GovernmentExecutive.com

Education: Leo Kornfeld

LEO KORNFELD

Education Department

7th & D Sts. S.W., ROB 3 #4682

Washington, D.C. 20202

Phone: 202-708-8391

Fax: 202-708-7157

E-mail: leo_kornfeld@ed.gov

Career Highlights:

1994-96: Senior adviser to Education Secretary

1993-94: Deputy assistant secretary for student financial aid programs, Office of Postsecondary Education

1989-93: Vice president for enrollment planning, Pace University

1986-89: President of True Basic, a software firm in Hanover, N.H.

IT Budget (fiscal years):

1996: $316 million

1997: $407 million

1998: not available

Priority Projects:

• Education Web Site - evolving from online library to interactive environment for completing applications and providing feedback.
• Year 2000 Compliance.
• Strategic Planning - determining how Education can use information technology to do its work better.

Biggest Challenges:

"Figuring out how to accomplish many tasks with limited resources. It's very hard to convince my colleagues that investing our limited dollars in technology, which represents large up-front costs, will result in greater costs savings in the future."

Management Approach:

"We are creating an IT strategic plan that will provide the groundwork for development of systematic, Education-wide standards for capital planning, investment management and performance measurement."

On CIOs:

"Until CIOs can point to specific projects with real outcomes, they will be just another level of bureaucracy."

Hottest Technologies:

"Education is exploring new ways to use Internet technology to better communicate with our customers and improve the way we do business. We will take advantage of advances in Web security to enhance our application and data collection activities."