Top 25 Execs to Watch in 2019

Suzette Kent, U.S. chief information officer, Office of Management and Budget

The fifth federal CIO since the role was created in 2002, Suzette Kent came to her position in early 2018. Prior to being appointed, she held leadership positions at a number of financial and technological services organizations, including EY, JP Morgan, Carreker Corp. and Accenture.

Why Watch:

As the federal government’s top IT leader, Kent keeps busy. She is tasked with leading policy for federal IT modernization, and she manages federal cybersecurity risk, emphasizes the current administration’s efforts at technology modernization throughout the federal government, and focuses on acquiring, training and managing the talent needed to achieve those goals.

The Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy, announced in November, is one such effort at addressing skills gaps in the IT workforce.

“Cybersecurity is a key priority for this administration,” Kent said in a press release at the time. “This is why we need to continue to transform and modernize our efforts to improve our cyber posture. I’m thrilled to see the Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy pilot class take off as a path to train federal employees to join our cyber defenders.”

In addition to efforts such as U.S. Digital Service and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program, Kent has also expressed a desire to create a kind of talent-sharing program in which private sector employees could rotate in and out of short periods of public service.