Zangardi takes new post at Leidos

John Zangardi addresses an AFCEA event in June 2017, during his stint as acting DOD CIO.

After exiting the top tech job at the Department of Homeland Security, Dr. John Zangardi is moving into a business development role at federal contractor Leidos.

Zangardi will be joining the Civil Group at Leidos as senior vice president of business initiatives and strategic partnerships. Leidos is a leading technology services company and integrator, with more than $10 billion in 2018 revenue and leading positions on key government contracts on the military and civilian side. Particularly notable in that portfolio is Leidos' role as prime contractor on the Defense Department's $5.3 billion commercial health record project.

Zangardi joins Leidos just a month after Civil Group president Angie Heise departed the company.

Zangardi was acting CIO at the Department of Defense before moving to DHS in December 2017. At DHS, he established a cloud computing steering group modeled on an effort at the Pentagon and advocated for a multi-cloud strategy, because of the different missions and different needs of DHS components.

"We don't want a hundred, but this will be a hybrid strategy that will allow for multiple players," Zangardi said at a May 2018 event.

Zangardi won Fed 100 honors in 2019 for efforts to improve networks and onboard emerging technologies. More recently, he spoke about trying to make the DHS St. Elizabeth's Campus ready for 5G connectivity.

Zangardi's departure from DHS wasn't a surprise to industry observers who spoke to FCW for an article on his departure earlier this month.

"It’s not been a well-kept secret" that he has been looking for a job on the industry side for a few months, said one industry source.