He worked with government agencies in Africa to pursue the goals of the White House’s “Fighting Ebola Challenge,” which included identifying solutions to bring increased Internet connectivity and diagnostic technologies.
VanRoekel served as an executive director of USAID for four months in 2011, working on citizen and organizational engagement. During his time as federal CIO between Aug 2011 and late 2014, VanRoekel championed the White House’s open data initiative and launched a roadmap for mobile computing.