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Nitin Pradhan, US DOT CIO, Moves to Private Industry

Deputy CIO Schmidt to Serve As Acting CIO

Nitin Pradhan stepped down from his position as the US DOT CIO on August 31, 2012 to focus on advising and growing the next generation of technology companies, products and services focused on delivering results for the public sector. Nitin joined DOT as part of the Obama administration over three years ago from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), where he was an IT Executive.

Nitin’s focus has always been on using technology in a strategic and transformative manner to drive significant public and business value. “We have been able to transform DOT IT from a technical service provider to a valued and trusted business technology partner for the entire department. I am happy with the success we have achieved and will always cherish my memories of working with DOT and all my colleagues and I look forward to their continued success,” Nitin said. Under Nitin’s leadership the Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) launched many successful initiatives based on the “people first” philosophy, which focused on transforming the IT culture within DOT IT towards intrapreneurship, innovation, agility and business value. Nitin leveraged his experience as a business strategist, technology expert, coalition builder and change agent to lead innovative, value driven improvements for the Department's $3 billion IT portfolio. DOT IT has seen many successful program implementations throughout Nitin’s tenure, including:

  • the portfolio optimization initiative that focused on driving increased public value from the entire DOT IT Portfolio;
  • a cloud-first methodology that resulted in three enterprise-wide platforms;
  • the creation of the Technology, Evaluation, and Learning Series (TELS) briefings to grow and energize the next generation of digital workforce at DOT.

The CIO magazine honored US DOT in 2012 with the CIO 100 award for the innovative approaches to use IT to reduce costs. ComputerWorld recently named Nitin to its “Premier 100 life time recognition” award where he joins an elite group of top US IT executives. Nitin has also been on Information Week's “Government CIO 50: Driving Change in the Public Sector” for bringing a business person's point of view to the management of DOT's IT strategy, policy and implementation. Under his leadership, the DOT Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has also won awards from the White House, Information Week, AFFIRM, GTRA and the U.S. General Services Administration for leadership, innovation, open government, governance, service and culture.

With Nitin’s return to private industry to focus on growing the technology sector, Tim Schmidt, the DOT Deputy CIO, will step into the role of Acting DOT CIO. As a senior leader in DOT IT, Tim has been personally involved in many of the high priority initiatives that Nitin initiated and will continue the strong momentum forward.

Last updated: Thursday, January 15, 2015