Kim Nelson
On November 30, 2001, Kimberly Nelson was sworn into the position of Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer, United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Prior to her joining EPA, Ms. Nelson served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 22 years. During her career, she worked in the Senate of Pennsylvania, the Public Utility Commission, and the Departments of Aging and Environmental Protection.

Ms. Nelson held a number of positions in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She was the first Director of the Program Integration and Effectiveness Office, the first executive to hold the position of Chief Information Officer, and served as Executive Deputy Secretary, the second highest position in the department and was recognized for outstanding service on three occasions during her career with the Department of Environmental Protection.

Since assuming her role at EPA, Ms. Nelson has been instrumental in expanding the Chief Information Officer’s role within the Agency and has overseen the creation and implementation of several major initiatives including the Central Data Exchange, the release in 2003 of the first ever Draft Report on the Environment, and has been leading the implementation of the Agency’s enterprise architecture. She also serves on the executive council of the Federal CIO board and is co-chair of the CIO Council’s Architecture and Infrastructure Committee.

Ms. Nelson graduated from Shippensburg University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Political Science, and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 with a Master of Public Administration.

She is married to Kevin Cadden, a career government employee, and has two daughters – Kelsey, age fourteen, and Mackenzie, age twelve. (Courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency.)