President Obama Taps Former Microsoft, VMware Exec for Federal CIO Post

Tony Scott, currently VMware’s (VMW) chief information officer (CIO) who held the same posts at Microsoft (MSFT) and at The Walt Disney Co., is the new U.S. CIO and administrator of the Office of Electronic Government in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Last Thursday, President Obama named Scott to the U.S. CIO post, filling a role vacant since Steven VanRoekel, a former Microsoft executive, left the position last September that he held since 2011. VanRoekel had succeeded Vivek Kundra, who president Obama tapped to be the country’s first-ever CIO in 2009.

Scott will replace Lisa Schlosser, who has served as the interim CIO while also holding down her role as the Deputy Administrator, Office of E-Government and Information Technology, Office of Management and Budget.

Shaun Donovan, White House Office of Management and Budget director, and Beth Cobert, White House Office of Management and Budget deputy director, wrote in a blog post that Scott’s appointment “as the next United States Chief Information Officer is an important opportunity for our Nation. With the radical evolution of information technology (IT), the Federal Government has unprecedented opportunity to enhance how we deliver services to the American people and spark greater innovation in the digital age,” the OMB directors said.

“Tony is the right person to drive the Administration’s Smarter IT Delivery Agenda and the core objectives across the Federal IT portfolio,” they said. Donovan and Cobert identified the core objectives as driving value in Federal IT investments, delivering world-class digital services, and protecting Federal IT assets and information.

The government said it will offer more details on Scott’s responsibilities in a few weeks.

According to his VMware profile, Scott managed the virtualization vendor’s global information technology organization. In his prior stint at Microsoft from 2008 – 2013, Scott oversaw the vendor’s security, infrastructure, messaging and business applications, including supporting its product groups, corporate business groups, global sales and marketing organization.