The Apps for Healthy Kids competition pooled $60k in prizes in support of the First Lady's Let's Move initiative to reduce obesity and raise awareness for healthy lifestyles. USDA led the effort providing the MyPyramid dataset and focusing the app and game competition on "tweens" for learn through play, and nutritional gatekeepers to arm them with critical information to make healthy food choices. We started from scratch and found tremendous support in the Office of Science and Technology Policy as well as the game/app developer community. The challenge platform welcomed entries and we invited the public to vote. An esteemed judging panel including Aneesh Chopra and Steve Wozniak will select winners. By the time SXSW begins, the winning games and apps will be making a positive impact on children and adults to make health food and lifestyle choices. Other federal examples will provide alternative approaches to using competitions to achieve specific goals. Government is becoming more adept in utilizing games, tools and Internet technologies to reach citizens on relevant platforms and devices. Learn from our mistakes and successes, and take away useful tips for designing your own challenge or competition.
Amanda serves the U.S. Department of Agriculture as the Director of Web Communications, Office of Communications. Here she manages the Department's web site and new media operations and strategic planning. The policies and programs of the USDA impact the lives of Americans every day – from food, agriculture, and science to natural resources – and there is an ever-present opportunity to communicate our mission effectively using new media. New media provides an outstanding opportunity for USDA to connect with consumers, customers and employees in new and interesting ways on a wide variety of topics and issues.
Leading new media activities at USDA, she provides strategic guidance to the Office of the Secretary and coordinates efforts of the Department’s seven mission areas and 29 agencies and offices. In support of the Department’s mission, she has helped enhance the relationship between public affairs, web and IT professionals to collaboratively design and implement new media programs and products.
Recent accomplishments include the Apps for Healthy Kids competition, Open Gov efforts and developing overall strategic guidance for a wide range of communication campaigns throughout the Department.
Prior to joining the Office of Communications, Amanda served as a press officer for the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
A rare DC-area native, Amanda is a Redskins fanatic and spends earned time away from keyboards and digital devices cooking, eating and knitting.
Bev Godwin leads the Federal Citizen Information Center to provide government information useful in people’s everyday life – where, when and how they want to consume it – whether online (USA.gov, GobiernoUSA.gov, Kids.gov, email, web chat, SMS), by phone (1-800-FED-INFO), or in print (consumer publications distributed from Pueblo, CO). She previously directed the government's Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement, where she created Challenge.gov, and served on the White House New Media team.
Brandon Kessler is the founder and CEO of ChallengePost, a New York City-based comapny that serves as a platform for challenges. (A Challenge takes place when an organization or individual challenges the public to solve a problem, build something, or innovate.) Current clients include The City of New York, First Lady Michelle Obama, Samsung, Thomson Reuters, the World Bank, and the federal government who chose ChallengePost to create and power the governmentwide challenge platform: http://Challenge.gov
Prior to that, Kessler founded independent record label Messenger Records which was repeatedly singled out for its early embrace of the internet and its creative use of grassroots promotions. Before Messenger Records and while in college, he founded a college radio promotion company and a street marketing promotion company. Kessler holds undergraduate and MBA degrees from Columbia University.
Ms. Gustetic’s experience has focused on the public sector with concentrations on open government, innovation, public private partnerships, grants management, and technology policy. Most recent experiences have involved the combination of management and strategy consulting to help define and foster business transformation within the public sector. Ms. Gustetic is the lead for the Open Government and Innovation practice at Phase One Consulting Group. Currently, for the Department of Transportation, Ms. Gustetic has managed the development of the DOT Open Government Plan and its subsequent implementation. In this role, she works with several White House level working groups and acts as an advisor on innovation and open government to senior executives and political appointees across the Department. Ms. Gustetic spent several years as a Federal employee at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as the senior program analyst for $400 million in annual transportation security grant programs. She was honored as a TSA-wide Unsung Hero for her work on modernizing the grants programs. Ms. Gustetic is experienced with social media and has led the development of a federal government blog from conception to operations. She is also a featured blogger on the government social network www.govloop.com. Ms. Gustetic speaks often at events and has also authored several papers on many topics including security policy, harnessing public-private partnerships to optimize public service delivery, and the evolution of e-democracy.
Peter Rhee is the Digital Media Director in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Communications. The USDA aims to strengthen the American agricultural economy, to revitalize rural communities, to protect and conserve our natural resources, and to provide a safe, sufficient and nutritious food supply for the American people.
As a pioneer in the Federal field of web and digital communications, the USDA has strived to stay ahead of the curve by implementing new and emerging technologies that add potential value and benefit for all Americans. Peter leads web and digital strategies for USDA, coordinating the efforts of the Department's seven mission areas and 29 agencies and offices. He aligns the goals of all web components under the USDA umbrella with the Office of the Secretary, in support of the Secretary's "One USDA" vision.
Recent accomplishments include the Apps for Healthy Kids Competition, the First Lady's Let's Move campaign to ending childhood obesity, Open Gov efforts, and leading a Department-wide website redesign.
Peter is a graphic designer, web developer, and project manager. Prior to joining USDA's Office of Communications, he served as a web manager and designer for USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service. He has also managed the Department of Health and Human Services' campaigns in the arena of Women's Health Education and Promotion.
