For the past 2.5 years Vivek Kundra has served under the Obama Administration as the first Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO). Today the White House Blog announced that Kundra will be stepping down in August for a new position at Harvard University. Whether his new role will be teaching or more research oriented has yet to be revealed.
Under the Obama Administration Kundra managed an $80 billion federal information technology budget. According to the White House Blog, Kundra has saved the federal government over 3 billion dollars. Hallmarks of Kundra’s initiatives to increase government transparency and decrease government waste include the Federal IT Dashboard, introducing “cloud computing” within the federal government, Data.gov, recovery.gov and his most recent 25 Point Plan.
Last night at the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C., Kundra was honored by the TechAmerica Foundation with the Government Technology Executive of the Year Award.
See what others are saying about this announcement at Kundra’s Facebook Fan Page.