Bond to push ITAA agenda among feds, on Capitol Hill

Phillip Bond, who was named president and chief executive officer of the Information Technology Association of America today, said his government background should help ITAA gain access to federal IT executives on Capitol Hill, “where policy needs to be changed,” and at the state and local levels, too.

Bond, who worked as Commerce Department undersecretary for technology and principal deputy assistant secretary at the Defense Department, succeeds Harris Miller, who resigned as ITAA president in January to run for the Senate on Virginia’s Democratic ticket. He lost to James Webb in last week’s primary.

In an interview with Federal Computer Week today, Bond said he will keep his eye on the ITAA’s policy agenda and work on the most important issues to the IT sector. “IT is so fundamental to the rapidly accelerating pace of innovation that we’ve got to keep our organizing principle one of pro-innovation,” he said.

Asked about his future role in ITAA’s campaign for an overhaul of the security clearance process, Bond said, “I presume I will be directly involved to some degree, having a bit of a background in that area, particularly oversee [National Institute of Standards and Technology] at Commerce. However, where I focus my personal attentions will be worked out over the coming weeks and months with the board and with the chairmen of the committees.”

Bond served as undersecretary for technology at Commerce from 2001 to 2005 and as chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans from 2002 to 2003. He oversaw the operations of NIST, the Office of Technology Policy and the National Technical Information Service. From 1992 to 1993, he was principal deputy assistant secretary at DOD, guiding legislative affairs for then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

Bond said he would assume his new role sometime in August, after leaving Monster Worldwide and taking a vacation with his family.

Robert Laurence, an executive at Sybase and a past ITAA chairman and board member, will continue serving as the association’s interim president until then.