Maria Roat

CIO, Small Business Administration

When the pandemic hit, some of the biggest immediate demands from a nation struggling with closures and lost jobs were within the Small Business Administration. Maria Roat rose to the challenge by enabling the delivery of billions of dollars to small businesses across the country after taking on the job of CIO midyear.

“It was a significant year of transition, not only personally, but for the federal technology community as it innovated and significantly advanced its technical capabilities,” she said.

Why Watch

The agency is now focused on building on previous work in cybersecurity, data, customer service and sustained technology modernization so agency staff can be reliably proactive at all levels of the federal government.

Additionally, SBA is working to invest in modern and secure technologies through the Technology Modernization Fund, and to comply with the recent cybersecurity executive order to invest in modern and secure technologies and honor cybersecurity best practices.

“I am incredibly proud of the chief information officers across the federal government,” Roat said. “They turned on a dime last year — not only transitioning entire agencies to remote work, but concurrently responding to the CARES Act, requests for data and research capacity and the many demands imposed on them by the pandemic. They delivered technology that continued the federal government’s mission serving the American public in a digital environment.”