Snow leaves top job at 18F

Aaron Snow is leaving the executive director job at the government in-house tech consultancy 18F, a role he'd held since co-founder Greg Godbout departed in April 2015.

Along with the U.S. Digital Service, 18F is a leading technology initiative of the Obama administration. Snow has helped lead the growth of 18F from a startup to an operation with more than 173 staffers and five separate business units. It forms the hub of the General Service Administration's newly designated Technology Transformation Service.

"When it comes to 18F, perhaps no one has been more instrumental in establishing this organization than Aaron Snow," said GSA Administrator Denise Turner-Roth, in an email to staff.

Snow told FCW that he'll be back at GSA after a few weeks' leave to serve as an advisor to the incoming TTS commissioner. That post has yet to be filled.

Dave Zvenyach will act as 18F's executive director until a TTS commissioner is selected and hires a permanent leader for the organization.

The establishment of TTS was designed to institutionalize the software, design, acquisitions guidance and training services available to agencies across government. An August report from the Government Accountability Office found that by a large margin, 18F customers were satisfied with the service.  The 18F shop's relatively slow path to break-even operations, however, has drawn criticism from some on Capitol Hill.

The first commissioner, Phaedra Chrousos, left GSA in July. Since then, GSA CIO David Shive has been serving as TTS commissioner on an acting basis.

News of Snow's departure was first reported by Federal News Radio.