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GCN Home > 05/19/08 issue

Raising the bar at USPS

2008 GCN Technology Leadership Award winner John Edgar guides delivery of inventory, vehicle tracking systems

By Edmund X. DeJesus, Special to GCN

As manager of the U.S. Postal Service’s Network Operations Business Solutions portfolio, John Edgar is responsible for delivering all information technology services to USPS’ vast domestic and international transportation, logistics and mail processing groups. This includes developing applications; deploying infrastructure; and coordinating computer operations, user support and customer interaction for more than 60 production systems and development projects. Not bad for someone who didn’t start in IT.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC: 2008 Technology Leadership Awards home page
Edgar’s initial government experience was on the vendor side, which he said taught him some worthwhile lessons. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University, he joined contracting services firm PRC, assisting the Navy’s Facilities Engineering Command. During his five years there, he worked for Allan Bellacicco, a former naval officer who taught him the fine points of client relations skills. “People skills are often more important than technical skills,” Edgar said.

His first management role with PRC was on a contracting assignment, a joint venture of the Transportation Department with major U.S. shipping companies. The goal was to improve cargo-handling methods and increase efficiency to reduce cost and boost competitiveness.

Here, Edgar gained experience with tracking systems using bar codes and radio frequency identification tags while coordinating teams from different government and commercial organizations. That experience became the foundation for the collaborative approach to problem-solving that continues to serve him well.

In 1995, Edgar put his experience with bar code processing to good use on a consulting assignment at USPS. He soon began leading the application development of their package-tracking system. “It’s great to see the impact of what you do reflected in the daily delivery of packages to our customers,” he said.

Edgar joined USPS full time in 2001 as manager of eBusiness Infrastructure and lead the application development and operations of USPS.com and the Postal Store online sales Web sites. After his arrival, online customer usage and revenue increased dramatically, winning USPS several industry awards.

More news on related topics: Communications / Networks, Authentication / Identity Management, IT Management



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