U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on C-SPAN Washington Journal program 9/07/2016 indicating that one of the major issues in lack of proper administration of the agency was that the financial management software still being used was written in COBOL "which I wrote with in 1971 while going to West Point". Robert McDonald was brought in from Proctor & Gamble to lead VA on 7/30/2014. His statement on the use of antiquated management software by Veterans Affairs Dept. like COBOL is at 15min 40sec to 16 min. 20 seconds of the interview below: https://www.c-span.org/video/?414224-2/washington-journal- veterans-affairs-secretary-robert-mcdonald I have also seen statements he made in testimony to Congress about the antiquated use of COBOL software at the VA contributing to the lack of accountability before.Does anyone in this group know the extent of the US federal government's use of software still written in COBOL? Also an interesting story to pursue is that VA Secretary Robert McDonald brought in LaVerne Council as an Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer for the VA in July 2015. She had been a corporate vice president and Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson and is a black woman with one of the most senior positions in Information Technology in the country. Brief info on her is at: http://www.va.gov/opa/bios/bio_council.asp It seems like this would be an interesting story on diversity in the IT field to pursue. I have copied some of her bio below as a possible incentive for someone looking for a topic in the diversity and technology field to pursue. Clarence Townsend; Eugene Oregon Email: clarence1234@gmail.com LaVerne H. Council Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer, Office of Information and Technology [image: LaVerne H. Council Official Biography Image] Ms. LaVerne H. Council joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in July 2015 as the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology (OI&T) and Chief Information Officer. In this role, Ms. Council oversees the day-to-day activities of VA’s $4 billion IT budget and over 8,000 IT employees to ensure that VA has the IT tools and services needed to support our Nation’s Veterans. Prior to joining VA, Ms. Council served as CEO of Council Advisory Services, LLC and Chair of the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes. In December 2011, she retired from Johnson & Johnson after serving as Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson’s global Information Technology group. In this capacity, she was responsible for managing information technology and related systems for the $61.6B Johnson & Johnson worldwide enterprise. She was a Member of the Corporate Global Operating Committee and her organization included more than 250 operating companies with over 4,000 information technology employees and 7,000 contractors. Ms. Council is a proven visionary senior executive with global experience in the development and execution of cutting-edge information technology and supply chain strategies in the healthcare/life sciences, consumer products and telecommunications/hi-tech industries. In 2011, Ms. Council received the Alumni Business Achievement Award from Ernst & Young. Business Trends Quarterly named her as one of the top four CIOs in America in 2010. The New Jersey Technology Council inducted her into their CIO Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Global CIO Executive Summit named her a Top 10 Leader and Change Agent in 2009 and a Top 10 Leader and Innovator in 2008. CAREER CHRONOLOGY: 2015 – Present Assistant Secretary, Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs 2012 – 2015 CEO, Council Advisory Services, LLC 2011 – Present Chairperson of the National Board of Trustees, March of Dimes Foundation 2006 – 2011 Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Johnson & Johnson 2000 – 2006 Global Vice President for Information Technology, Global Business Solutions and Development Services, Dell, Inc. Ms. Council was also a partner with Ernst and Young and led the company’s Global Supply Chain Strategy practice. She also held leadership positions focusing on infrastructure engineering, networking, security and enterprise application interfaces. EDUCATION: 2010 Doctorate of Business Administration, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 1986 Master of Business Administration, Operations Management from Illinois State University, St. Normal, IL 1983 Bachelor of Science in Business, Western Illinois University, Macomb,the