Federal 100: Jim Rinaldi

Jim Rinaldi
CIO
Jet Propulsion Lab
NASA

Jim Rinaldi oversees all the IT initiatives at the Jet Propulsion Lab, which is the lead U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system and currently operates 28 spacecraft and instruments in space.

He is a gifted manager who has created an IT organization with a consulting bent.

“Jim set out to create a world-class IT organization, and he is doing that,” said Tom Soderstrom, chief technology officer for IT at the lab. “It is a consulting relationship with the customer as opposed to we provide the IT structure and they use it. That is the real key, that we win the customers one at a time. He challenges everybody and makes them want to come to work.”

Read more about the 2011 Federal 100 award winners.