Former Federal CIO Kundra joins Salesforce.com

Technology

Former Federal CIO Kundra joins Salesforce.com

After spending four months as a fellow at Harvard, Vivek Kundra becomes the executive vice president for emerging markets at the cloud computing services company.

Jason Miller@jmillerWFED

January 16, 2012 11:02 am

1 min read

Former Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra is joining Salesforce.com as its executive vice president of emerging markets.

The company announced Monday Kundra comes to the cloud-computing service provider from Harvard University. His first day is today.

“Vivek Kundra is an amazing technology visionary who opened the eyes of millions to the transformational power of cloud computing,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com, in a release. “His disruptive leadership is just what the industry needs to accelerate the social enterprise.”

At Salesforce.com, Kundra will focus on raising awareness and adoption of cloud computing in emerging markets as well as in the global public sector. He also will help Salesforce.com set the go-to-market strategy for emerging markets around the world, according to a company spokesman.

Kundra left as the federal CIO in August and spent the last four-plus months as a joint fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Kundra initially received a six-month fellowship.

During his stay at Harvard, he worked with the Center on research for cloud computing, open data and open government with a focus on how digital media impacts governance.

Before going to Harvard, Kundra spent 2-1/2 years as federal CIO. He led several initiatives to change how the government uses technology, including moving commodity technology such as email to the cloud, and consolidating data centers through technologies such as virtualization.

“Salesforce.com is an industry disruptor, helping organizations use the transformative power of technology for change,” Kundra said in the company’s release. “I am excited to join the most innovative company in the world that is pioneering social, mobile and open cloud computing technologies for the enterprise.”

RELATED STORIES:

‘Federal CIO Vivek Kundra resigns

Kundra’s impact not lost on next CIO