Federal 100: Gary Washington
Name: Gary Washington
Title: Deputy CIO and Acting CIO
Agency: Department of Agriculture
Captain Modernization. When the Office of American Innovation launched new centers of excellence dedicated to IT modernization, USDA was the first agency to sign up. In addition to being a pilot participant, Washington helped oversee a reprioritization of IT at the agency while serving as acting CIO. (He took over the post permanently earlier this year.) He said getting buy-in on IT modernization from agency leaders, including Secretary Sonny Perdue, was a major contributing factor to his success. "One of the great challenges [of modernization] is culture, getting folks to think differently about how services are delivered," Washington said.