VP and CTO
IBM US Federal
He is responsible for IBM’s industry solution technology strategy in support of the U.S. Federal customer. Mr. Szakal was appointed IBM Distinguished Engineer and Director of IBM's Federal Software Architecture team in 2005. Before joining IBM in 1998, he was a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff within Bell Atlantic’s (Verizon) Federal Division and Broadband Systems. Mr. Szakal is an Open Group Distinguished Certified IT Architect, IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer and a Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP). Mr. Szakal leads a department of Architects and technical strategists responsible for designing and deploying solutions to enable smarter government by applying innovative approaches to secure service based computing and mission critical systems.
Mr. Szakal holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from James Madison University. He has been a driving force behind IBM's adoption of federal government IT standards as a member of the IBM Software Group Government Standards Strategy Team and the IBM Corporate Security Executive Board focused on secure development and cybersecurity. Mr. Szakal represents the IBM Software Group on the Board of Directors of The Open Group and currently holds the Chair of the IT Architect Profession Certification Standard (ITAC). More recently he was appointed chair of the Open Trusted Technology Forum and leads the development of the Open Trusted Technology Provider Framework.