People
Exclusive DoT hires new CIO; USPTO Owens resigns
Ask the CIO
Why the former Transportation CIO brought the FITARA hammer down
Ask the CIO
OMB to clear the path for agencies in their move to the cloud
Cloud Computing
Before moving to the cloud, optimize your network
Technology
IT COST report is 'decision engine' for federal CIOs
Technology
Agency CIOs: Government culture not a barrier to IT updates
Ask the CIO
Transportation takes control of IT buying across the department
Federal Insights
A 360-Degree View of Federal Network Security
Reporter's Notebook
Roots of IT reform starting to take hold
Federal Insights
Leveraging Hybrid Cloud Architectures to Deliver Federal IT
Technology
New spending framework to take the guesswork out of IT decision-making
Amelia Brust/Federal News Network
![The shuffle of agency chief information officers continues with one in and one out.
In with the new — the Transportation Department is getting a new senior IT executive. A DoT spokeswoman confirmed Vicki Hildebrand is starting today as the CIO.
Out with the old — John Owens, the U.S. Patent and Trademark CIO for almost the last decade, announced to staff he is leaving. His last day is Nov. 3.
“When I came to the USPTO almost 10 years ago I arrived with a deep love and passion for the protection of intellectual property, a long career of leading software development organizations in the private sector and a desire to serve my country,” Owens wrote in an email to staff, which Federal News Radio obtained. “It has been an honor to be part of the USPTO and I have nothing but the greatest respect for the office and its men and women … especially the staff of the OCIO. As a patent grantee I fully understand and appreciate the role intellectual property plays in our great nation’s economy and growth, and that role cannot be achieved without high-quality IT systems and services.”
Hildebrand comes to DoT from the private sector, where she was vice president for customer and partner advocacy at Hewlett-Packard.
According to her <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicki-hildebrand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn page</a>, Hildebrand has been with HP for more than 30 years, working in a variety of positions, including director for IT and senior director for global business services.
[caption id="attachment_1609770" align="alignright" width="197"]<img class="wp-image-1609770 size-full" src="https://federalnewsradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/vicki-dot.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="256" /> Vicki Hildebrand is the new CIO at the Transportation Department.[/caption]
She <a href="http://sps.columbia.edu/technology-management/profiles/vicki-hildebrand-leading-technology-development-leading-successful" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told Columbia University</a> in 2015 that it would be “fun to be a CIO” and said aspiring leaders need more “engineering experience.”
Hildebrand earned her bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Vermont and her master’s degree in technology management from Columbia University.
She replaces Richard McKinney, who left the position in January after serving two-plus years. Hildebrand will pick up <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/ask-the-cio/2016/05/transportation-takes-control-buying-across-department/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">several ongoing initiatives</a> that McKinney started.
McKinney, who is now with AECOM as its vice president of enterprise IT strategy, was instrumental in beginning the <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/technology/2015/09/transportation-finding-right-balance-reforms-procurement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">modernization</a> of the DoT infrastructure, using the cloud and <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/ask-the-cio/2017/03/former-transportation-cio-brought-fitara-hammer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">implementing</a> the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).
As for Owens, it’s unclear what his next steps will be or who will replace him on an acting basis.
Over nearly 10 years, Owens <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/ask-the-cio/2014/12/ptos-new-approach-to-it-system-development-begins-to-pay-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">changed PTO’s approach</a> to developing and maintaining technology.
He <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/ask-the-cio/2017/10/for-uspto-security-is-part-of-the-software-code/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">implemented agile</a> or Dev/Ops processes, and began the effort to modernize key patent and trademark systems.
“Starting in December of 2008, we spent five years building a solid foundation on which to replace the legacy systems with secure, modern, and scalable cloud-based technology. The areas that were not finished were rolled into a Next Generation Roadmap,” Owens wrote to staff. “Together, we then shifted the organization to focus on ‘Delivery of Information and Technology to Enable Innovation’ through Agile software development and a move to a DevOps culture. In those nearly 10 years of hard work we have been able to achieve, in my humble opinion, well above average results.”
Owens said among his office’s accomplishments are:
<ul>
<li>Moved 80 percent of systems to a virtual cloud infrastructure;</li>
<li>Replaced <a href="https://federalnewsradio.com/federal-drive/2012/09/pto-changes-the-way-it-invests-in-it-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">commodity systems</a> with non-customized products (Microsoft Cloud 365);</li>
<li>Modernized the USPTO website and placed it on a cloud infrastructure;</li>
<li>Replaced much of Patents and Trademarks infrastructure and Patent examination tools and turned off the legacy applications;</li>
<li>Replaced and enhanced the Trademark customer experience and stopped printing the Official Trademark Gazette;</li>
<li>Significantly improved the USPTO’s security posture to the point of immediate and instantaneous monitoring and continuous patching and remediation of vulnerabilities;</li>
<li>Greatly improved failure rates and greatly reduced response times to fix system malfunctions; in 2008-2009, there were instances of outages of the patents and trademark systems that brought examination to a stop for days, and today disruptions are measured in minutes or hours.</li>
</ul>
“While we have accomplished much over our time together, I regret that I will not be with you to see our total vision completed. I’m pleased to see that, while it has taken longer than I expected, we’ve accomplished about 70 percent of what we set-out to do. As I mentioned in yesterday’s All-Hands meeting, we have much to be proud about and much still to deliver for our internal customers (USPTO employees) and external customers (applicants and the general public),” Owens wrote. “I leave knowing that OCIO will continue on the path to replacing the legacy systems and providing world class IT systems and infrastructure as a true integrated Dev/Ops team. The OCIO management team is strong and moving in the right direction. Many times over the past 10 years, I’ve referred to the OCIO as a family. I know that some don’t look to their colleagues as family, but I’ve always used that term to express the challenges of interacting and collaborating with a diverse group of loyal and dedicated folks. As I said at the beginning, I am very proud of the federal and contractor staff who call the OCIO their workplace. Collectively, you guys have achieved many great things … and will continue to do so for the years ahead.”]()
Federal Tech Talk
What's ahead for FITARA in 2016?
Federal Insights
IT Workforce Optimization: The New Alignment between Mission Needs and Human Capital
Technology
Agencies closing the gaps in quest to reform IT
Congress
Agencies warned to begin improving IT reform efforts
All News
Richard McKinney: Identifying ID spending harder than it looks
Amelia Brust/Federal News Network
Technology
Transportation finding the right balance as it reforms IT procurement
Amelia Brust/Federal News Network
Technology
OPM data breach starkly reminds CIOs to tighten up cyber
Ask the CIO
DoT, USDA to stop kicking the IT consolidation can down the road
Technology
Federal CIO Scott to pilot IT initiatives toward smooth landings
Ask the CIO
CIO Council to try to deepen the pool of IT workers
Amelia Brust/Federal News Network
Technology
CIO Council in search of GS 9-13s for IT Solutions Challenge