Toni Townes-Whitley is senior vice president at CGI Federal, the company that earned the "no-bid" contract to build the $678 million Obamacare website. She is also reportedly a former Princeton classmate of First Lady Michelle Obama, a curious connection first noted by the Daily Caller.
Townes-Whitley and the first lady reportedly graduated from Princeton in 1985 and are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.
First lady Michelle Obama gestures during a campaign rally for her husband, President Barack Obama, Friday, Nov. 2, 2102, at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va. Credit: AP
Following the publication of the Daily Caller's report, CGI Federal told the website that there would be "nothing coming out of CGI for the record or otherwise today."
More from TheDC:
Toni Townes ’85 is a onetime policy analyst with the General Accounting Office and previously served in the Peace Corps in Gabon, West Africa. Her decision to return to work, as an African-American woman, after six years of raising kids was applauded by a Princeton alumni publication in 1998.George Schindler, the president for U.S. and Canada of the Canadian-based CGI Group, CGI Federal’s parent company, became an Obama 2012 campaign donor after his company gained the Obamacare website contract.
As reported by the Washington Examiner in early October, the Department of Health and Human Services reviewed only CGI’s bid for the Obamacare account. CGI was one of 16 companies qualified under the Bush administration to provide certain tech services to the federal government. A senior vice president for the company testified this week before The House Committee on Energy and Commerce that four companies submitted bids, but did not name those companies or explain why only CGI’s bid was considered.
It should be noted that Townes-Whitley's connection to Michelle Obama could be nothing more than a coincidence -- but that doesn't mean questions shouldn't be asked.
For CGI Federal's part, the $678 million Obamacare website has been described as everything from a "train wreck" to a "disaster" as "glitches" and other problems continue to plague the site.
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