Dave Hinchman
Director of IT & Cybersecurity, US Government Accountability Office
For the past several years, Dave Hinchman’s team has focused on reviewing the dramatic growth of cloud across the federal government and how it is shaping efforts to improve and streamline government services, while identifying areas where those services can be strengthened. In GAO’s role as a legislative branch oversight agency, he has worked closely with congressional clients to surface the most pressing cloud computing issues and challenges for oversight.
As a legislative branch agency, GAO provides Congress with objective, nonpartisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and operate more efficiently. As congressional interest in how the administration’s cloud priorities and initiatives are advancing those goals continues to grow, GAO will work to ensure Congress has the information it needs to effectively carry out its oversight role.
“Dave plays a vital role in improving the state of cloud across the federal government,” said Nick Marinos, GAO’s managing director of IT and cybersecurity. “As a senior executive with deep subject matter expertise in GAO’s extensive work on federal data center optimization and cloud computing, his work in these areas has consistently delivered information essential to congressional oversight efforts. Additionally, his steady focus on quality and balance in his work allows him to build strong relationships with both his congressional clients and the agencies he reviews, which in turn, helps GAO better fulfill our important mission.”
Why Watch
In 2026, Hinchman’s team will focus on how the government can better secure cloud deployments and streamline the approval of new cloud service offerings. Planned for late spring, GAO will issue a report on agencies’ efforts to ensure service provider compliance with federal cybersecurity requirements. Later this year, the office will follow up its January 2024 FedRAMP report with a review of changes made under FedRAMP 20x.
“In my role at GAO, I’ve realized that my job is not just about the important role my team plays in congressional oversight efforts and seeing the results of those reviews published in our reports,” Hinchman said. “I’m also extremely grateful for the invitations I’ve received to speak publicly about my team’s results and show the more human side of government program auditing. I will always enjoy the chance to talk about the incredibly hard work my team does and to show off the sophisticated data that they have collected and analyzed, all in support of helping the government operate with greater efficiency and effectiveness.”
Fun fact: Hinchman says he is borderline obsessed with college football and has never met a game he will not watch. He also says he misses the seemingly endless parade of bowl games that used to be played on New Year’s Day.