White House hosts summit on modernizing government

By Ed O'Keefe

Updated 3:45 p.m. ET

The Obama administration hosted several top business and union leaders on Thursday for a meeting on modernization efforts across the federal government.

“I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives,” President Obama told an audience at the White House. “Improving the technology our government uses isn’t about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our websites -- it’s about how we use the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them.”

White House officials hope to make the federal bureaucracy leaner and meaner by using new technologies, such as the Web and text messaging.

But those efforts won't come at the expense of federal workers, Obama said.

"Our government employees are some of the hardest-working, most dedicated, most competent people I know," he said.

"All too often, their best efforts are thwarted because the technological revolution that has transformed our society over the past two decades has yet to reach many parts of our government. Many of these folks will tell you that their kids have better technology in their backpacks and in their bedrooms than they have at the desks at their work," Obama said.

Here's a (updated) list of of dignitaries that attended Thursday's meeting, per the White House:

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Technology

John McGlade, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.

Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Consumer Goods

Angie Hicks, Angie’s List

Cheryl Milone, Article One Partners

Andrea Jung, Avon

Debra Lee, BET Networks

Gregory Page, Cargill, Inc.

David Dougherty, Convergys

Craig Newmark, Craigslist

Samuel Allen, Deere & Co.