Mrs. Belkis "Bel" Leong-Hong
Corporate Bio

Ms Belkis Leong-Hong is the Founder, President, and CEO of Knowledge Advantage Inc.®, a woman-owned, 8(a)-certified company specializing in delivery of Information Technology and Knowledge Management solutions, strategic planning, policy and program analysis, strategic business initiatives, leadership development, change management, and workforce modernization. Her clients include Government agencies, Fortune-100 companies, and small IT companies.

She left Government service with the rank of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, after 30 years of public service. During her tenure at DOD, Mrs. Leong-Hong held a number of high-level positions, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Planning and Resources, where she managed the C3I resources allocation process. Her portfolio included oversight of billions of dollars in programs, congressional relations, policies, and strategic planning. She also held the position of the second in command of a Defense agency, the Defense Security Service (DSS), as its Principal Deputy Director and CIO. At the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) she held positions as the Deputy Commander of the Joint Interoperability and Engineering Organization (JIEO), with responsibility for over 1500 computer scientists and engineers, and as the Director for Center for Information Management, and Director for Information Engineering. In both positions she provided technical services, tools, and support to other DOD offices. She established and ran the first DOD-wide Data Administration function for the Department of Defense, and created the first Center of Software Excellence in DISA. At the OSD, she led the implementation of the first DOD-wide Corporate Information Management initiative; established and managed eight DOD-wide BPR efforts; created a process manual for business process improvement; and, was actively involved in standards development. She was the Vice Chair of an ANSI/ISO standards development committee on Information Resources Dictionary System (IRDS). A mathematician and computer scientist by training, she holds degrees from Hunter College and American University, and certificates from Harvard’s Kennedy’s School of Government.

Mrs. Leong-Hong is an acknowledged expert in database management, data administration, knowledge management, business transformation and strategies, and software engineering. John Wiley and Sons published her earliest technical reference book on the subject of Data Dictionary/Directory Systems. She has published extensively in the areas of data administration, data dictionary systems, and software engineering. In 2002, her chapter on “Critical Success Factors for Knowledge Management” was published by Management Concepts. She has written extensively on leadership development and management issues, and is a frequently invited keynote speaker on the above subjects. Most recently, she was invited to create an Executive Leadership development program for a Military command.

Mrs. Leong-Hong sits on corporate boards and she is also very active in her professional community. She serves as a member of the Military Academy Admission Review Board. She is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, Past President of the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA-NOVA), past President of the DC Chapter of OCA (OCA-DC), past President of Women in Technology, and a former member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the very prestigious Presidential Rank Meritorious Service Award, the DOD Distinguished Service Medal, the DOD Meritorious Service Medals, Oak Leaf clusters, the GSA Excellence in Management and Administration, the Professional Woman of the Year Award from NAPAW, The Governor of Maryland’s Citation for Outstanding Service, 2000, the 2003 AFCEA International Leadership Award, and most recently, the Stan Suyat Leadership Award of 2006.