CTO resumes shine with entrepreneurial success stories

Many government chief technology officers have an entrepreneurial background.

Being an entrepreneur is good preparation for being a government chief technology officer (CTO).

CTO

Year CTO Position Created

Reports to

Responsibilities

Previous Jobs

Aneesh Chopra,
Executive Office of the President

2009*

President/
White House chief of staff

Applies new technologies to strengthen the U.S. economy, connect people with the government, and promote government oversight and accountability. Acts as vice chairman of White House health care IT task force.

Virginia's secretary of technology; venture capitalist.

Chris Kemp, NASA

2010

Chief information officer

Oversees NASA’s Enterprise Architecture division and efforts for introducing emerging IT into the agency. Will manage a new CTO Council and explore ways to increase the energy efficiency of NASA's IT environment.

Co-founder of Web start-ups; business development director at NASA.

Peter Levin,
Veterans Affairs Department

2009

Office of the Secretary

Identifies technologies for improving electronic health records for veterans. Also spearheads a VA drive to convert paper-based claims processing to a system that uses electronic documents.

Founder and executive of software company start-up; venture capitalist; university dean.

Todd Park, Health and Human Services Department

2009

Office of the Secretary

Identifies technologies related to health care reform. Runs the agency’s response to the White House’s Open Government Directive. Leads the Community Health Data Initiative for distributing health information to the public.

Founder and chief executive officer of a Web start-up.

Bryan Sivak, District of Columbia

1999

Mayor’s office

Acts as top IT official for the District of Columbia. Manages the district’s centralized data center operations and directs an internal research lab for identifying and prototyping new technologies. Oversees new initiatives proposed by departmental CIOs.

Founder and executive at a software start-up.

Roger Smith, Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation

2004

Program Executive Officer

Identifies, evaluates and champions new technologies for next-generation simulation, training and instrumentation systems.

CTO and manager of private-sector hardware and software companies.

* Norm Lorentz was the first CTO at the Office of Management and Budget in 2002.

Source: Federal Computer Week 


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