Obama names D.C. official as federal CIO

Updated 5:52 a.m. with details from the official announcement.

President Obama on Thursday named Vivek Kundra, Washington, D.C.'s chief technology officer, to the position of federal chief information officer.

Kundra, who has served as a technology policy adviser for President Obama, will be responsible for coordinating the use of information technology and IT spending across government agencies, as well as creating more government efficiency through information sharing while maintaining sound security and privacy practices. Ahead of the announcement, an administration official confirmed Kundra's new role to CNET News following a report in The Washington Post.

In a statement, President Obama said:

Vivek Kundra will bring a depth of experience in the technology arena and a commitment to lowering the cost of government operations to this position. I have directed him to work to ensure that we are using the spirit of American innovation and the power of technology to improve performance and lower the cost of government operations. As Chief Information Officer, he will play a key role in making sure our government is running in the most secure, open, and efficient way possible.

In 2007, Kundra was appointed as Washington's CTO, a position in which he has overseen a staff of 600 and 86 agencies. As CTO of the federal district, he has been praised for making Washington's bureaucratic system more efficient and transparent through the use of technology, including applications from Google and Apple. Kundra has also been able to encourage the development of the city's tech sector, according to the Washington business community.

"He's charismatic and smart," Steve Moore, the president and CEO of the Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership, told CNET News in an interview earlier this year. "He's a constant adviser for us on technology and what our priorities should be."

Before becoming CTO of Washington, D.C., Kundra served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Technology for the state of Virginia, where his role was to use technology to maximize government efficiency and business opportunities in the state--for instance, by developing a dashboard that used business intelligence to increase citizen participation in state procurement. He also assembled the largest United States trade delegation ever to visit India.

Kundra also has experience in the private sector. He served as vice president of marketing for the identity management company Evincible Software, and advised clients on IT governance as CEO of Creostar.

The president is also expected to name a federal CTO, another new position that has generated much speculation. Though the position has not yet been filled, the president has already tasked the CTO with the job of devising a plan to make the administration more Internet-friendly. The official will have until late May to finish the plan.

Watch CBS Videos Online
Cell phones and inauguration: Washington, D.C.'s "tech czar" Vivek Kundra
explains how cell phones will work during the Inauguration and what techonology
safety precautions have been taken. (1/17/09)

[sanenazok]

What a surprise...Obama's bringing change by giving out jobs to those who worked for him during a campaign. That's a striking change from nobody. Nowhere is there a definition of what the CTO will do, at least while at DC he had actual duties ("oversight.) The federal job is just a bunch of keywords like "efficiency!" "openness!" "security!" Obama forgot "hope and change" for once. Yeah I'm sure his "experience" of doing one BI roll out within a single city is going to transfer just perfectly to a scale several thousands times larger. Pretty hilarious that DC has 600 staff members reporting to the CTO and their largest accomplishment is a bunch of widgets that could be put together with publicly available information. His other accomplishment is the largest trip ever serving as an excuse to visit his family in India!

[sharmajunior]

That's why people work and campaign for candidates; so they could get jobs if the candidate winds. Duh....It's been going on for a long time.

[sanenazok]

@sharma: you see the whole point of the Obama campaign was bringing CHANGE to the way things work in Washington. Competence was to take precedence over campaign connections with thousands of candidates being considered across the board. So who does Obama pick again and again - just the usual hacks who supported his campaign.

I hope the president succeeds in all he's up against, but he should have picked an accomplished C-level pro only after defining the position.

[YankeePoodle]

I agree with you. This dude is no different from his predecessor hiring cronies. I wanted Dean to be selected for HHS, but he appointed his crony who has done little or nothing when she was the Governor.

[mmichaels]

Hopefully his taxes are all up to date. That's about the most I can now expect out of an Obama nominee.

[tecue]

President Obama wants his government to be transparent, Open and at the same time Secure (information security). I am sure Kundra will bring the much needed vision and integrity to bring it all together to create an effective federal Information Technology policy.

Read Tecue.com blog for the latest Technology news.

[ddecirce]

OMG ... after reading most of the comments here .. I thought I was at http://www.rushlimbaugh.com

[rcrusoe]

So far, I've been pretty underwhelmed with most of the President's picks (and policies).

However, I've been following Kundra since he became CIO of DC and I must say, I like the way he thinks.

Here's hoping he's the first of a long line of winners working in the new administration.