Derrick Pledger has been named Maximus’ new chief digital and information officer to lead technology modernization and enterprise IT strategies to spur growth, and deliver seamless customer experience and better service delivery for government agencies.
“Maximus has positioned itself at the forefront of technology modernization across state, federal, and international government agencies in its delivery of business services and technology solutions,” he said. “This new role is a tremendous opportunity to join a growing team and lead it to even greater heights.”
“There is unlimited potential as we combine our award-winning technology capabilities with a talented staff of technology professionals to design implementation strategies for agencies, deliver enhanced service, and more effectively support their missions,” he added.
Pledger brings over 20 years of experience in government technology to his new role. He has worked with application development, cloud computing, data analytics, cyber resilience, governance and technology modernization.
He joins Maximus after serving as CDIO at Leidos, where he led a global team of technologists, developers, enterprise architects and service delivery experts who managed a digital ecosystem and supporting over 47,000 employees.
“Derrick brings a wealth of experience to Maximus as a noted leader in technology modernization and strategic leadership, and we are excited about adding those skills to our talented executive team,” said Bruce Caswell, president and CEO of Maximus. “The CDIO role supersedes the Chief Information Officer role and will leverage innovation and emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning, to optimize business processes for our government partners.”
Pledger, a U.S. Army veteran, served multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa in public and private sector roles. He’s a member of the Business Information Technology Advisory Board at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business, the Customer Advisory Board for Rancher Government Solutions and the Advisory Board for CapitalCIO.
He’s also the author of “Your Brain Weighs 500 Pounds: Change Your Mindset to Achieve Desired Outcomes,” a book about detoxing the mind, body and soul to achieve goals.