OCIO will support achievement of USDA’s diverse mission areas by offering agile, world-class technology solutions to its stakeholders and applying innovative approaches to recruiting and developing a highly skilled workforce. The USDA OCIO develops, delivers and defends the business information technologies that empower every aspect of the USDA mission under the following leadership:
David Peters
Associate Chief Information Officer
Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC)
USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
David Peters was selected as Associate Chief Information Officer (ACIO) of USDA OCIO’s DISC organization in October 2020. In this role, David leads all enterprise hosting, enterprise network and enterprise cloud/application solutions.
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Prior to joining USDA, David served as the Deputy Executive Director, GSA Centers of Excellence (CoE) where he led all engagement operations from concept to completion. Under David’s leadership, the CoE initiative doubled in agency engagements and also increased both staff and business volume by 50%. David joined the GSA Technology Transformation Service (TTS) Centers of Excellence in November 2018 and led the CoE lighthouse engagement with the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this role, David led six IT Modernization teams comprised of 150 staff, contractors, and USDA detailees to drive enterprise transformation via cloud adoption, data analytics, contact center consolidation and increased customer experience management. The CoE initiative was launched with the sponsorship of the Office of American Innovation (OAI).
Prior to TTS, David split his career between government and private sector where he led multiple solutions development and solutions management/marketing teams. In an earlier position at GSA, David led telecommunication supplier engagement responsible for $3.5 billion annual in federal government purchases. As the leader of GSA’s Enterprise Mobility program and FSSI-Wireless, David was the Federal Government’s first Mobile Category Manager and was a 2014 Federal 100 award winner.
David joined GSA in 2010 after spending nearly 14 years with Verizon and AT&T, where he led industry solution development, sales teams and government marketing teams. David leverages his extensive commercial background in his approach to program development and management where customer-engagement is the most critical ingredient for success. David also served on the board for the Washington DC/Federal Government Chapter of the Independent Telecommunications Pioneers Association (ITPA) from 2015-2019 and received the 2018 ITPA Federal Government Excellence award.
David has an MBA with concentrations in marketing and information systems from Penn State and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. He lives in Fairfax Station, Virginia, with his wife and three sons and enjoys coaching baseball and basketball.
Victoria Kenyon Turley
Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Associate CIO
Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC)
USDA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
Victoria Kenyon Turley is the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Associate CIO (DACIO), Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC), Office of the CIO, USDA. She is operationally responsible for the Department’s Enterprise Cloud Services, Enterprise Hosting Solutions, Enterprise Application Services, Enterprise Digital Services, and Enterprise Network Services. Victoria has worked in USDA since 2009 leading Enterprise Data Center Operations and running mission critical Cloud services.
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Under Victoria’s leadership, the USDA’s DISC was the first to attain FedRAMP certification as a Federal shared service provider putting it on par with commercial cloud providers. During this assignment, Victoria was a member of the 2012 Cohort of the Excellence in Government Senior Leadership Development Program and is committed to providing exemplary public service in serving our US citizens in a secure, cost-effective, and innovative manner and leverages her prior experiences from the private sector.
In January 2018, Victoria partnered with the White House’s Office of American Innovation to modernize and optimize the USDA’s IT infrastructure. The USDA was selected as the first Federal agency to enter into such a partnership and the activities were used as a playbook for other agencies to pursue. As part of this partnership, Victoria successfully led the two and a half-year Data Center Optimization Initiative to consolidate 39 data centers across the country down to 2.
Prior to arriving at USDA, Victoria served in various IT executive positions in the private sector at CenturyLink, US Central Federal Credit Union, Sprint Wireless, OnThe.Net, and the Oak Ridge National Lab. Victoria, a native of Miramar, Florida, was commissioned as an Ensign through the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship program at Auburn University. She served as an Intelligence systems engineer in the active duty of the US Navy supporting the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency before entering the private sector.
Victoria has a M.S. in Systems Engineering and Artificial Intelligence from George Mason University and a B.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Auburn University. She lives in Melbourne, FL with her husband and has one son and two grandsons. She enjoys traveling the world, working out, playing golf, and any water activity.
Brandon Sifford
(Acting) Security Governance Division
Brandon Sifford began his federal service in 2008 and has been with DISC throughout his federal career. Brandon is the Acting Director of the Security Governance Division (SGD) and the Information Systems Security Manager (ISSM) for the USDA OCIO’s Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC), and is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems, networks, and data within DISC’s span of control. This includes providing guidance, coordinating security certification activities, and ensuring full compliance with federal standards, including FISMA, FedRAMP, DoD SRG, NIST Special Publications and System and Organizational Controls (SOC) compliance.
Jeff Claunch
Director, Enterprise Hosting Solutions Division
Jeff Claunch has been with DISC since 2001 and is currently the leader of the Enterprise Hosting Services Division, also known as EHS. He is responsible for a variety of PaaS/IaaS/SaaS services, all Enterprise Data Center facilities, critical data center infrastructure, 24x7 operations, help desk, operating systems, data base services, application services, compute (midrange/mainframe), storage, network, automation and hybrid cloud landing zones, such as PaaS and Managed Services. In addition, he is in charge of security governance.
John Donovan
Director, Enterprise Networking Services Division
John Donovan began his federal career in 1986 as a Hill staffer and served the House Armed Services Committee. John has been with USDA for 34 years, serving 13 years with the Food and Nutrition Service. John joined the CIO’s Office in 2001 and served as Special Assistant to the Chief Information and Deputy Chief Information Officer prior to his appoint in 2007 as USDA’s lead for network services.
Simone Rees
Director, Enterprise Applications Services Division
(Acting) Digital Service Center Division
Simone Rees is the Director for the Enterprise Applications Services Division (EASD) for the USDA OCIO’s Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC) organization. She is responsible for the provision of full spectrum innovative business and professional services used in developing, maintaining, and supporting enterprise-class business applications for the USDA and other Executive Departments of the U.S. Government.
David Grundy
Strategy Management and Complex Solutions Division, SMCS
Mr. David Grundy is responsible for designing and executing mission critical Cloud and other enterprise class IT solutions for the USDA within the Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC). He provides expert analysis and advice and develops solutions to solve business needs associated with agency-wide IT programs across multiple Executive Departments of the U.S. Government.
David Gatliff
(Acting) Financial Operations Division
Dave Gatliff is the Acting Director for the Financial Operations Division (FOD) for the USDA OCIO’s Digital Infrastructure Services Center (DISC) organization. He is responsible to ensure that DISC can provide customer solutions through partnership, planning, execution, and tracking of funds along with the required resources that deliver those solutions.
Steve Sanders
Director, Shared Services Division
Steve has served as the DISC’s Acting Director of the Business Operations Division since January 2022. This is a collateral delegation to his principal role as DISC’s Administrative Officer that he has carried out since August 2018. He joined the organization in May 2010 serving in many senior roles from senior principal advisor to the ACIO for strategic planning and process engineering to subject matter expert in Capital Planning and Investment Control. He began his career with USDA in April 1984.
Bryant Smith
Senior Advisor to the DISC Assistant Chief Information Officer (ACIO) and Deputy ACIO/Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Bryant Smith serves as the Senior Advisor to the DISC Assistant Chief Information Officer (ACIO) and Deputy ACIO/Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this distinguished role, he is responsible for providing strategic guidance and oversight on all workforce-related matters, including personnel affairs and workforce development. A key part of his mandate is the development and implementation of the DISC Human Capital Plan.
With a wealth of experience spanning over 26 years in federal service, Bryant brings an outstanding background in human resources to his position. His career encompasses active-duty service in the United States Marine Corps and an impressive tenure in several key departments such as the Department of Navy, Department of Justice, and Department of Interior Office of Inspector General.
Bryant joined the USDA in December 2011 and has since then made significant contributions to the organization through his expertise and dedication to fostering a well-rounded and robust workforce.