Karen Mummaw
Chief Information Officer, Department of State
Karen Mummaw has seen technology’s role in foreign policy evolve from mainframes in the Cold War to the rise of the internet. And, as the State Department’s CIO, she said the role requires one to be a lifelong learner. “I think what’s so interesting in the technology space is that we are forced to completely discard entire sets of knowledge and replace them with new concepts and practices,” she said. “For me, the industry side and the government side, it just requires constant learning and resilience and the ability to adapt and even enjoy that change. Embrace it.”
