Ms. Janet B. Stevens
Janet B. Stevens, PMP, TKP, was appointed the Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) Office of Planning, Analysis and Risk Management (OPARM) in October 2019. In this capacity, Ms. Stevens is responsible for supporting food safety and protecting public health through strategic planning, evaluation, data analysis and visualization, enterprise risk management and internal controls Agency-wide. Ms. Stevens also oversees the Chief Data Scientist/Chief Data Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Evaluation Officer, and Statistical Officer. Her efforts directly impact FSIS’ Strategic Goal 2: Modernize Inspection Systems, Policies, and the Use of Scientific Approaches.
In October 2018, Ms. Stevens held the OPARM Deputy Assistant Administrator’s position. In that role, she supported the OPARM Assistant Administrator in completing the functions of the program area.
From April 2007 to October 2018, Stevens was FSIS’ Chief Information Officer (CIO). As CIO, she was responsible for supporting food safety, protecting public health, and ensuring food defense requirements through the development, implementation and protection of data, infrastructure and information systems. Her efforts supported Goals 2: (see above) and 3: Achieve Operational Excellence.
Ms. Stevens oversaw innovative and multiple award-winning technical and customer experience work for cybersecurity, web and information technology (IT) leadership for FSIS. She co-led USDA IT Modernization and Center of Excellence initiatives and was elected as the Director and Vice Chair for USDA’s OCIO Chief Information Officer’s Council. Additionally, she spearheaded several USDA eGovernment initiatives and participated in the development of the Federal recommendations for public websites as part of Office of Management and Budget's Interagency Committee on Government Information Web Content Standards Working Group, as well as the Federal Digital Government Strategy.
Previously, Ms. Stevens was the Director of the FSIS Web Services Staff from 2004 to 2006 and the Director of the Management Controls Technology Staff from 2006 to April 2007. She began her career at USDA in 1991 as a Writer/Editor for the Economic Management Service (now part of the Economic Research Service). In 1998, Ms. Stevens became the Web Manager for the Risk Management Agency, where she also served as the acting Public Affairs Director.
Ms. Stevens is a proponent of innovative methods of how people interact with data, information and technology to better protect public health, as well as avenues to improve data transparency with FSIS employees and external stakeholders. She is also an advocate for using data analytics and visualization as part of the decision-making process, and she strives to provide the best customer experience possible. In 2012, Ms. Stevens received the U.S. Government Information Security Leadership Award for the leadership of FSIS Accomplishments in Cybersecurity Process and Policy Improvements.
In 1991, Ms. Stevens earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with a concentration in Communications from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.