D.C. CTO is a Front Runner to Become the First U.S. CTO

This morning I was reading an exciting article about Vivek Kundra being among the remaining two choices for becoming the next Chief Technology Officer of the United States. This is a huge deal for D.C. in particular as Kundra is currently part of the mayor’s cabinet and will most likely continue to help the local area. He has continuously emphasized his focus on helping local startups to win big contracts in favor of large bureaucratic contractors.

This policy and others has garnered a large amount of criticism as people suggest that this type of system cannot scale. The Obama team doesn’t appear to share the critics’ sentiment as he was chosen to be a technology advisor to the transition team, giving him somewhat of a leg up in the race to become the first CTO. He has a strong opponent though.

Padmasree Warrior is the current CTO of Cisco. As BusinessWeek highlights, “In 23 years at Motorola, she headed up research for its semiconductor unit and ran its energy systems group before being appointed CTO in 2003—when she was placed in charge of a 4,600-person R&D lab. In addition to being the technology czar at Cisco, she is an articulate spokesperson for the company, often keynoting technology conferences.”

It’s an impressive resume and it’s one that has thrusted her into the remaining two positions for the Chief Technology Officer’s job. Personally, I’d love to see Vivek Kundra as the next Chief Technology Officer, not just because he represents for the District but also because he is probably one of the most forward thinking individuals in the government technology space.

Additionally, when I sat down with Vivek back in September, he stated his commitment to support the thriving startup community which has been building over the past couple years in the D.C. metro area. While Vivek has yet to be announced as the new Chief Technology Officer of the United States, I can only hope that he is chosen for the position.