Speakers

Mark DeNicuolo is the Vice President of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Program Management Organization (PMO) within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO). The PMO provides program and acquisition management for the FAA infrastructure programs that transform, modernize and sustain the National Airspace System (NAS), including Air Traffic Operations, Mission Support Systems and Business support systems.

The PMO also holds responsibility for service life extensions to legacy NAS sensors, communications and navigation aids. Given the tight coupling between successful automation program delivery and current system operation, the PMO also leads and manages second-level automation engineering efforts. Lastly, the PMO works with FAA operations and aviation
users to ensure globally interoperable NextGen solutions.

Mark assumed the position of Vice President in September 2021 after serving as Acting Vice
President for six months. Prior to being named Vice President, he served as Deputy Vice
President for more than two years.

Before joining the PMO, Mark served as the Director of Safety, where he was responsible for
ensuring NAS safety through reporting, mitigating and monitoring risk. This included
establishing the ATO’s policies on runway safety, Safety Management Systems, voluntary safety
reporting programs, safety promotion, quality assurance and quality control. Under Mark’s
leadership, the directorate would convert safety and quality data into actionable information to
identify trends and risks in the airspace, provide high-level oversight of investigations and
establish policy on independent verification and validation of safety issues and incidents. In this
role, he also served as a key FAA representative on air traffic safety issues with global safety
organizations, interagency/industry committees and employee unions.

Mark has also served as the Director of Policy and Performance. In that role, he served as the
steward of the ATO's safety data and Safety Management System. Under his leadership, the
directorate ensured that national safety management policies were clearly defined, communicated and followed. The directorate was responsible for audits and operational
assessments of air traffic operations, technical operations, NAS changes and new technologies,
and also provided safety analyses and data management capabilities. Additionally, the directorate served as the ATO's international focal point for safety activities related to Air Navigation Service provision, as well as for safety analyses related to new entrants into the NAS, such as commercial space launches and unmanned aircraft systems.

Mark has been with the FAA since 1992 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical
Engineering from Drexel University.

Natesh Manikoth is the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Chief Data Officer (CDO) responsible for managing the and exploiting the information assets of the agency. Prior to his role as the CDO, Mr. Manikoth was the FAAs Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor (CSTA) for the National Airspace System (NAS) Software in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) organization, providing expert technical guidance in all software related areas of the FAA system acquisition and development process.  As such, Mr. Manikoths primary focus areas were the sustainable acquisition practices for software intensive systems and cybersecurity. Prior to joining FAA in 2012, Mr. Manikoth was the Chief Technology Officer for the Transportation, Central and Local Government Sector for Xerox services.  He has over 30 years of experience with the development and deployment of large scale systems. He is an electrical engineer with a Masters in Industrial Engineering and an MBA.

Mariano Alicea has nearly 25 years’ experience supporting the National Airspace System (NAS) and air traffic control systems and over 10 years supporting telecommunications network services. As GDIT Vice President for Transportation and Infrastructure, he manages a business area with over 400 employees nationwide and oversees large customer programs including FAA Cloud Services (FCS), FAA Administrative Voice Enterprise Services (FAVES), and Traffic Flow Management System. He formerly held positions with the FAA as a program manager where he was responsible for the FAA’s complex communications network during 9/11 and oversight of the post-9/11 security environment.

Ben Gianni is GDIT’s Chief Technology Officer and senior vice president reporting to President Amy Gilliland. Ben leads the company’s evolving development and application of solutions, key capabilities and contributions on behalf of GDIT’s many valued alliance partners. He also leads customer delivery on a key GDIT program.

Ben previously served as GDIT’s Defense CTO. Prior to GDIT, Ben served as the vice president for delivery within the intelligence division at CSRA as well as vice president for the civil group and various leadership roles at CSC.

Ben earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in computer science from the Johns Hopkins University.

.

Ben Gianni is GDIT’s Chief Technology Officer and senior vice president reporting to President Amy Gilliland. Ben leads the company’s evolving development and application of solutions, key capabilities and contributions on behalf of GDIT’s many valued alliance partners. He also leads customer delivery on a key GDIT program.

Ben previously served as GDIT’s Defense CTO. Prior to GDIT, Ben served as the vice president for delivery within the intelligence division at CSRA as well as vice president for the civil group and various leadership roles at CSC.

Ben earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in computer science from the Johns Hopkins University.

Mariano Alicea has nearly 25 years’ experience supporting the National Airspace System (NAS) and air traffic control systems and over 10 years supporting telecommunications network services. As GDIT Vice President for Transportation and Infrastructure, he manages a business area with over 400 employees nationwide and oversees large customer programs including FAA Cloud Services (FCS), FAA Administrative Voice Enterprise Services (FAVES), and Traffic Flow Management System. He formerly held positions with the FAA as a program manager where he was responsible for the FAA’s complex communications network during 9/11 and oversight of the post-9/11 security environment.

Mark DeNicuolo is the Vice President of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Program Management Organization (PMO) within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO). The PMO provides program and acquisition management for the FAA infrastructure programs that transform, modernize and sustain the National Airspace System (NAS), including Air Traffic Operations, Mission Support Systems and Business support systems.

The PMO also holds responsibility for service life extensions to legacy NAS sensors, communications and navigation aids. Given the tight coupling between successful automation program delivery and current system operation, the PMO also leads and manages second-level automation engineering efforts. Lastly, the PMO works with FAA operations and aviation
users to ensure globally interoperable NextGen solutions.

Mark assumed the position of Vice President in September 2021 after serving as Acting Vice
President for six months. Prior to being named Vice President, he served as Deputy Vice
President for more than two years.

Before joining the PMO, Mark served as the Director of Safety, where he was responsible for
ensuring NAS safety through reporting, mitigating and monitoring risk. This included
establishing the ATO’s policies on runway safety, Safety Management Systems, voluntary safety
reporting programs, safety promotion, quality assurance and quality control. Under Mark’s
leadership, the directorate would convert safety and quality data into actionable information to
identify trends and risks in the airspace, provide high-level oversight of investigations and
establish policy on independent verification and validation of safety issues and incidents. In this
role, he also served as a key FAA representative on air traffic safety issues with global safety
organizations, interagency/industry committees and employee unions.

Mark has also served as the Director of Policy and Performance. In that role, he served as the
steward of the ATO's safety data and Safety Management System. Under his leadership, the
directorate ensured that national safety management policies were clearly defined, communicated and followed. The directorate was responsible for audits and operational
assessments of air traffic operations, technical operations, NAS changes and new technologies,
and also provided safety analyses and data management capabilities. Additionally, the directorate served as the ATO's international focal point for safety activities related to Air Navigation Service provision, as well as for safety analyses related to new entrants into the NAS, such as commercial space launches and unmanned aircraft systems.

Mark has been with the FAA since 1992 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical
Engineering from Drexel University.

Natesh Manikoth is the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Chief Data Officer (CDO) responsible for managing the and exploiting the information assets of the agency. Prior to his role as the CDO, Mr. Manikoth was the FAAs Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor (CSTA) for the National Airspace System (NAS) Software in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) organization, providing expert technical guidance in all software related areas of the FAA system acquisition and development process.  As such, Mr. Manikoths primary focus areas were the sustainable acquisition practices for software intensive systems and cybersecurity. Prior to joining FAA in 2012, Mr. Manikoth was the Chief Technology Officer for the Transportation, Central and Local Government Sector for Xerox services.  He has over 30 years of experience with the development and deployment of large scale systems. He is an electrical engineer with a Masters in Industrial Engineering and an MBA.

.