Maria Roat, former chief information officer at the Small Business Administration and current deputy federal CIO, has won WashingtonExec’s 2020 Chief Officer Award for Government CIO.
In its inaugural year, the Chief Officer Awards luncheon was held June 17 as a virtual live-streamed program to accommodate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations about in-person events. Over 500 people watched as C-suite executives in both industry and government were recognized for their innovation, expertise, impact, and thought leadership.
Roat has more than 30 years of experience in IT, stemming from an interest in computers sparked when she was a junior in high school taking computer programming classes.
“I was always interested in this computer thing,” she told WashingtonExec previously.
Roat’s career began in the U.S. Navy, where she spent 26 years active and reserve working on IT and intelligence, retiring in 2007. Her roles there included command master chief, naval reserve policy board member and command master chief for the Center for Naval Leadership Mid-Atlantic Region.
Before being named deputy federal CIO in May 2020, Roat spent four years with the Small Business Administration as CIO. Her prior positions includes chief technology officer at the Transportation Department and multiple roles within the Department of Homeland Security, where she spent a decade in agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Transportation Security Agency.
Roat is a graduate of the University of Maryland University College, Harvard Business School Executive Education Program for Leadership Development and the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy.