Christine Thropp
Dataminr Government President Dana Barnes was named among Executive Mosaic’s esteemed roster of 2024 Wash100 Award winners for championing artificial intelligence-focused efforts to deliver optimized customer value and ensure responsible use of AI. This is the third time that Barnes was included in the annual list of 100 elite leaders in the government and government contracting space.
Vote for Barnes as one of your favorite awardees at Wash100.com. This year’s popular vote competition runs through April 30, so cast your 10 votes now!
“[ I am] incredibly proud to have been selected to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100. To be included with such an amazing group of leaders driving change and excellence in Washington across government is an honor. That being said, it is the Public Sector team here at Dataminr that is making the difference everyday at all levels of government both here at home and abroad. Many thanks to Jim Garrettson and the Executive Mosaic team for this fantastic honor!” Barnes said in a LinkedIn post.
Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and founder of the Wash100 Award, also commented on Barnes’ win, “Dana is an incredibly knowledgeable resource and a technologically savvy business leader who plays an important role in the GovCon tech ecosystem. As the head of Dataminr Government, Dana works tirelessly to bring his deep GovCon experience and his innovative instincts to his customers’ most challenging problem sets and missions. His thought leadership and expertise in areas like AI, cybersecurity and data place him on this year’s Wash100 list yet again.”
Barnes joined Dataminr in June 2022 and has, since then, led the software company’s delivery of AI products and services to government customers in support of their efforts to mitigate and manage crises more effectively.
During an executive spotlight interview with GovCon Wire in June 2023, Barnes shared how Dataminr works to organize and provide insights about data through AI applications.
“Companies that handle massive amounts of data can leverage the tools that Dataminr offers… Corporations today are really trying to figure out how to help the government operate and make that data more accessible. AI, as well as machine learning, are great tools to help them do that. The other major benefit of leveraging data is to simplify. Yes, there is a surplus of data and you make it accessible, but when you make the data simple or you simplify the processes, now you can make it more accessible as well. So you’re creating bite-sized pieces of relevant information.”
The Dataminr Government leader also discussed the importance of educating about proper AI usage and the need for the government to adapt to the quickly changing tides of technological development.
Barnes is not new to driving tech innovation to support critical missions of government agencies. He was the senior vice president for U.S. public sector at cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks before joining Dataminr. During his time at Palo Alto, the executive was given his second Wash100 Award for driving zero trust and federal Internet of Things security adoption.
More notably, Barnes spent over a decade at Microsoft culminating in the position of VP of state and local government, which saw him collaborating with clients and partners on the delivery of technology offerings to enable digital transformation and enhance services for citizens and constituents. He also held roles such as general manager of national security group and director of Department of Defense sales.
In another executive spotlight interview just this January, Barnes shared his thoughts about the Executive Order on the Responsible Use of AI and where he would like to see federal legislation on AI go next.
“The EO is something that we needed as a nation, in terms of a framework and structure on artificial intelligence,” he said. “If you look at what it does in terms of creating best practices and standards for AI safety and security, it provides a good blueprint for industry on how we should be approaching artificial intelligence and the safeguards we should be putting in place.”
Executive Mosaic congratulates Dana Barnes and the Dataminr team on their selection to receive the 2024 Wash100 Award. Advocate for your favorite awardees for this year’s popular vote competition at Wash100.com.
