Fraud, Waste, & Abuse Forum: Protecting Mission Integrity

Kim Brandt is CMS’ Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer. Previously, she was a Partner at the Washington, D.C.-based policy firm Tarplin, Downs & Young, LLC, where she provided strategic advice on a broad array of healthcare regulatory, enforcement, and policy matters. She also served as an Advisor to the private equity firm Enhanced Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm focused on healthcare, and held board positions at two of its portfolio companies. 

Kim has held multiple senior executive positions in government, including serving as Principal Deputy Administrator for Policy and Operations during the first Trump Administration. In that role she oversaw all activities necessary for the operation and management of CMS’ $1.4T budget in addition to leading efforts to reform the Physician Self-referral regulations and develop the first CMS interoperability rule. Kim previously served as Chief Oversight Counsel and General Counsel on the staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee where she led multiple healthcare investigations, the investigation into IRS political targeting and oversaw the political nominations process. Before joining the Finance Committee staff, Kim was a Senior Counsel at Alston & Bird in Washington, D.C. Her previous government service includes serving as the CMS Director of the Medicare Program Integrity Group and working at the HHS Office of Inspector General as a Senior Counsel and Director of External Affairs. Kim has a JD with a concentration in health law and an MA in legislative affairs.  

Dr. Jim Q. Chen, Ph.D., is one of the leading experts on cyber studies. He is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. He is currently the inaugural Director of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) University Consortium for Cybersecurity Coordination Center (UC4) at the National Defense University (NDU), College of Information and Cyberspace (CIC). In this role, he leads the UC4, which is the administrative chair of the DoD University Consortium for Cybersecurity (UC2), in helping to achieve the mission of the DoD UC2, i.e., to fulfill the intent of the law (i.e., NDAA 2020, Section 1659) and to provide a connection between the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the academic community on matters of cybersecurity via Requests for Information (RFIs).

Dr. Chen is also Professor of Cyber Studies and a Course Director at the NDU CIC. In this role, he teaches and conducts research. His expertise is in cyber warfare, cyber deterrence, cyber strategy, cybersecurity technology, national security, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and graduate-level education. He has many years of teaching experience on these topics. He has also published widely on these topics.

Dr. Chen was the recipient of the John M. Carabello NDU CIC Faculty Award in 2015. He received the NDU CIC Faculty Recognition Award in 2018.

Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland at College Park. He received his Graduate Certificate of Information Assurance and Security, Information Assurance Education from Purdue University.

Renata Miskell is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Accounting Policy and Financial Transparency in the Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Renata advances the Fiscal Service mission of promoting financial integrity and operational efficiency of the federal government, with a focus on payment integrity, federal accounting policy and reporting, financial transparency, and shared services. She leads a team of policy experts and thought leaders that are at the nexus of accountability, transparency, and innovation for federal financial management. True to her commitment to innovation, Renata is a creative and results-driven self-starter with a passion for deploying user-friendly products and innovative thinking to help organizations solve problems and use data more effectively.

Prior to joining Treasury, Renata served as the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) where she led efforts to implement advanced analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities to support data-driven oversight. Renata also served as the acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Data at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service where she led the enterprise data strategy and oversaw a full range of policy, management, and operational activities related to federal financial data and analytics.

Renata graduated from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and is based in Washington, D.C., United States.

Robert (Rob) Owens serves as the Deputy Inspector General for Management and Policy and the Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG). He is responsible for all HHS OIG mission support services, including budget, human resources, procurement, facilities, external affairs, information technology, and data analysis, for a national organization of auditors, agents, attorneys, and evaluators with a mission to protect the integrity of HHS programs. 

Mr. Owens brings more than 25 years of Federal management experience. His background includes project and contract management, automating complex multi-agency business processes, and ensuring information technology investments enhance mission capabilities.  

Before taking on his current role, Mr. Owens was an Assistant Inspector General for Management and Policy and HHS OIG’s Chief Information Officer (CIO). Prior to joining OIG, Mr. Owens served in multiple key positions at the Department of Justice: Acting CIO for the Office of Federal Detention Trustee and Assistant Director, Information Technology Management, for the Criminal Division.  He began his Federal career as a computer programmer supporting Federal law enforcement (agents and attorneys) with mission support applications.   

Mr. Owens has a bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Maryland University College and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Saint Vincent College.

Mr. Ajay Phogat brings decades of extensive technical, managerial, and executive leadership experience from the private sector to his distinguished career at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He has been an integral part of CBP's Office of Information and Technology (OIT) for 18 years.  Mr. Phogat currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the CBP Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the areas of Cybersecurity, Emerging Technologies, Strategy and Governance. 

Mr. Phogat leads and advises several CIO priority items and continues to provide guidance and leadership to OIT programs. Prior to his current role, Mr. Phogat led the modernization of the ACE Portal to a cloud Platform. Additionally he used his deep expertise in both the Legacy Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and the modernized ACE to ensuring the Disaster Recovery and Resiliency of these critical systems. He lead the creation of a standardized DevSecOps pipeline for cloud migration using Gitlab, spearheading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bot innovation, and managing multiple application development teams. 

His innovative work on the "Tuna bot" earned him the DHS Secretary’s Award for Innovation in 2022. He is a strong advocate for national and international trusted partnerships, actively engaging with agencies such as the FDA, USDA, DOE, IRS, and B5M5. His leadership and impact were recognized when he was named one of the 50 trailblazers in DHS for 2024. Under the guidance of CBP Assistant Commissioner and Chief Information Officer Sonny Bhagowalia, Mr. Phogat was key in formalizing a Center of Excellence (COE) structure to enhance government delivery efficiency for key focus areas for the agency.

Mr. Phogat's academic background is exceptionally comprehensive, including a Master of Science Degree in Strategic Information and Cyberspace Studies from the National Defense University. He also holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, and a Master’s Degree in Information Management (specializing in Information Resource Management) from Henry Edwin Sever School of Engineering and Applied Science, Washington University in St. Louis. Further degrees include a Law Degree from the University of Delhi, a Master’s Degree in English from Maharishi Dayanand University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from the University of Pune, India.

His commitment to professional development is evident through his 2019 Fellowship from the Excellence in Government Fellowship Program by the Partnership for Public Service. He is also a 2020 graduate of the prestigious Chief Information Officer (CIO) Certificate program and holds a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Certificate, both from the National Defense University (NDU).

In his personal time, Mr. Phogat enjoys reading, spending time with his family, and volunteering within his community, including service in the DHS Volunteer Force.

Eric Rivera serves as the Assistant Inspector General for Audit at EXIM OIG. Mr. Rivera brings over 20 years of federal government service, spending most of his career working within the Inspector General community.

Prior to joining EXIM OIG, Mr. Rivera served as the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Audits at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Office of the Inspector General, where he oversaw performance and financial audits of complex nuclear safety programs at the NRC and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).

Mr. Rivera previously served at the NRC OIG in multiple roles. He was the Team Leader for the Financial and Information Technology Audit Team for more than seven years. In addition, Mr. Rivera served as the project lead for the annual financial statement audit of the NRC and the DNFSB. Prior to being a Team Leader, Mr. Rivera was an Audit Manager for the Nuclear Safety Audits Team at the NRC OIG.

Mr. Rivera began his federal career at the NRC, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). During his tenure at NRC OCFO, Mr. Rivera worked on the preparation of the agency’s financial statements. He also served as the project lead for NRC’s Performance and Accountably Report and the agency’s OMB Circular A-123 compliance efforts.

Mr. Rivera has a bachelor’s degree in business administration in from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez (2003), and a master’s in business administration from the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business (2019). He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).

Mr. Luiz A. Santos was sworn in as Inspector General of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) in July 2025. The AOC supports the constitutional responsibilities of Congress and the Supreme Court of the United States by operating and preserving the United States Capitol complex, a central symbol of American democracy and the seat of the nation’s legislative branch. As Inspector General, Mr. Santos provides independent oversight of AOC programs and operations through investigations, audits, evaluations, and other oversight operations designed to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. He also provides leadership and recommendations to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness and keeps the AOC and Congress fully informed of significant problems and deficiencies affecting agency programs and operations.

Prior to joining the AOC, Mr. Santos served as Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor beginning in January 2022 and subsequently as Acting Inspector General. In these roles, he oversaw more than $56 billion in annual federal funding supporting programs including unemployment insurance, worker safety, training and reemployment services, pension and health benefits, wage protections, and economic statistics. He also had responsibility for oversight of nearly $1 trillion in emergency pandemic funding.

Over the course of his federal oversight career, Mr. Santos has led complex investigative, audit, evaluation, and other oversight operations focused on protecting taxpayer resources and strengthening the integrity of federal programs. His work has addressed systemic risks, fraud, corruption, organized crime, and other abuses affecting government programs and operations, including program fraud schemes, labor racketeering, human trafficking, and other serious criminal activity. Investigative work under his leadership has resulted in the closure of approximately 1,600 investigations, more than 2,600 criminal indictments, over 2,000 convictions, and approximately $1.3 billion in monetary results. He has also overseen more than 150 high-impact audits, reviews, and evaluations that identified over $75 billion in funds that could be put to better use and strengthened accountability across major federal programs.

Mr. Santos is active in the Inspector General community and has represented the United States in international engagements focused on strengthening public sector oversight and combating fraud, including through the use of advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies. He serves as a Senior Lead for the International Public Sector Fraud Forum, partnering with oversight leaders from the Five Eyes partner nations to exchange leading practices for detecting and preventing public sector fraud. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Legislation Committee, helping coordinate the Inspector General community’s engagement with Congress on legislative matters affecting federal oversight operations.

Mr. Santos has more than 15 years of leadership experience in the federal oversight community. Appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2017, he served in several senior leadership roles advancing oversight priorities and strengthening transparency, accountability, and program integrity across federal operations.

Before entering federal service, Mr. Santos spent more than a decade in the private sector in the United States and abroad, specializing in business administration, project management, and communications. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Suffolk University in Boston, as well as professional certifications as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Project Management Professional (PMP). He is also a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and began his federal career through the U.S. Department of Labor’s MBA Fellows Program in 2008.

Dennis Sendros, Senior Advisor, Audits and Vulnerabilities Group (AVG)

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Dennis Sendros is a Senior Advisor in the Audits and Vulnerabilities Group in CPI, where he consults on a wide range of Medicare projects. His current obsession is working to stem the flow of healthcare fraud due to identity theft. Prior to this, he was the Director for the Division of Vulnerabilities, Innovation, and Strategy. In this role, he led the effort to mitigate risks arising from flexibilities issued in response to the COVID PHE and perform comprehensive risk assessments of CMS programs.

Prior to joining CPI, Dennis helped stand up the Audits Management Group in CMS’s Office of Legislation, where he coordinated CMS responses to OIG and GAO audit requests and reports. Dennis has extensive experience in public policy, having served as an aide to Senator Frank Lautenberg on health and education and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez on education, agriculture, and immigration.

Dennis resides in Washington, DC, where he rides his bike and complains to anyone who will listen about the height limit.

Rebecca Shea is a Director in GAO’s Forensic Audit and Investigative Service (FAIS) team, where she leads audits to detect fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. She developed GAO’s Antifraud Resource and pioneered the first estimate of fraud in federal operations. Rebecca’s work leverages data analytics and GAO’s Fraud Risk Framework to assess agency efforts. Her recent testimonies addressed COVID-19 fraud, strategies for improving federal fraud response, and risks linked to obscured FAA aircraft ownership. With 27 years at GAO, Rebecca previously served as a methodological expert and earned her doctorate in Sociology from Vanderbilt University. 

Dr. Sterling Thomas is GAO’s Chief Scientist in Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics.

Prior to joining GAO, he was the Chief Scientist at Noblis, a Reston, VA based research institute overseeing their applied research programs for the past 13 years. Sterling has also served as a principal investigator for research programs funded by the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. His work has included creating new methods regarding synthetic biology, strategies for decoupling qubits for improving error correction in quantum computing, methods for using artificial intelligence to detect decentralized coordinated cyber-attacks, and network-based optimization algorithms to detect abnormalities in public equities markets.

Sterling’s contributions have been recognized across industry including by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for best paper utilizing machine learning methods in detecting breast cancer, and at his former institute where he received the Science and Technology Achievement award. He has also been awarded four patents and has multiple pending patent applications. Sterling earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Life Sciences from VCU, a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University, and Bachelor of Science from Old Dominion University.