Vivek Kundra, CTO of Washington, D.C., is considered one of government's most forward-thinking IT leaders. Why he's on the national CTO short list:

• inked a deal with Google that will provide the company's Internet-based e-mail, spreadsheet and word-processing applications to all 38,000 district employees;

• uses YouTube video and performance metrics to improve transparency of city government operations; and

• created an innovative "stock market" model for managing and evaluating IT projects.

Vint Cerf, chief Internet evangelist for Google, is considered a father of the Internet for his role in developing the TCP/IP architecture in the 1970s. Why he's on the national CTO short list:

• working with NASA on disruption-tolerant networking technology, which would be used to create an Interplanetary Internet;

• proponent of Net neutrality legislation and open wireless platforms; and

• keen observer of Internet trends and demographics.