Tommy Gardner
CTO, HP Federal
Through meetings with the majority of CIOs and CISOs in the federal and state governments, Tommy Gardner has gained an intimate understanding of the common difficulties and problems they confront.
“Tommy has far exceeded my expectations of a chief technology officer,” said Todd Gustafson, president of HP Federal. “His broad technical knowledge is unsurpassed. Having spent years in government procurement, he fully understands our customers and their mission and needs. He spends time teaching our employees the government procurement process, the intricacies of AI/ML/NLP, and insights into quantum information science.”
The government CIO/CISO discussions also covered technologies available now and in research that would support their mission of data continuity, accuracy and protection.
“An example of this was the micro-segmentation and multiple virtualizations developed at the University of Cambridge that could almost eliminate malware downloaded to end points,” Gardner said. “HP Labs improved upon this innovation and has significantly reduced the risk of ransomware.”
Gardner said he’s honored to work with HP because of the culture and collaboration there, and he admires the tradition of ethics that has existed for over 85 years.
Why Watch
In 2024, Gardner is focused on the rapid changes in technologies changing HP’s markets, including generative AI, Co-pilot and 3D print manufacturing.
Because the history and culture of HP of doing the right thing at the right time, he will focus on cyber ethics. He co-taught a course on the subject with his Naval Academy classmate, retired Rear Adm. Fred Byus, to graduate students at Catholic University last year. They plan to repeat the course this fall. Gardner will also speak on this subject this spring at the S4x24 conference and at the Institute of World Politics.
Gardner is deeply involved in standards and serves on the board of governors at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the board of directors at the American National Standards Institute.
“Standards make a significant improvement in the world’s economic growth,” he said. “Since my doctoral studies are in economics, I see the junction between economics and technology. “There are a number of ethical issues in cybersecurity and AI that need to be addressed with standards set as soon as possible.”
Fun Fact: Gardner studied under Professor Emeritus Robert Solow, who won the Nobel Prize for his papers on the junction between economics and technology and recently passed away at age 99.