Steven VanRoekel, formerly managing director at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, will succeed Vivek Kundra as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. federal government, The New York Times said early Thursday.
VanRoekel joined in June as executive director for citizen and organizational engagement at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), on detail from his position as managing director of the FCC.
An announcement of his appointment as CIO is planned for Thursday, the newspaper said.
Vivek Kundra, the first CIO of the U.S. government, resigned in June after two and a half years on the job. He was appointed CIO a few months after President Barack Obama took office.
Kundra will move to Harvard to serve as a joint fellow at the Kennedy School and at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the government said.
VanRoekel worked for Microsoft for 15 years, including a stint as an assistant to co-founder Bill Gates, before he joined the FCC. He was a supporter of Obama, attended the inauguration, and after a conversation with Julius Genachowski, the new chairman of the FCC, went to work for him, The New York Times said.
VanRoekel told the newspaper that he plans to move ahead with the work started by Kundra, and bring to government the pace of innovation in the private sector.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John’s e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com