The White House is expected to soon announce the appointment of Basil Parker as Federal CIO, and Camilo Sandoval as Federal CISO, knowledgeable sources told MeriTalk.
Both positions are appointed by the White House, but are not subject to confirmation by the Senate.
Parker is now chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Before taking that job in March of this year, he was OPM’s Senior Advisor to the Director for IT/Cyber Workforce Development – a position he assumed in 2018. Parker came to OPM from the private sector, where he most recently was director of Defense Department (DoD) programs at Technica, and vice president of DoD and cyber programs at ASRC Federal.
Parker would succeed Suzette Kent, who stepped down as Federal CIO in July after a two-and-a-half-year tenure widely recognized for success in promoting Federal IT modernization, and superb performance leading the government’s quick turn to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maria Roat is now Deputy Federal CIO, a position she took on in May after serving as CIO at the Small Business Administration.
On the Federal CISO front, Sandoval would succeed Grant Schneider. Schneider stepped down from that position – as well as senior director for cybersecurity policy on the White House National Security Council – last month to become senior director of cybersecurity services at Venable LLP.
Since last year, Sandoval has been president and CIO at Iowa City, Iowa-based MCI, which provides business process outsourcing services. Before that, he was acting CIO at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He came to that position after serving a stint at the Department of Treasury, and as director of data operations for the campaign of President Trump.
Sandoval’s appointment at VA was met with opposition from at least one member of Congress, with complaints voiced about whether his experience qualified him for extensive tech overhaul projects at VA. The member of Congress – Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H. – also cited allegations of sexual harassment against Sandoval involving a colleague on the Trump presidential campaign.
