Christopher Emery

Christopher B. Emery
August 2017
Chief Enterprise Architect
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Assumed office
September 2015
Director & Chief Information Officer
U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division
In office
December 2012  September 2015
Director, Policy & IT Portfolio Governance U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Chief CIO
In office
March 2010  December 2012
Chief Information Officer
Architect of the Capitol
In office
2006–2008
Chief Enterprise Architect
Architect of the Capitol
In office
2004–2006
Howard County Council Administrator
In office
March 1995  December 1998
White House Usher
In office
January 1986  March 1994
Personal details
Born August 1, 1957
Sykesville, Maryland
Relations Jennifer Bassey (stepmother)
Natasha Gajewski (stepsister)
Children 4
Alma mater Howard Community College (AA)
University of Maryland University College (BS)

Christopher Beauregard Emery is the Chief Enterprise Architect for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Emery was a White House Usher from January 1986, in the Reagan Administration, until his dismissal in March 1994 from the Clinton Administration. Emery is the author of the book White House Usher: Stories from the Inside (2017).

Early life and education

Early life

Emery was born in Sykesville, Maryland. His father, Roy Frederick Emery Jr., served in Britain as a U.S. Army Air Force captain and was later a dairy farmer and attorney in Ellicott City, Maryland, as well a Thoroughbred horse breeder later in life.[1] His parisian mother, Jacqueline Nicole Marchal, served in French Indochina as an Army nurse and was later a French language teacher at Glenelg Country School, as well as a freelance French and German translator.[2] Emery's parents were married in 1949 and moved from Cooksville, Maryland to the historic 18th-century residence, Howard Lodge in 1959.[1] Emery has two sisters, Ariane and Lynn. Emery's parents divorced in 1971.[1] His father remarried to actress Jennifer Bassey until his death in 1991. His mother later married former commercial pilot turned statistician Riaz Hussein Rana through which, Emery gained two stepsisters, Holly Bosshard and Symple Health founder and CEO, Natasha Gajewski.[3][4][5]

Education

Emery has an associate degree from Howard Community College.[6] In 1996, Emery graduated with a B.S. in Information Systems with a minor in Management from the University of Maryland University College where he also completed graduate work in technology management.[7][8]

White House Usher

Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush years

Emery began his career at the White House as a computer specialist after answering a job advertisement in The Washington Post.[7] Soon, he was hired by the then White House Chief Usher, Gary J. Walters to replace the retiring Nelson Pierce as an assistant White House Chief Usher.[7] Emery served as an usher in the Reagan Administration beginning in January 1986.[7] In this capacity, he worked in a four-person office to oversee the White House estate, including managing the 89 residence staff.[7] In addition, part of Emery's job was to carry out White House functions such as receptions, dinners, and conferences. In doing so, Emery worked in tandem with the First Family, White House Staff, Chief Usher, Press Office, Secret service, and military leaders. Emery gave personal tours of the White House to private guests including some notable figures such as Barbra Streisand, Dana Carvey, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Julie Andrews, Johnny Carson, and Melanie Griffith.[9][7][10]

Bill Clinton years and firing

On March 3, 1994, Emery's unusually abrupt firing was the subject of nationwide news when Hillary Clinton dismissed Emery for communication he maintained with former first lady Barbara Bush.[11][12][13][14] Despite Emery's passing of several FBI investigations and background checks, Hillary Clinton chose to fire him due to "an incredible lack of discretion" for communicating twice with the former First Lady.[12][13][15] He was the first ever White House Usher to be fired.[7] A White House Usher does not typically change with administrations.[9] White House Chief Usher Gary J. Walters, was not permitted by the White House to testify before a Congressional subcommittee in regards to Emery's dismissal, leading to some suspicions on Capitol Hill that the White House was attempting to avoid scrutiny about the firing.[16]

Post-White House years

Council Administrator

Upon dismissal from the White House, Emery worked for eleven months as a computer consultant.[17] In March 1995, Emery was appointed Council Administrator of Howard County, replacing former University System of Maryland assistant vice chancellor Dr. Sheila Tolliver.[9][18] As the council administrator, he oversaw a staff of 25 people with an operating budget of about $1 million.[19] Views on his tenure are split along party lines.[6] He has earned the praise of Republican council chairman Charles C. Feaga and Allan H. Kittleman.[6][17] In June 1996, Emery publicly clashed with Democratic councilman C. Vernon Gray over Gray's misuse of county funds and resources to aid in his campaign for a position with the National Association of Counties.[20] Weeks later, Gray wrongfully accused Emery of leaking NAOC campaign letters to The Baltimore Sun.[21] Emery was vindicated by the Howard County Police Department; Gray subsequently found his letters in a different file in his office.[22] Effective December 4, 1998, Emery resigned when Democrats regained the majority.[23][24]

Return to federal government

After his time as a council administrator, Emery returned to the federal government as a supervisory information technology specialist at the Architect of the Capitol where he later served as the Director of Information Resources Management.[8][25][26] Emery was promoted to Chief Enterprise Architect of the AOC beginning in 2007.[8] In this capacity, he oversaw the enterprise and technology management over the U.S. Capitol, Senate, House of Representatives, Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court.[8] He contributed along with other information enterprise professionals from the federal government, private sector, and academia, to the publication of The Integrated Enterprise Life Cycle: Enterprise Architecture, Investment Management, and System Development.[8] With colleagues at the AOC and the National Science Foundation, Emery also published a paper for the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.[27] In 2009, Emery became the Chief Information Officer of the AOC.[28]

In 2010, Emery served as the Director of Portfolio Governance in the Office of the Chief CIO for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Two years later, in December 2012, Emery became the first Chief Information Officer of the United States Department of Justice National Security Division where he served on the DOJ CIO Council to help develop the strategic plan for the Department's Information and Technology goals for fiscal years 2015–2018.[29]

Emery currently serves as the Chief Enterprise Architect for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Memoir

In 2017, Emery published a memoir, White House Usher: Stories from the Inside, which focused on his time as a White House Usher.[30][10] Former First Lady Barbara Bush wrote the book's foreword.[10]

Personal life

A past resident of Laurel, Maryland, Emery currently resides in Washington, D.C..[1] He was formerly married to Penny, with whom he has one daughter and three stepchildren.[7][9][31]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Roy F. Emery, Howard farmer, lawyer, dies at 70". Baltimore Sun. 1991-12-03. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  2. "Jacqueline Rana". Washington Post. 2010-02-19. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  3. Schudel, Matt (2012-11-15). "Riaz H. Rana, company founder". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  4. "Obituaries for January 2013 | Amstat News". American Statistical Association. 2013-01-01. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  5. Clare, David (2014-04-18). "The Friday Interview: Natasha Gajewski, Founder of Symple App". Pixel Health. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  6. 1 2 3 Timberg, Craig (1996-07-21). "Council official to testify in FBI file probe Panel seeks story of White House usher fired by first lady". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sherrill, Martha (1994-03-23). "THE MAN HILLARY USHERED OUT". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Handbook of enterprise systems architecture in practice. Saha, Pallab, 1970-. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. 2007. ISBN 9781599041919. OCLC 317384365.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Maass, Peter (1996-09-10). "AFTER THE USHER'S FALL". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  10. 1 2 3 B., EMERY, CHRISTOPHER (2017). WHITE HOUSE USHER : stories from the inside. [S.l.]: BOOKLOCKER COM. ISBN 1634926560. OCLC 1012751011.
  11. Brower, Kate Andersen. "The Secret Lives of Hillary and Bill in the White House". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  12. 1 2 Lewis, Neil A. (1996-07-04). "Attack Widens on Clinton Staff Practices". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  13. 1 2 "White House Used IRS File, Documents Say". Los Angeles Times. 1996-07-04. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  14. Kessler, Ronald (2014). The First Family detail : Secret Service agents reveal the hidden lives of the presidents (First ed.). New York: Crown Forum. p. 16. ISBN 9780804139212. OCLC 874969647.
  15. Murdock, Deroy (2015-10-01). "Hillary Clinton, Bane of the Secret Service". National Review. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  16. Jehl, Douglas (1994-03-18). "Chief White House Usher 'Grounded'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  17. 1 2 Coram, James M. (1995-02-22). "Council names new top aide". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  18. The United States government manual 2007-2008. United States. Office of the Federal Register., United States. National Archives and Records Administration. (Rev., June 1, 2007 ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Register. 2007. ISBN 9780160786594. OCLC 172987856.
  19. Thomas, Kevin (1995-02-26). "More to This Job than Irking Hillary". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  20. Timberg, Craig (1996-07-09). "Report angers Howard councilman Administrator rebuked over campaign data". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  21. Timberg, Craig (1996-07-12). "Gray seeking police inquiry about letters Councilman accuses GOP administrator of stealing missives". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  22. Timberg, Craig (1996-08-05). "No crime found in missing letters But police conclusion sets off a new round in councilmen's feud". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  23. Epstein, Gady A. (1998-11-12). "Election is history, but some still see sparks Date of orientation for council members puts Emery, Gray at odds". tribunedigital-baltimoresun. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  24. Goodman, Charles Babington; Peter S. (1998-11-15). "FOR LOBBYIST, AN OFFICIAL REBUKE". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  25. Emery, Christopher; Armour, Frank (2009-12-31). "The Integrated Enterprise". FedTech. Retrieved 2017-10-25.
  26. Semiannual Report of the Architect of the Capitol. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 2004. p. 2. ISBN 0160836700.
  27. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences : 3-6 January, 2007, Big Island, Hawaii : abstracts and CD-ROM of full papers. Sprague, Ralph H., IEEE Computer Society. Los Alamitos, Calif.: IEEE Computer Society Press. 2007. ISBN 0769527558. OCLC 137225282.
  28. Emery, Christopher B.; Armour, Frank (2009-12-31). "The Integrated Enterprise". FedTech. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  29. "DOJ Strategic Plan For Information Services and Technology 2015–2018". Department of Justice – Office of Chief Information Officer. 2015. Retrieved 2018-06-21.
  30. FOX. "Former White House usher shares stories from life inside the presidential mansion". WTTG. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
  31. Kessler, Ronald (2009). In the president's secret service : behind the scenes with agents in the line of fire and the presidents they protect. New York: Crown Publishers. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0307461378. OCLC 464303615.
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