Statewide Telework Coordinator

Jennifer Thomas Alcott
Telework Programs Director
Commonwealth of Virginia
Department of Rail and Public Transportation
info@teleworkva.org
866-469-1010 (PHONE)
866-284-1607 (FAX)

Before coming on board with the Department of Rail and Public Transportation to oversee the Telework!VA program, Jennifer was immersed in the world of telework for close to 13 years. As the Program Director for the NoCommute.org Telework Centers, she was responsible for all aspects of the three federally-funded telework centers along Interstate 95—one of the most congested highways in the nation—in Virginia. These three facilities are operated by the George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC), a regional planning organization, and funded by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) as part of a network of fourteen telework centers around the Washington, DC area. With her guidance, GWRC and GSA tripled the scope of this program along the I-95 corridor since its inception.

Jennifer has hands-on, real-world experience in assisting organizations and employees in their efforts to implement telework programs that are critical in a region that is notorious for traffic congestion. Her knowledge of the technical side of telework, along with her very personal insight into the human-nature aspects of this 21st century standard way of doing business, gives her a unique perspective on how to sell a concept to organizations and people that are very resistant to change. As a nationally-recognized expert on federal telework, she has been instrumental in implementing both home-based and center-based telework to dozens of federal agencies and breaking through the barriers of institutional resistance.

Telework!VA Consultant

Harriet West

Harriet West is a management consultant with more than 10 years of experience providing telework training and technical assistance.  She led the development and implementation of one of the nation’s most successful regional telework programs on behalf of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments from 1995 to 2000. During that time, her team worked with more than 500 private and public sector employers in the Washington metropolitan region to help them start or expand telework programs.

Harriet also conceptualized and managed the Washington Metropolitan Telework Demonstration Project, a two-year initiative involving eight public, private, and nonprofit sector organizations. This well-documented study, conducted between 1997 and 1999, showed employer cost-savings of nearly $2.5 million over a six-month period through reduced office space, enhanced employee retention, and relocation cost avoidance.

Harriet has been a consultant for several Telework!VA sites since 2002; and serves on the Telework Coalition’s Board of Directors. She researched and coauthored the Telework Coalition’s 2006 Telework Benchmarking study, which examined the best practices of some of the nations’ largest most successful telework programs.