John Nemoto
Vice President, CGI
John Nemoto put much of his attention in 2025 on continuing the expansion of the shared services offering of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The multiyear project now extends cloud-based cybersecurity services to more than 70 federal agencies.
The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, one of the most impactful federal cloud modernization initiatives in recent years, delivers advanced cybersecurity capabilities across over 1 million endpoints and identities, leveraging leading cloud services providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Nemoto’s work has contributed to increasing efficiencies within the government by driving adoption of CDM across more agencies, leveraging the shared services model to reduce costs and increase speed to adoption. Under his leadership, CDM has experienced steady growth.
Recent innovations have included deploying AI-driven tools to combat cloud sprawl, strengthen security posture and identify cost-saving opportunities. These efforts have set a new standard for governance and efficiency in federal IT transformation.
Why Watch
CDM will remain a top priority over the next year as Nemoto will continue deepening collaborations between public and private sectors to expand the shared services platform’s value. His roadmap includes integrating cloud-native security capabilities, enabling agencies to standardize controls, streamline remediation and maintain consistent risk visibility across diverse environments.
This strategy positions federal programs to accelerate innovation with confidence — balancing speed, security and cost discipline as complexity grows. Within this context, Nemoto leads CGI’s partnership with AWS on cloud-enabled cybersecurity capabilities. This includes a zero-trust accelerator capability enhanced with AI, tailored to government agencies, and aligned with CDM data collection and analysis principles.
Nemoto is also tracking the rapid growth and maturation of AI, quantum-ready cryptography and other emerging technologies, striving to ensure his team is always ready for what’s coming next. In cybersecurity, new tools and techniques are often a double-edged sword, strengthening defenses while simultaneously creating new kinds of attacks.
“A hostile actor could already be inside an agency’s environment in the form of polymorphic malware that is being propagated through their enterprise using AI to advance,” he said. “We have to bring new tools and expertise to bear to fight against those kinds of threats.”
Fun fact: While Nemoto’s education includes a bachelor’s degree in political science and government and a master’s in public policy, he started his academic career as a music major. Today, he claims proficiency in six instruments, including guitar, piano and drums.
He approaches practice and performance with humility and a time-honored philosophy that erstwhile musicians since the invention of electrical amplification have lived by: “You can always compensate for lack of experience by turning the volume up all the way.”