NASA CTO to retire from government in September
NASA Chief Technology Officer Deborah Diaz is retiring from government in September, she told FedScoop in an email.
A two-time FedScoop Top 50 Women in Tech honoree, Diaz created many new initiatives at NASA focused on open innovation in government.
Diaz created the International Space Apps Challenge, NASA’s Internet of Things Innovation Lab and NASA’s Datanauts during her time at the agency. She also provided guidance on 3-D printing in space, API use and agile development.
[Read more: Program gets women coding with NASA data]
When Diaz was recognized in 2014 as one of FedScoop’s Top 50 Women in Tech, she said: “What we have to focus on is taking the cost savings as much as we can and putting them toward the innovative technologies that will spring us forward as a country.”
She was also a 2014 FedScoop 50 Winner for Federal Leadership.
Before her current job, Diaz served several years as NASA’s deputy chief information officer. In that role, she managed the $4.3 billion IT infrastructure consolidation program.
She also spent time serving as the Department of Homeland Security’s first chief information officer for science and technology, and the Patent and Trademark Office deputy CIO.
Diaz plans to take time off, and then return “to forging public-private partnerships,” she said in an email to FedScoop.
