After 16 years in the Federal government, the Education Department’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Luis Lopez is departing this month to head to the private sector, a department spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk.
“Our CIO is leaving the Department for a new opportunity outside of government,” the official said on March 7. “We can confirm his last day with the Department will be March 22.”
Lopez started in the Federal government in 2008 as a help desk manager at the Pentagon’s National Naval Medical Center. He stayed at the Defense Department for nearly eight years, working his way up to chief operations officer with TS/SCI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Prior to joining the Education Department, Lopez did a short Federal IT stint at the Defense Health Agency from 2015-2017 as the chief of application, engineering, and integration.
He then joined the Education Department in 2017 as the chief of operations, and in December 2022, Lopez was named the CIO. Between the two titles, he served more than three years as the director of enterprise technology services.
It’s unclear who will become acting CIO when Lopez leaves. The Education Department released a job announcement for a new CIO on March 1 and applications are due by March 14.
On Thursday, MeriTalk is recognizing Lopez for his IT and cyber work at the Education Department. The CIO will receive a FITARA award at Tech Tonic – previously Cyber Smoke – at 5 p.m. on March 14 at Morton’s in D.C.
