[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 137 (Wednesday, November 12, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE LEADERSHIP OF MR. SONNY HASHMI IN ADVANCING INNOVATIVE 
  TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES THAT ENHANCE CITIZEN SERVICES, SAVE TAXPAYER 
   DOLLARS, AND PROMOTE BEST PRACTICES ACROSS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

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                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 12, 2014

  Mr. CONNOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and congratulate my 
constituent, Mr. Sonny Hashmi of Oakton, Virginia for being selected as 
a 2014 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalist in the 
management excellence category.
   The nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service presents 
the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals annually to pay tribute 
to America's dedicated civil servants. These prestigious medals honor 
and celebrate an esteemed group of Federal employees that have achieved 
significant accomplishments in the course of serving their country. 
Honorees are public servants who represent a broad and diverse array of 
disciplines and career fields. All nominees exemplify the ideal Federal 
employee with respect to their strong commitment to mission, and the 
creativity and spirit of innovation each brings to his or her 
respective agency.
   Mr. Hashmi serves as the Chief Information Officer for the United 
States General Services Administration, or GSA. In this role, Mr. 
Hashmi is responsible for managing GSA's $600 million information 
technology budget and ensuring that GSA's IT initiatives effectively 
align with the agency's strategic goals and government-wide leadership 
responsibilities in key areas, such as information security and 
enterprise architecture efforts.
   According to the Partnership for Public Service, Mr. Hashmi was 
instrumental in launching GSA's groundbreaking ``Drive to the Cloud'' 
initiative. This program enabled GSA to lead by example in becoming the 
first agency to transition its email services to a cloud-based 
platform, along with its collaboration and documents management tools. 
It is projected that these two migrations from legacy systems to cloud-
based platforms will result in $15 million in savings for the agency by 
2016.
   Under Mr. Hashmi's visionary leadership, GSA has also worked to 
ensure its lesson learned and best practices permeate across the 
Federal Government, and it is a testament to Mr. Hashmi's success that 
each year, additional agencies follow GSA's blueprint and guidance in 
moving to embrace shared services and innovative cloud-based solutions.
   Mr. Hashmi represents precisely the type of Federal Chief 
Information Officer our government desperately needs more of. I fully 
concur with GSA Administrator Daniel Tangherlini's recent observation 
that, ``Sonny not only fixes problems, but also provides newer and 
better solutions. He is a leader in the best sense. He is all about the 
outcome and builds a team that shares that desire.''
   Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our highest 
praise and congratulations to Mr. Sonny Hashmi for being selected as a 
finalist for the 2014 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Management 
Excellence Medal. Mr. Hashmi and his fellow nominees all boast 
impressive accomplishments, from working to eradicate polio in India to 
landing an exploratory vehicle on Mars to saving the Air Force more 
than $1 billion in 2012 by reducing energy consumption. It has been my 
great privilege and honor to represent Mr. Hashmi and the tens of 
thousands of exceptional Federal workers who hail from Virginia's 11th 
Congressional District. Each one deserves our gratitude and respect.

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