Kara J.

Background

About Kara J.

Kara has a diverse background in government call centers, federal contract management, and information technology operations. Most recently, Kara utilized her extensive program and call center operations experience to serve federal and state governments. Kara’s call center experience includes being on the core launch team for the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) Part D Help Desk for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). During her time on the MMA Part D program, Kara served in roles spanning Tier 1, Tier 2, Quality Assurance, and Instructional Designer. Kara also worked as Lead Instructional Designer for CMS’ Retiree Drug Subsidy Program Communications team, training help desk agents and the health plan insurer community. As the Federal Government Task Lead (GTL) for the Electronic Health Records Information Center (EHRIC), Kara helped to lay the foundation for the call center model that would be replicated for new CMS call centers over the next decade. This call center was established via rapid development under the high-profile Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. As an IT program Manager for over 10 years, Kara has lead complex, High Value Federal Assests (HVA) of $180M+ and over 120 contractors using waterfall, hybrid, and agile methodologies. Kara served on and lead a variety of federal Technical Evaluation Panels and received seven federal awards over the course of 9 years including two DHHS Agency Awards and two CMS Administrator Awards. Kara’s roles as a federal employee and Contract Officer Representative (COR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS/CMS), federal contractor at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), and state contractor at Deloitte Consulting, have provided her with a unique perspective and ability to see the big picture from a variety of angles. Kara’s passion for Operations Management drives her to apply her knowledge, experiences, and resources to manage small to large programs in the healthcare, social services, and information technology sectors.