Jane Rathbun has been tapped to serve as the Department of the Navy’s chief information officer (CIO) on a more permanent basis, officially dropping the “acting” title as of Oct. 29.
Rathbun assumed the position on an acting basis in March, when CIO Aaron Weis departed to take a job with Google Public Sector.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro made the announcement of Rathbun’s promotion on Nov. 3, noting that she will also serve as the Navy’s special assistant for information management (SAIM) as well as the CIO – a position that works closely with the Navy’s secretary as the principal staff assistant on IT, digital modernization, cybersecurity, and data management.
“Jane’s leadership, technical acumen, and personal character stood out amongst a very competitive field of candidates and represent the best of our ongoing efforts to build a culture of warfighting among our one Navy-Marine Corps team,” Secretary Del Toro said in a statement. “She is the right person to drive our efforts to implement the Department of Defense Digital Modernization Strategy and enable our ability to leverage data for decision advantage.”
Before assuming the acting CIO title earlier this year, Rathbun served as the Navy’s chief technology officer. She’s also held other positions at the Pentagon, including deputy director for defense business systems in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, C3, Cyber, and Business Systems. According to her bio, she has been working in government since 1994.
“I am honored and humbled to serve the [Department of the Navy] as the SAIM and CIO,” Rathbun said in a statement. “I take seriously our mission to build a modern, agile, and adaptive naval information environment that can be leveraged anytime and anywhere to meet the challenges during all phases of competition, crisis, and conflict. I look forward to working with the [Chief of Naval Operations] and Commandant to achieving the operational and business outcomes articulated in the [Navigation Plan] and Force Design 2030.”
The Nacy’s CIO office has worked over the past two years to drive innovation and sustain the department’s warfighting competitive advantage, modernize infrastructure, innovate and deploy new capabilities, and defend naval information, the agency said.
For example, the Navy CIO has spearheaded several Pentagon priorities, such as improving business processes through Operation Cattle Drive, an institutional framework to reduce the number and variability of systems and applications, which lowers cost and reduces cyber risk; creating solutions to address “Fix My Computer” challenges, such as the implementation of Flank Speed Managed Devices, improving network resiliency and overall user experience; and improving data maneuverability through the adoption of zero trust principles and next generation technology, such as AI, a key priority aligned with the Biden administration’s recent executive order.
