David Bray leaving government for community internet coalition

Federal Communications Commission CIO David Bray announced in June that he would be moving to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as NGA's first chief ventures officer. On Aug. 17, however, Bray shared the news with colleagues that those plans had changed. 

Bray will instead leave government to become the executive director of People-Centered Internet (PCI) -- a coalition founded by Vint Cerf to, as Bray put it, "connect the dots, fill in the gaps, and unite communities through the Internet."

Bray and his wife adopted a child earlier this summer, and parental leave had delayed his planned start at NGA. A conversation with Cerf at a conference in June opened the door to the PCI opportunity, which Bray described to FCW as a "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … to advocate, share expertise, and identify projects to demonstrate how the Internet can be more people-centered."

"After much reflection and discussion with my wife Diane," Bray said in an email to the FCC IT team announcing the move, "I communicated to both NGA and FCC earlier this week that that I will be pursuing a different future career." He added that he would also be "pursuing private consulting roles on machine learning and data integration strategies."

PCI is a benefit corporation that, according to its website, is "committed to using the power of the Internet to improve the lives of the global poor by collecting data that can be used to transform communities and meet basic needs." The organization's partners include the World Economic Forum, World Bank, IEEE, IFLA and the Internet Society. 

Bray, a 2015 Federal 100 Award winner, said he would start the new job by the end of September, after "a few more weeks of family leave." 

While he had been eager to dive into the NGA role, Bray said the PCI position was an exciting change. "Over the years I have tried my best as non-partisan senior executive to champion both digital and real-world improvements," he said via email, "and I look forward to next series of ventures ahead."