[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 155 (Tuesday, December 6, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THANKING CATHERINE (CATHY) BRICKMAN FOR HER SERVICE TO THE HOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ROBERT W. NEY

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 6, 2005

  Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, on the occasion of her retirement on January 
16, 2006, we rise to thank Ms. Cathy Brickman for 25 years of 
distinguished service to the United States House of Representatives. 
Cathy has served this great institution as a valuable employee of House 
Information Resources, in the Office of the Chief Administrative 
Officer.
  Cathy began her tenure with the United States House of 
Representatives in November of 1980 as an applications analyst in the 
House Information Systems group. Cathy's potential and drive were 
recognized early in her career, resulting in her steady progression to 
positions of increasing responsibility. During the first 15 years of 
her career she developed the requirements for the House's first 
Correspondence Management System and led the development of the House's 
first local area network. She was also detailed to the Speaker's 
Special Task Force on the Development of Parliamentary Institutions in 
Eastern and Central Europe. On this detail she worked in country in the 
Parliaments of 11 Eastern, Central European and Baltic countries and 
Russia to implement information technology systems.
  Her last 10 years were spent as team leader, Network Configuration 
Management for House Information Resources and she continued to be a 
key member of many important information technology projects in the 
House. During this time she supervised a team of 17 network 
communications specialists responsible for configuration and support of 
the House's large, enterprise data communications network consisting of 
20,000 network devices. She was the Contracting Officer's 
representative for all of the House's Wide Area Network--Internet--
communications services and in this capacity she authored multi-year, 
multi-million dollar contracts. Cathy also managed the expansion of the 
House's Flagship Frame Relay service and started the implementation of 
Gigabit Ethernet replacement for the legacy ATM campus data network.
  Cathy's leadership while serving the United States House of 
Representatives has been superior. During the October 2001 anthrax 
incident, as House Members and staff were forced off-site, Cathy was a 
key contributor to the efforts to ensure alternate site data networks 
were rapidly set up. Her standard of excellence, dedication to 
passionate customer service, organizational skills, professionalism and 
ability to get the job done earned Cathy the Distinguished Service 
Award, the Chief Administrative Officer's highest honor, in September 
2003. Cathy is admired by the people she led and appreciated by those 
she served.
  On behalf of the entire House community, we extend congratulations to 
Cathy for many years of dedication and outstanding contributions to the 
United States House of Representatives. We wish Cathy many wonderful 
years in fulfilling her retirement dreams.

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