TechAmerica this week vowed to press on after one of its rivals hired four of its lobbyists and launched a public sector initiative.
While the changes were unexpected, TechAmerica Board Chairman Dennis Stolkey said its member leadership remained committed to TechAmerica, serving public sector members and Shawn Osborne as the president and CEO of the organization.
“The vision of TechAmerica is exciting and innovative, and I remain confident that the path we are on is the right one,” Stolkey said in a press statement.
The initiative announced Nov. 5 by the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) intends to promote technology procurement and state and local technology issues. It will be led by senior lobbyist A.R. "Trey" Hodgkins, Carol Henton, ITI’s first ever California-based lobbyist, Pam Walker and Erica McCann. All four individuals are experienced lobbyists who abruptly resigned from TechAmerica to join ITI.
“While I am disappointed with the departures of the former staff, TechAmerica’ s expertise and commitment to the public sector group of member companies remains unchanged," TechAmerica member Robin Lineberger of Deloitte Consulting said in a statement. "As members, we are seeing a fresh new approach to engaging us in TechAmerica. Hard decisions have been made and real change instituted, which has meant a more robust return on our investment. ”
ITI President and CEO Dean Garfield said his organization’s investment in experienced staff came in response to the needs of tech companies that view the public sector as increasingly important to their interests. Specifically, he pointed to the recent issues relating to the federal government’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act website, which underscored how the government’s outdated methods of technology acquisition failed to conform to "best practices" in the business community.
According to a report by Politico, ITI, TechAmerica and TechNet considered merging last year. Talks broke down and TechAmerica left the discussions after the organization hired Shawn Osborne as CEO.
