Matthew W. Reiss: A champion of the cloud

Name: Matthew W. Reiss

Age: 27

Organization: Agriculture Department

Title: Enterprise Architect, National Information Technology Center

Nominated for: Developing, deploying and championing private cloud computing services at USDA’s data centers, which include infrastructure-, platform- and software-as-a-service offerings.

First IT mentor: Gordon Smith, my stepfather, who introduced me to computers at the age of 6. He taught me the fundamentals of computing and sparked my interest in technology at a young age.

Latest accomplishment on the job: Building and leading adoption of the USDA Enterprise Data Centers’ private cloud computing services, which made it possible to take on large and critical projects for USDA, the Labor and Transportation departments, the White House and others.

Career highlight: Leading multiple technical teams to deploy White House-related initiatives, including the Recovery Act Projects Map, Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move website and the USDA Enterprise Data Centers’ cloud computing environments.

Your advice for a government IT wannabe: With persistence and patience, all young up-and-coming professionals have opportunities in government IT. Programs like the Student Career Experience Program are excellent ways to enter the government workforce.

What you enjoy most about working in government IT: I enjoy working on projects that are part of a greater effort. My work on data center consolidation will reduce USDA’s IT footprint, resulting in overall savings to taxpayers.

Three favorite job-related bookmarks or apps: Slashdot.org, Google Goggles app

Dream non-IT-related job: Superbike racing or offshore powerboat racing

Read the next Rising Star profile or view the full list of winners.