When President Obama and the White House Communications Agency needed a state-of-the-art conference facility, with little time and resources available, they knew where to turn – Scott MacDonald and the Koniag Technology Solutions (KTS) team.
MacDonald is a project manager for KTS who provides technical programmatic support to the Presidential Communications Modernization Program Management Office, White House Communications Agency (WHCA). The challenges were many, as the project had to incorporate the latest communications technology into the facility and the team had to operate under pressing deadlines, with an impending conference scheduled to take place at the new facility.
The KTS team, led by MacDonald, didn’t flinch at the challenge. MacDonald combined his skills of managing resources, coordinating extensively with stakeholders, providing technical oversight and keeping his team motivated to complete the project prior to the conference. In a testament to KTS, the project was not only completed on time and on budget, it has become a beacon of innovation for others to emulate.
In advance of the conference, the senior national security staff arrived to set up their command post. They immediately commented on the capabilities of the new technologically advanced and highly capable facility. The most significant compliment to MacDonald came from President Obama himself. After entering the new conference facility, the President said, “This is a nicer conference room than the one I have. How come I don’t have one like this?”
The president’s comments are significant and stand as a demonstration of the superb quality of work provided by MacDonald and the KTS Team. WHCA and Koniag leadership held a ceremony July 18, 2012 at the new facility and expressed their gratitude to MacDonald for a job well done.