Summary

About

As part of its mission, the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative will take a multi-disciplinary approach to provide points of view on how IA can help tackle both traditional and novel challenges of the public sector.

Web Links

• Website
• Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative

People

Center Director, Dr. David K. Rehr
drehr@gmu.edu

Dr. David Rehr is the Director of the Center for Business Civic Engagement and Co-Founder the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative. He is a former CEO with over 25 years experience in advocacy, public policy, and governance. In addition to serving as Director, he serves as Professor of Public Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is a former Senior Associate Dean at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University where he taught Legislative Advocacy, Law & Leadership, and Strategic Washington Leadership.

Rehr is one of the nation’s foremost experts on advocacy before Congress and is the author of The Congressional Communications Report, the largest, most in-depth study on the communication habits of congressional staff and the government relation’s community, among other advocacy research topics. Dr. Rehr has advocated at all levels of government and has spoken to organizations and associations on assorted advocacy topics.

David previously served as the President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) where he was a strong advocate for radio and television broadcasters — meeting with policymakers, testifying before Congress, and bringing innovation to the organization. He initiated and led an industry-wide branding effort to “re-set” inaccurate perceptions of the association and the industry from being seen as “old media” to one that embraces “digital media” and the future emerging technologies hold. Dr. Rehr directed the TV industry’s largest marketing effort to date, $1.2 billion digital television (DTV) transition marketing campaign. His book on the DTV transition is expected to be released within weeks. At the NAB, Rehr also initiated Radio 2020, an effort that ensured radio’s value would be recognized in the future through the Radio Heard Here campaign.

Before joining the NAB, Rehr was President of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). Under his leadership, NBWA’s visibility in the advocacy community soared, and the association was ranked as one of the top ten most influential lobbying organizations by Fortune magazine.

Rehr, holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University, has been named to Washington Life magazine’s Power 100 list, and is annually listed as a Top Association Lobbyist by one of Congress’ “must read” publications, The Hill. He has also been featured in Beachum’s Guide to Key Lobbyists.

He started his career as a Legislative Assistant to former Rep. Vin Weber and served on the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business.

Dorin Munteanu, Co-Founder IA Initiative
dmuntea@gmu.edu

Dorin is the Co-Founder of the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative at the Center for Business Civic Engagement, George Mason University. He is currently enrolled in the RPA Developer course at the UiPath Academy. Additionally, he holds the RPA Awareness and Business Analyst UiPath certified diplomas as well as RPA continuing professional education (CPE) credits.

Dorin has 15+ years of international business and policy research experience. He is the Chairman of Transilvania Group, a Washington, D.C.-based business management and policy advisory firm. Dorin also serves as the President of the Romanian American Chamber of Commerce, in Washington, D.C., Advisory Council member at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University, Senior Advisor at uRADMonitor network, an Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data solution, as well as a Research Fellow at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and as an Advisory Board Member to the US-Bulgarian Chamber in America and to the AlphaTech Group, an initiative designed to engage with promising CEOs of emerging growth companies within the cybersecurity, big data and analytics industries.

Additionally, Dorin is a member of the Black Sea Working Group (BSWG) at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), which brings together current and former diplomats, military officers, businesspeople, and researchers with deep experience and interest in the Central Eastern European region. The BSWG is aimed at exchanging insights and developing policy recommendations and a more focused strategy for the transatlantic community in the region.

Dorin has been a Research Associate at CEPA and Researcher at TD International, both organizations based in Washington, D.C. Dorin holds degrees from Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and the School of International Service at American University. He is fluent in Romanian, Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian, and proficient in French.

Leadership

Center Director, Dr. David K. Rehr
drehr@gmu.edu

Dr. David Rehr is the Director of the Center for Business Civic Engagement and Co-Founder the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative. He is a former CEO with over 25 years experience in advocacy, public policy, and governance. In addition to serving as Director, he serves as Professor of Public Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is a former Senior Associate Dean at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University where he taught Legislative Advocacy, Law & Leadership, and Strategic Washington Leadership.

Rehr is one of the nation’s foremost experts on advocacy before Congress and is the author of The Congressional Communications Report, the largest, most in-depth study on the communication habits of congressional staff and the government relation’s community, among other advocacy research topics. Dr. Rehr has advocated at all levels of government and has spoken to organizations and associations on assorted advocacy topics.

David previously served as the President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) where he was a strong advocate for radio and television broadcasters — meeting with policymakers, testifying before Congress, and bringing innovation to the organization. He initiated and led an industry-wide branding effort to “re-set” inaccurate perceptions of the association and the industry from being seen as “old media” to one that embraces “digital media” and the future emerging technologies hold. Dr. Rehr directed the TV industry’s largest marketing effort to date, $1.2 billion digital television (DTV) transition marketing campaign. His book on the DTV transition is expected to be released within weeks. At the NAB, Rehr also initiated Radio 2020, an effort that ensured radio’s value would be recognized in the future through the Radio Heard Here campaign.

Before joining the NAB, Rehr was President of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). Under his leadership, NBWA’s visibility in the advocacy community soared, and the association was ranked as one of the top ten most influential lobbying organizations by Fortune magazine.

Rehr, holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University, has been named to Washington Life magazine’s Power 100 list, and is annually listed as a Top Association Lobbyist by one of Congress’ “must read” publications, The Hill. He has also been featured in Beachum’s Guide to Key Lobbyists.

He started his career as a Legislative Assistant to former Rep. Vin Weber and served on the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business.

Dorin Munteanu, Co-Founder IA Initiative
dmuntea@gmu.edu

Dorin is the Co-Founder of the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative at the Center for Business Civic Engagement, George Mason University. He is currently enrolled in the RPA Developer course at the UiPath Academy. Additionally, he holds the RPA Awareness and Business Analyst UiPath certified diplomas as well as RPA continuing professional education (CPE) credits.

Dorin has 15+ years of international business and policy research experience. He is the Chairman of Transilvania Group, a Washington, D.C.-based business management and policy advisory firm. Dorin also serves as the President of the Romanian American Chamber of Commerce, in Washington, D.C., Advisory Council member at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University, Senior Advisor at uRADMonitor network, an Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data solution, as well as a Research Fellow at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and as an Advisory Board Member to the US-Bulgarian Chamber in America and to the AlphaTech Group, an initiative designed to engage with promising CEOs of emerging growth companies within the cybersecurity, big data and analytics industries.

Additionally, Dorin is a member of the Black Sea Working Group (BSWG) at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), which brings together current and former diplomats, military officers, businesspeople, and researchers with deep experience and interest in the Central Eastern European region. The BSWG is aimed at exchanging insights and developing policy recommendations and a more focused strategy for the transatlantic community in the region.

Dorin has been a Research Associate at CEPA and Researcher at TD International, both organizations based in Washington, D.C. Dorin holds degrees from Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and the School of International Service at American University. He is fluent in Romanian, Spanish, Italian, and Hungarian, and proficient in French.

Advisory Board

Gerard Badorrek

Gerard Badorrek is an executive with experience leading transformation and automation in both the public and private sectors. Most recently he served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the General Services Administration with responsibility for GSA’s $30B+ Budget, Strategic Plan, Accounting, Financial Reporting, Analytics, Audits and Financial Operations. He completed a broad transformation of the CFO office before leaving the government in January 2022.

While in the federal government, Mr. Badorrek introduced RPA to the CFO Office and created a program that supported RPA implementations across GSA. By working closely with business owners, this team developed over 100 automations and created incremental capacity of over 400k hours annually. He also founded the Federal Government RPA Community of Practice (COP) which brought together agency leaders developing automations across the federal government to share best practices and address common challenges. The COP now has more than 1300 members from over 100 federal agencies and conducted webinars and conferences with more than 10k attendees. He was responsible for the publication of the Federal RPA Playbook and the State of Federal RPA reports.

In 2018, Gerard was named a leader by the Office of Management and Budget of the government-wide goal to help federal agencies to shift from low to high value work through automation, work optimization and burden reduction. He received the 2021 Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service and was named a FED 100 technology leader.

Prior to this role in federal government, Mr. Badorrek worked for over 25 years in the private sector with both public and private companies. He developed expertise in Business Operations, Finance, Strategy and Analytics while leading and driving organizational change and improving performance levels.

Mr. Badorrek was previously a Senior Vice President at Xerox Corporation holding positions as a Managing Director of Business Process Outsourcing and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the State Government sector of Xerox Services, while providing services to 43 state governments. In addition, Gerard had an extensive career with MCI Communications and was responsible for leading worldwide operational organizations, building teams and solving complex operational and business problems. At MCI he held various leadership positions including Vice President of Business Operations, Vice President of Finance, Business Unit CFO and Controller and he has served as CFO and COO of private technology companies.

Mr. Badorrek has an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, a Master degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and Bachelor degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.

Ian Barkin

Ian Barkin is an entrepreneur, investor, speaker and author, fascinated by the Future of Work and its implications for the workers of the future. He co-founded the leading RPA consultancy, Symphony Ventures, which he sold to Sykes Enterprises in 2018. He then served in the C-suite of the $1.7B NASDAQ listed CX company. Ian has authored LinkedIn Learning courses used by people globally to learn about, and to apply, RPA, AI and Cognitive technologies in their careers. He co-authored the book “Intelligent Automation: Welcome to the World of Hyperautomation” and was the host of the podcast “OneTAKE”, where he explored customer experience and digital transformation trends. Ian is exploring new ways to discuss work, digitalization, among other topics, through his eponymous vlog, found on Youtube and LinkedIn.

Anthony Fung

Anthony Fung is the CEO of Amplitude9, a company that provides robotic process automation and artificial intelligence solutions that improve service delivery to citizens, provide significant organizational cost savings, and increase employee productivity and satisfaction.

Anthony Fung served as Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In this capacity, Anthony served as a senior advisor to the Commonwealth on technology matters including data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, innovation and entrepreneurship, and oversaw Virginia’s technology agency which supports technology governance and needs for over one hundred thousand commonwealth employees.

Anthony is a proven executive with over 23 years of experience in information technology management, strategic planning, and operations management. Before joining the Governor’s Cabinet, Anthony was the CEO of a professional consulting firm, which serviced Federal focused clients such as DoD, HHS, DHS, and GSA. Anthony also served as a SCORE counselor, providing advice to small businesses on start-up best practices, business operations, and strategy.

Anthony has been recognized as one of Washington’s top business leaders, recipient of Washington Business Journal’s Award, SmartCEO Top 100 CEOs, and named Top 40 Under 40 Business Leader.

Bobby Patrick
BS Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems ’93 – George Mason University
CMO, UiPath

Having begun his career at 16 as a computer specialist with the FBI in Washington DC, Bobby Patrick is now Chief Marketing Officer of UiPath, the fastest growing enterprise software company in history and leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI. UiPath’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) propelled from $20 Million when Bobby joined the company in 2017 to nearly 40 times larger four years later. In 2021, UiPath debuted on the NYSE as one of the largest US software IPOs in history raising over $1.3 billion.

Bobby strongly believes that humans-and-robots will integrate in partnership, freeing humans from the mundane, empowering them to be their best, and driving a new era of hyper-productivity growth; a vision he calls A Robot for Every Person. The vision earned UiPath a spot on the coveted CNBC Disrupter 50 list in 2020. Bobby was also recently named among the Forbes CMO 50 and named among 50 Influential Marketing Leaders Changing the Industry in 2020 by Comparably (https://www.comparably.com/news/50-influential-marketing-leaders–changing-the-industry-in-2020/).

Before joining UiPath, Bobby served as CMO for Hewlett Packard’s $4 Billion-dollar Cloud business. He served previously as CMO for Basho (acquired by Bet365), GXS (acquired by OpenText), and Digex (acquired by Verizon).
Bobby is a limited partner in Crew Capital, a newly established early-stage venture capital firm, launched by current and former executives and founders at UiPath.

Sidney Madison Prescott
Global Head of Intelligent Automation at Spotify
Sidney Madison Prescott is the Global Head of Intelligent Automation (Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence) at Spotify. In her role, Sidney partners with internal business units to strategize ways to transform business processes via automation. Immediately prior, she also led intelligent process automation for a leading global investment firm. Early in her career, Sidney held the position of Vice President of Intelligent Process Automation at BNY Mellon, where she partnered with internal business units to strategize ways to transform business processes through robotic automation. After spending the past few years of her career in the cognitive automation space, Sidney knows what drives successful global robotics implementations and has excelled at delivering projects resulting in a seven-figure return on investment stats for Fortune 250 companies across the globe.

In addition to her enterprise technology expertise, Sidney is an Executive Board Member for three global non-profit organizations where she contributes automation insights to enhance overall program objectives. Recently Sidney was elected to join the board of the Habitat for Humanity, New York City Young Professionals organization. In addition to her passion for philanthropy, Sidney is an active champion of women in technology, as the former head of the East Coast chapter of the global non-profit organization, Women in Tech.

In January 2020, Sidney was awarded the prestigious 2020 Top 50 Tech Visionaries Award. In 2019, Sidney was nominated by the USA Women in Payments awards committee and a group of her peers, as a coveted “Rising Star in Payments” 2019 award recipient. In addition, the Women in IT global organization nominated Sidney for the 2019 Silicon Valley “Rising Star in IT” award.

In addition to her extensive work in the technology sector, Sidney is also a published author. Sidney has co-authored a technology book, release via global publishing house Apress in April 2021. The book is entitled, Robotic Process Automation using UiPath StudioX: A Citizen Developer’s Guide to Hyperautomation. The manuscript allows readers to leverage firsthand examples to explain the basis of UiPath through the use of real-world prototypes and has gone on to become an Amazon best-selling new release. Sidney has also published an Honors Thesis and an award-winning philosophical essay via ScholarWorks & Misericordia University’s Journal of Living Philosophy. In 2021, Sidney co-authored a PLOS Computational Biology academic journal article entitled, Responses to 10 Common Criticisms of Anti-Racism Action in STEMM.

Sidney holds a BA in Philosophy with a double minor in Political Science & Ethics (Pre-Law) along with Honors, Advanced Honors & Research Honors from Georgia State University after graduating Magna Cum Laude. Sidney graduated from the country’s first women-only executive MBA program, a part of Brenau University’s inaugural Executive Women’s MBA cohort in August 2021. During her graduate studies, Sidney was the proud recipient of a 2019 Women in Technology $10,000 scholarship. In addition, Sidney is a 2020 MBAChic Fellow, after accepting a second $10,000 scholarship to attend Brenau University in pursuit of her MBA. Sidney is currently pursuing the third degree of her academic career, a Master of Science in Legal Studies from Cornell Law School.

Sidney resides in Manhattan’s Upper East Side with her two small dogs, Addison, and Grey-Sloan. In her spare time, Sidney is an avid snowboarder and frequent spin class attendee.
Jim Walker
Senior Vice President of Public Sector at Roboyo, Prior to this role Jim Walker was the Public Sector Evangelist and CTO for Americas at UiPath. Walker works across all levels of government to help show the tremendous value to agencies as they move to the fully automated enterprise™. He applies 32 years of leadership experience in government (NASA, MDA, DISA, and as an Army Major) to the fast-paced and potentially game-changing technology of robotic process automation (RPA). Previously, Walker led NASA’s “first in government” deployment of “Washington bot” and led the technical team in the design, and development of the Bureau of Fiscal Services first bots at Treasury.

Research

Dr. Rehr has authored a number of eBooks on topics related to communicating with Congress and being more effective in interacting in Washington, DC. These eBooks are free and are designed to provide insights into business practices used in interacting with government and providing leadership to nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Our nation’s post COVID-19 technology: stronger business civic engagement and education for a brighter future

Trade Show Best Prices

From analog to digital television

Rehr’s first book on the largest marketing campaign in the history of television is available at Amazon.com. He outlines how broadcasters, assorted coalitions, and government all worked together to ensure 33 million TVs continued to work after analog signals were turned off and digital broadcasting began. The Book has many practical examples of business and government working together for a positive outcome.

The measurement mandate:
How associations measure their performance

Cutting through congressional clutter –
proven ideas and tips to gain influence and be heard

How to lead better meetings and
enhance your organizational effectiveness

Creating the right association culture

8 traits of an exceptional association CEO

Diversity and inclusion: core values
among associations

Association and non-profit boards:
maximizing effective service

Association CEOs: leading through change

Dr. Rehr’s concept of state fiscal transparency was featured in a collection of essays by various co-authors, including notable economist Dr. Arthur Laffer. The book was released in September 2017.

Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative

Mission

The mission of the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative is to research, educate, and communicate how the adoption of this emerging technology can improve productivity, operations and service delivery of public sector organizations. The Initiative will also study and recommend possible governance models and public policy initiatives for IA deployment in the context of the broader economic outlook and the future of work.

As part of its mission, the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative will take a multi-disciplinary approach to provide points of view on how IA can help tackle both traditional and novel challenges of the public sector.

Look for the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative to include

• Public understanding and education of the IA industry.
• Case study research of applications and results.
• Study general awareness of IA.
• Academic education of policymakers to assist them in understanding and evaluating the benefits of IA.
• Webinars on assorted subjects to discuss industry initiatives.
• Provide an academic stage for discussion of public policy issues relating to IA uses across different levels of government

Partnership announcement

George Mason University and UiPath partner to form Robotic Process Automation Initiative

The Center for Business Civic Engagement (CBCE) at George Mason University (Mason) announced the establishment of the Intelligent Automation (IA) Initiative in partnership with leading enterprise RPA software company UiPath to determine the impact of RPA on government effectiveness and efficiency.