ITB Charter

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Information Technology/Information 

Management Board 

July 2015 

Office of Information Services

7/28/2015 
Revision History 

Date Summary of Changes Author

01/2014 Update based on new 

governance roles and 

responsibilities and creation of 

the Architecture Council 

Houman Rasouli, Roger 

Doornbos 

5/2014 Update based on review 

comments from ITB/IPEC 

members

Houman Rasouli, Roger 

Doornbos 

06/2014 Update based on new voting 

members 

Houman Rasouli, Roger 

Doornbos 

04/2015 Update based on new voting 

members 

Menelik Yimam, Roger Doornbos 

07/2015 Reformatted in alignment with 

IPEC Charter; no changes to 

content 
Charter for the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

Information Technology/Information Management Board

Table of Contents

I. PURPOSE 3 

II. RELATIONSHIP to OTHER COMMITTEES and GROUPS 4 

A. Voting Members 5 

B. Advisory Members 6 

III. RESPONSIBILITIES 7 

A. Role of the ITB 7 

B. Responsibilities of the ITB Co-Chairs 8 

C. Responsibilities of the ITB Voting Members 8 

D. Responsibilities of the ITB Advisory and Non-voting Members 9 

E. Meeting Absence 9 

F. Responsibilities of the ITB Secretariat and Support Team 9 

IV. METHODS AND PROCEDURES 10 

A. Meetings 10 

B. Virtual Votes 10 

C. Voting Rules 10 

D. Meeting Minutes 10

E. Communication 11

2 
Charter for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

 Information Technology Information Management Board

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I. PURPOSE 

 The Information Technology Information Management Board (ITB) is a governance body established 

by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Chief Information Officer to review and 

recommend changes to the agency’s IT Portfolio based on the NRC’s mission and business needs. 

The ITB provides functional oversight of the Architecture Council (AC) in collaboration with the CIO, 

Deputy CIO, and the IT Portfolio Executive Council (IPEC). The board also reviews new proposals 

and current IT investments and assigns corrective actions to ensure alignment with the IPEC priorities, 

agency’s strategic direction and budget, ability to integrate into the NRC’s IT architecture, 

conformance with technology standards, and potential risks to the NRC environment. 

The mission of the ITB is to align IT investments and technology standards with the NRC’s strategic 

plan and architecture portfolio; provide resource, investment, and priority recommendations to IPEC; 

and to ensure that IT investments are made according to the agency direction set by the IPEC. 
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II. Relationship to Other Committees and Groups 

• ITB ensures that the agency’s IT direction, value, and risk tolerance as set by the IPEC 

are followed and executed by all investment/component owners throughout the NRC. 

• ITB will receive the agency’s new IT business needs through the Change Request (CR) 

process. CR process is managed through the OIS Customer Service Division, Customer 

Outreach Branch. 

• ITB may commission technology and/or business process review by the Architecture 

Council to analyze business needs and challenges that may be solved through IT 

solutions. As a result, ITB will make its funding recommendations and approval based 

on the AC’s technical recommendations. 

• ITB will inform the IT Portfolio Council (ITPC) of new IT solutions that may require new 

acquisition planning. 

(ITB’s roles and responsibilities are further discussed in Section IV) 
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 Information Technology Information Management Board

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III. MEMBERSHIP 

A. Voting Members

The ITB is co-chaired by the Office of Information Services (OIS) Investment and Program 

Management Branch (IPMB) Branch Chief and a Program Office Representative rotated on a biennial 

basis. Voting members are expected to attend every meeting or send a designated representative to 

vote on their behalf. The membership is as follows: 

Voting Members Office

IPMB Branch Chief, Co-Chair 

Yimam, Menelik 

OIS

Program Office Representative, Co-Chair 

[two year term] 

Roger Doornbos

Region III 

PMDA/ITT Team Leader, 

Richard Ellsbury 

ADM 

CSO Deputy Director, 

Jonathan Feibus

CSO

FSME Representative 

Joel Bristor 

FSME 

PBPA/HCIT&AMB Branch Chief, 

Richard Kristobek 

NMSS 

DARR/POB Branch Chief, 

David Curtis

NRO

NRR Representative, 

Melissa Ash 

NRR 

NSIR Representation, 

Kevin Williams 

NSIR 

DC/FSYSB Branch Chief, 

Mathew Grow 

OCFO 

OCHCO Representative, 

Brendan Cain 

OCHCO 

PMDA/ITIB Branch Chief, 

Tom Kardaras 

RES 

DRM/IRB Branch Chief, 

Michael Dean 

Region I 

DRMA Deputy Director, 

Russell Ficken

Region II

DRMA/IRMB Branch Chief, 

Harold McKelvey

Region IV
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 B. Advisory Members 

Advisory members are non-voting members who work in partnership with the program 

managers and provide advice to the ITB in their respective areas. Advisory members 

attend every meeting as consultants to ITB. 

Advisory Members Office

PIB Branch Chief, 

Bill Szyperski

OIS Solution Development Division (SDD)

ISPB Branch Chief, 

Edwin Leong

OIS/IT/IM Portfolio Management and Planning 

Division

SEB Branch Chief, 

Michael Williams

OIS/Operations Division 

COB Branch Chief, 

Antony Calvo

OIS/Customer Service Division

CAB Branch Chief, 

Joseph Widdup 

ADM/AMD 

OCHCO/ADHRTD/TTC, 

Joe Lawson 

TTC 

Branch Chief, 

Alesha Bellinger 

ACRS/PMDA 

Senior Level Advisor to the Secretary of the 

Commission, 

Andrew Bates 

SECY 

Program Specialist, 

Erin Deeds 

SBCR /SBOCD 
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Information Technology Information Management Board 

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III. RESPONSIBILITIES 

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

A. Role of the ITB 

The ITB has the following roles: 

1. ITB will review, approve, or reject new IT Investments. To do so, ITB will take the following 

actions: 

a. Review new IT business needs and challenges to ensure alignment with the 

agency’s overall strategic plan. Business needs that are aligned will be further 

analyzed for technical and financial feasibility. Those needs that do not align 

with the agency’s strategic plan and/or IT architecture portfolio will be returned to 

the requesting business partner for development of a stronger business need or 

withdrawal. 

b. Work through the Architecture Council (AC) to develop new technical and/or 

business process improvement proposals for those business needs approved by 

the ITB. 

c. Review AC’s technical and/or business process proposal to ensure financial 

feasibility. If determined to be financially infeasible, proposal will be returned to 

the requesting business partner for reevaluation or withdrawal. 

d. Provide ITB recommended IT investment to the IPEC for approval. 

2. ITB will review, analyze, and prioritize IT Investments and resources for IPEC approval. 

As part of this process, ITB will make its priority decisions based on the criticality of the 

business need, the ability to execute, and the availability of resources. To do so, ITB 

will take the following actions: 

a. Schedule and conduct working meetings to finalize the priority of investment 

activities and resources received from the Investment and Program 

Management Branch. 

b. Office/Regional ITB representatives will work with their stakeholders to 

communicate priorities proposed by the ITB and collaborate agreement 

c. Finalize the list of ITB-recommended IT investment priorities and submit to IPEC 

for recommended approval. 

3. ITB will review IT investment performance metrics and take corrective actions to ensure 

alignment with defined business needs and investment goals. To do so, ITB will take 

the following actions: 

a. Schedule quarterly status updates and annual control phase reviews on major IT 

investments as identified by the NRC Office of Management and Budget Exhibit 

300s. 

b. Host status updates and control phase review briefings. 

c. Based on the investment’s performance, assign corrective and/or mitigation 

actions to the investment owner (i.e., recommend suspension or cancelation of 

IT Investment to IPEC based on priority changes, heightened risk profile, 

excessive costs, etc.). 
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d. Track and follow up on all assigned action items to ensure proper and the timely 

execution. 

B. Responsibilities of the ITB Co-Chairs 

The co-chairs are responsible for the following: 

1. planning and presiding over meetings and virtual voting activities, 

2. participating in the IT/IM Portfolio Council (ITPC) and Architecture Council 

3. obtaining agreement among voting members, 

4. overseeing the ITB governance process to ensure resource alignment and execution of 

activities, and 

5. meeting compliance requirements.

C. Responsibilities of ITB Voting Members 

The ITB voting members are responsible for the following: 

1. reviewing new and existing IT investments to ensure the investment is meeting its 

business needs in the most efficient and effective manner, and that the agency’s resources 

are prioritized to meet the highest mission critical IT needs. It is important for all parties 

involved in decisions to try and reach consensus to ensure buy-in, accountability, and 

responsibility. 

2. attending meetings and actively participating in discussion and decision-making activities, 

3. performing reviews and contributing to the ITB action within agreed-upon schedules and 

terms, 

4. aligning recommendations with IPEC priorities and technology directions, and 

5. upholding, supporting, and communicating ITB recommendations and decisions within 

their organizations and to other stakeholders. 

D. ITB Advisory and Non-voting Members 

Nonvoting members are subject matter experts (SMEs) who support and advise voting members 

from each corporate support and business area. Based on meeting agenda content, voting 

members may invite SMEs to support them. 

Nonvoting members also include advisors to the ITB who provide guidance on Federal mandates, 
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as well as on policies and processes relating to records management, acquisitions, security, 

project management, and enterprise architecture. They advise voting members on effects to the 

agency infrastructure; technical feasibility of proposed projects; impacts and integration with 

current and future IT architecture; conformance to defined standards; interrelationship of IT 

projects; and the reasonableness of project cost estimates. 

E. Meeting Absence 

In the event an ITB voting member cannot attend a meeting, he or she may designate an office 

representative to cast proxy votes during the meeting on his or her behalf, or the voting member 

can vote in advance of the meeting using a virtual vote. If the voting member names a delegate 

the voting member must notify the meeting support team or the co-chairs in advance of meetings. 

F. Responsibilities of the ITB Secretariat and Support Team 

With the co-chairs, the ITB secretariat and support team are responsible for: 

1. scheduling meetings, 

2. establishing the agenda, 

3. providing supporting staff as required to perform preprocessing analysis, 

4. working with the AC and OIS to prepare for ITB reviews, 

5. planning, preparing, and conducting meetings, 

6. recording and distributing meeting minutes and updating agency information repositories 

and technology plans, and 

7. communicating ITB decisions and recommendations to appropriate stakeholders. 

 
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I. METHODS AND PROCEDURES 

 

A. Meetings 

The ITB shall meet bi-weekly or as often as necessary to accomplish its purpose. The ITB 

meeting will proceed with voting if a quorum (majority of voting members) is present or 

represented; and the vote will be recognized by all members as valid. 

 

B. Virtual Votes

For technology Change Requests the ITB support team will send an e-mail to all ITB voting 

members requesting virtual votes by a specified due date; normally, voting is open for 5 business 

days. The ITB support team will send a follow-up e-mail 2 days before the due date to voting 

members who have not provided their vote. Voting members may request an extension or 

respond with additional questions during the review period. After the voting period closes, a lack 

of a response from a voting member is considered as a vote of Abstention. 

C. Voting Rules 

Each ITB voting member can cast one vote of Approve, Reject, or Abstain, either by e-mail or at 

the ITB board meeting. An Approve decision requires a majority of Approve votes. The co-chairs 

may escalate input from the ITB and significant areas of concern to the IPEC or other committees 

for resolution. 

Approve vote: Can be submitted with standard conditions and with additional conditions to 

standard conditions. Standard approval conditions apply to all approvals and may include 

additional specific limitations when additional controls are needed. 

Reject vote: Must include a reason or cause for concern that cannot easily be resolved (e.g., a 

significant issue is or will be present if the request is approved). 

Abstain vote: A decision to decline to vote based on limited expertise or office interest in the 

subject technology area. 

D. Meeting Minutes 

The ITB secretariat or staff prepares and distributes the SharePoint link to the draft meeting 

minutes to the members electronically through internal e-mail. Members may provide comments 

or corrections to the minutes within 5 business days after an ITB meeting. Final minutes will be 

stored as permanent records in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System for 

internal NRC viewing and possible distribution to oversight authorities upon request without further 

approval by the ITB members. 
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E. Communication

An email will be sent to members that will include a SharePoint link that will allow members 

access to meeting invitations, meeting minutes, agendas, review packages, and other meeting 

appropriate documentation and information. Decisions are communicated and distributed for 

updating other agency repositories and strategic documents, including the following: 

• TRM: Agency repository of current and target technology and service standards 

• IT/IM Roadmap: Agency IT/IM transition plan for the next 3 years 

• IT System Inventory: Agency IT/IM portfolio of investments