Obama's CIO Vivek Kundra to step down in August

The White House’s first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra will step down in August to serve a joint fellowship at Harvard University later this year. Kundra, who has been CIO in the Obama administration for the past two and a half years, will become a joint fellow at Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. [caption id=“attachment_27261” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Vivek Kundra has been the CIO for the past two-and-a-half years. AFP”] [/caption] “We are excited to welcome Vivek Kundra to Harvard,” director of the Shorenstein Centre Alex Jones said in a statement. “His extensive background in information technology, strategy and government operations will provide a valuable new lens through which to examine many of the important issues that the Centre is committed to exploring. White House budget director Jacob Lew said in a blog post that Kundra is stepping down as CIO in the middle of August. Lew said the office was planning a “smooth transition” and would build on Kundra s work. When Kundra joined the White House, he faced “an aging infrastructure with rising operating costs, too many major projects failing to deliver and increasing vulnerability to outside threats,” Lew said. The announcement comes as the White House is expected to spend roughly $80 billion this year on technology, funding that includes upgrading thousands of federal data programmes and worker emails to cloud-based computer networks. A successor to Kundra was not immediately named. PTI