Federal CDO Council selects FERC, DOE officials as new leaders

The Federal Chief Data Officers Council has new leadership. Kirsten Dalboe, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s chief data officer, and Robert King, the Department of Energy’s CDO, have been appointed to council chair and vice chair, respectively, the organization announced Thursday.

The CDO Council, which was established by the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, is scheduled to close up shop next January, which could make Dalboe and King the potential last leaders of the group tasked with improving federal government data operations and decision-making unless new legislation is passed extending its charter.

Before taking on the role of FERC’s first CDO, Dalboe served as the director of data operations in the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, where she was the point person on the creation of the agency’s cloud-based Integrated Data Platform and Enterprise Dashboard.

Prior to her time with the HHS watchdog, Dalboe was the Department of Homeland Security’s chief data architect and director of enterprise data management.

King moved to his current role at DOE in July 2023 after two-plus years as the CDO and associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration’s Office of Analytics and Improvements. Before that, King spent a decade at DHS in systems modernization and information integration positions.

Dalboe steps into the role of chair vacated by Ted Kaouk, who spent more than three and a half years in the job. Kaouk, who served as CDO at the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Agriculture, transitioned in December to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he serves as CDO and director of the agency’s Division of Data.

King takes over for Dan Morgan, longtime CDO and assistant chief information officer for data services at the Department of Transportation.