged to choose topics theyare passionate and knowledgeable about. With a diverse membership,a shortage of topics is never a problem; growth and new members arealways welcome.

Among the April participants was Chief Operating Of cer Joe Brock;the club thanks him for his time and attention. Norman Burnosky,Toastmasters Area 41 Governor, and our Division D Governor &Distinguished Toastmaster Lynn Wylde also attanded. Burnovsky andWylde have been great mentors as the club seeks to expand its membership.

The Pragmatics Toastmasters Club is dedicated to offering participantsa safe environment to improve their speaking and leadership skills.There is no pressure; everyone learns to give effective and inspiringspeeches at their own pace. Even if you do not engage in publicspeaking for your job or personal life, you will always encounterimpromptu conversations that can turn into exciting opportunities. InToastmasters you can develop the skills needed to conduct an intelligentconversation, including learning to be an effective listener and riddingyour speeches and conversations of words like um and uh, awkward

pauses, and other ller words. Most importantly, you will build relationshand have fun.

Meetings are held every fourth Tuesday from noon to 1:00 p.m. atPragmatics headquarters in Reston, Va., in the Oliver Wendell Holmes

Room (4-47). The May meeting is an exception and will be held May20 at noon. For more information, or for answers to any questions,please visit/post to the Toastmasters group on the corporate Yammernetwork (www.yammer.com/pragmatics); contact Rhea Simpson,([email protected]); or contact Kami Ferreira-Vidals (vidalskpragmatics.com). Even better, just attend a meeting guests are alwayswelcome!

Rhea SimpsonSpeaker Kami Ferreira-Vidals educates

participants about the dangers of a prescription

COO Joe Brock participates in Table Topics at the April meeting. This portion of the meeting strengthens impromptu speaking skills.


9/14May 2014 9

Im Anne Noznisky, and Im just a few monthsshort of ten years with Pragmatics. I have beenworking on site at the Of ce of the Comptrollerof the Currency (OCC) for the entirety of mytenure. I am fortunate to be part of the dedicated

software development team at OCC.

This team includes developers, testers,analysts, system architects, and databaseadministrators. Being a member of thissoftware team is the primary reason I haveremained in my position for such a long time.My background was in science and healthcare, and I could not have imagined workingin other disciplines, but I decided that it wastime to explore an unfamiliar area. Im happy

I changed course. In addition to learning more about the government andbank regulation, working at Pragmatics has afforded me excellent trainingopportunities. I recently received Scrum Master certi cation, and I havetaken advantage of a few online training courses as well.

I began working at Pragmatics in the summer of 2004 as a reports developer,which is the job I still hold today. Having at some point admitted to beingexperienced in Visual Basic and MS Access, I have been pulled fromreporting into maintaining some legacy applications on several occasions.Ive always managed to return to reporting.

At OCC our reporting team supports Supervisory Information System (SIS)Reports, a suite of reports used by bank examiners and analysts. We createreports for several OCC examiner applications written and maintained byPragmatics, including ExaminerView, which is the application used byexaminers for bank assessment input, and other applications, such asthose used for scheduling examiner work assignments

The technologies and development tools have changed over the past 10years. We have migrated the reports from an older platform to a Microsoft

report server, and we have automated many routine tasks. The roleof report developer demands a signi cant amount of data analysis andknowledge of OCC business rules. After 10 years, you cant help butabsorb some of these rules and attain in-depth knowledge of the data!

Employee Spotlight

Anne Noznisky

Michelle Geddes, New Director of HR Pragmatics in the News On April 2, Pragmatics issued a press release announcing the appointmenof Sean Cohan as Vice President of the Technology Solutions Group (seethe article on page 4). Washington Business Journal , Citybizlist , andWashington Technology featured mentions of this news.

Washington Business Journal included Pragmatics on its April 4 list oflargest Government Technology Contractors. Pragmatics was ranked atnumber 26 on the list.

Pragmatics extends a warm welcome to Michelle

Geddes, who joined the company on April 21 asDirector of Human Resources. Geddes has morethan 20 years of expertise in competencies includingtalent acquisition and retention, performancemanagement, policy and procedure design, trainingand development, and employee relations. She willprovide oversight for corporate security and trainingin addition to human resources activities, and she isa great addition to the corporate management team.

Geddes previously served as Director of HumanResources and Administration for ProSol. She hasa masters degree from American University and abachelors degree from Marymount University.


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Staying Safe and Secure on Social MediaSocial media is a fun way to connect with friends and family. Its an easyway to share pictures and life events.

Although social media is fun, many people use it for criminal purposes.You might wonder how someone could bene t from hacking an account,

other than posting something embarrassing.If a hacker can get into your Facebook or other social media account, theycan post links that contain malware and viruses. This is why it is importantto question the validity of links before you click on them. Ask yourself,Would my friend post this? Does this sound like a real website? Does thispost look like an ad? Does this URL look correct? If you think the post issuspicious, dont click on it. Ask your friend if they posted the link or if theirsocial media account has been hacked.

Hackers cannot only post malware on your page, they can also nd out allinformation youve made private, such as your full name, birthday, familyinformation, phone number, and where you live. This information can beused to steal your identity and open credit cards in your name. If youhavent made this information private, you should.

Here are some tips to make it harder for someone to steal your identity andinformation from your social media:

Dont put your phone number on your page. People can contact youthrough direct messages or ask you for your number if they need it.

Make sure you actually know the people from whom you acceptfriend requests. Just because you might have an acquaintance incommon doesnt make the requester trustworthy, and accepting afriend request from a stranger allows them to learn more about you.

Have a privacy setting that enables only your friends to see your fullpro le.

Dont post the city or town you live in. Instead, post a generalized area(e.g., instead of saying Reston, Va., say you live in the D.C. area).

Do not post a picture of your home with a visible house number. Even ifyou cant read the numbers, there are programs and software that canenhance the picture enough for the numbers to be legible. If you havealready posted where you live, even just the city or town, and a pictureof the front of your home, someone can nd your address.

Have secure login information. Make sure your password and usernameare not something people can guess. If your pro le notes that you are Redskins fan, do not use the password skinzfan. Do not have the emailaddress you use to sign in displayed on your pro le (it is half of your loginformation). Do not use the same login information for everything. Ifsomeone gets the login information for your social media and you have thesame login information for everything, that means they can get into youre-mail, your online bank account, and all other sites where you log in withthat information.

Spyware and malware can be hidden in advertisements, games, and third-party apps on social media. Think before you click on ads and apps; thecompanies are not vetted before they put their ads and products on thesite. Third-party apps and games can also spy on you and steal yourinformation. Read the terms and conditions of the apps and games youhave on your social media. Many of the third-party apps terms of use notethey need to have access to the information in your account. They canthen sell your information to other companies or use it themselves.

When it comes to social media, be aware that sometimes less is more. Becareful how you use it.

Nicole Cox

May 2014 10


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Nitya Addagada

Principal test engineer SarithaChebrolu and her husbandSreekanth Addagada welcomed adaughter on February 10. Nitya

Addagada weighed six pounds,three ounces, and she was 19.7inches long. Congratulations fromPragmatics!

Baby and Wedding News

William Erskine

Bill Erskine placed rst in the Golf Association of Philadelphia WinterSeries in the Senior Amateur class.Bill, a Senior Foreign Military Sales

Analyst on the Iranian Litigationprogram, he began gol ng whenhe was 15.

Nicole Kranyak

Pragmatics congratulatesMarketing Associate NicoleKranyak and Michael Cox on their

April 18 marriage. The weddingtook place at Stevenson Ridge inSpotsylvania, Va., with 100 friendsand family members in attendance.The happy couple has not yetplanned their honeymoon.

Family NewsPragmatics congratulates Whitney Burks, daughter of NAVTAC SeniorCon guration Management Of cer Orlanda Burks, on her acceptance an athletic scholarship for Stanford University. Whitney is a senior at SouthCounty High School in Virginia and signed her National Letter of Intent inNovember.

Whitney will graduate next month with an impressive 4.3 GPA. In 2013 sheearned second place in a regional science fair and was recognized for herproject by the Central Intelligence Agency.

She is the rst player at South CountyHigh School in Lorton, Va., to hit a homerun during a game. Whitneys high schoolteam reached the Virginia Northern Re-gion softball semi nals in 2011-2013. Sheis also part of community softball league,the Vienna Stars.

Whitney received offers from colleges nationwide including Alabama,Boston College, Harvard, Notre Dame, Penn State, Purdue, UCLA, UNC,University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Point, and Yale. She plans onmajoring in either physics or engineering at Stanford. Orlanda Burks son,

Oren, recently complet-ed his freshman year atVanderbilt University ona football scholarship.

May 2014 12

Whitney Burks (frontrow, center) is joinedby her grandparents,her parents, and her

aunt during her signingceremony for Stanford

University. Burks father,Orlanda (second row,

left), is NAVTAC SeniorCon guration Manage -

ment Of cer.


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AccomplishmentsSecurity Corner

October 2012 4 January 2014 13

New Employees

Kori Green, ITIL Strategist on a Department ofState contract, spends some of his free timecoaching indoor track and eld for FrederickDouglass High School in Maryland. Greens

boys team, the Eagles, recently won the titlein the Prince Georges County Indoor Trackand Field Championships. Green notedthat he was extremely proud of his team.Pragmatics salutes him for his leadership andcommitment to young people and athletics.

Richard AbbeyGerald AmesTroy Boyer Eric BrownPatrick BrownLamont DavisRichard Forshner Michelle Geddes

Dana Grant

Troy GreenRachel HallinanSam HouraniNeelesh KatiyarMahesh Kumar Kishore NakkaLee Neher John NelsonSrinivas Rayala

Mark Reed Aldo RojasJoseph Schauder Steven StarkShaun WalshDiana Wilkins

Aaron Wright

Pragmatics welcomes the following new employees to our team:

A security policy is only as good as theemployees who follow it. A recent study ondata breaches reveals many employees failto adhere to security policies from a lack ofunderstanding and poor communications

from their security departments. Anotherstudy found that more than half (54percent) of employees dont always followtheir companys security policies, leavingthe security of sensitive data at heightenedrisk.

While technology is one aspect of informationsecurity, the real challenge is managing thehuman side. Today there are more threats,vulnerabilities, portable storage devices, andincreased mobility than ever. This means

educating employees about security is more dif cult, demanding, andnecessary.

U.S. technology is targeted by foreign nations; it is less expensive to useexisting technology than it is to develop something new. This technologythreat pertains to classi ed, sensitive, protected, company proprietary,and other unclassi ed protected information.

How do we make sure Pragmatics and our customers information assetsare protected? The rst line of defense is employee awareness thecritical human-ware component of our information security armor. While

our formal security policies have their place, they have little value unlessemployees understand their responsibilities and the rationale behind ourrules.

A more security-aware workforce can mean the difference betweenan employee preventing the next data breach and becoming the nextbreach. Dont put your organization at risk. Review Pragmatics SecurityPolicies and Procedures, which are available on the corporate intranet,or contact the Security Of ce at [email protected].

Rick WilmothCFSO


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Practical. Reliable. Secure.

1761 Business Center DriveReston, VA 20190P: 703-890-8500F: 703-438-1779www.pragmatics.com

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