Transportation Department picks Pavan Pidugu as its new chief information officer
The Department of Transportation has tapped the chief technology officer of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to be its new chief information officer, according to an update to the agency’s site.
Pavan Pidugu started as DOT’s new CIO this week, replacing Cordell Schachter, who left the role last month. Pidugu spent nearly five years as CTO at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which focuses on preventing injuries and deaths in the trucking industry. Prior to his work in the federal government, Pidugu held several digital project management roles at Walmart and Target.
Pidugu’s new position comes as the federal government is undergoing a major workforce shakeup, including in information technology leadership positions.
Some of the government’s newest chief information officers are not directly from the government. The Energy Department’s newly installed CIO is former SpaceX engineer Ryan Riedel, and Health and Human Services’ top IT official is former Palantir employee Clark Minor.
Earlier this month, the Office of Personnel Management sent guidance encouraging agencies to reclassify chief information officers as “general” rather than “career reserved” employees, potentially opening the position up to more politics and policy debates.
“When an agency CIO makes policy choices about which of these topics to prioritize and fund — and which should be deemphasized or defunded — the CIO determines government policy in important ways,” the memo said.
