On Jan. 26, the White House announced Suzette Kuhlow Kent, a principal at Ernst & Young, will serve as the fourth federal chief information officer, filling a position that’s been empty since the departure of former CIO Tony Scott.
In a news release, the White House described Kent, a Texan, as “an industry leader of large-scale business transformation using technology, for the world’s most complex organizations,” noting that technology change has been “at the core” of her career, but “retooling the workforce and creating new opportunities for people,” has also been key to her efforts.
“She has served as an enterprise leader for organizational learning, diversity and inclusiveness, and career development at every organization in which she has worked,” the White House said.
Before joining Ernst & Young, Kent was a partner at Accenture, consulting president at Carreker Corp. and a managing director at JPMorgan.
In the federal sector, she will be administrator of the Office of Electronic Government, Office of Management and Budget, a post better known as federal CIO. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Louisiana State University in May 1990, the university said.
Kent will assume the mantle of federal CIO from acting federal CIO Margie Graves, according to the Federal Times. Graves is the deputy federal CIO.
The fed’s last CIO was Tony Scott, who was appointed in 2015 by President Obama and stepped down on Jan. 17, 2017.
