Dive Brief:
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After a year without a named federal CIO, the Trump administration approved Suzette Kuhlow Kent as the administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, Office of Management and Budget, according to a White House announcement Friday. Her official start date has not been released.
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Kent is currently a principal at EY and was previously a partner at Accenture, consulting president at Carreker Corporation and a managing director at JPMorgan, according to the announcement.
- Kent will be replacing Margie Graves, the current acting U.S. CIO. Graves has been serving as the acting federal CIO since January of last year, following the departure of former federal CIO Tony Scott.
Dive Insight:
There has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding federal CIOs in the last year. Multiple agencies experienced either departures or prolonged tenures of acting CIOs.
In August 2017 alone, five CIOs left their roles — including crucial departments like the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security.
Faced with such turnover, creating an agency-wide, streamlined approach to best technical practices is a challenge. But within departments, federal CIOs are also challenged with re-establishing their authority.
With every change in leadership, IT departments are forced to press pause on the initiatives set by their predecessor. However, with a new federal CIO in place, cementing collaborative initiatives may be easier.
The Senate passed the Modernizing Government Technology Act (MGT) in September as an amendment of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — a noteworthy decision because it means modern cyber defenses are an important aspect of overall national security.
The Trump administration has taken a hardline approach to modernizing government IT, including cloud adoption and maintaining the integrity of legacy systems. When Kent steps in, she will assume responsibility for helping to direct these efforts.
