White House Picks VMware Exec As U.S. CIO, Puts Him In Charge Of Key Government IT Program

Tony Scott, CIO of VMware and a longtime IT industry executive, is taking his experience and talents to the nation's capital.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama named Scott as the next U.S. CIO and administrator of the White House Office of Management (OMB) and Budget's Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology.

Scott fills a role that had been vacant since the previously U.S. CIO, former Microsoft executive Steven VanRoekel, stepped down in September after three years in the position. VanRoekel followed Vivek Kundra, who was appointed by President Obama as the nation's first-ever U.S. CIO in 2009.

Lisa Schlosser, deputy administrator for e-government and information technology, has been handling the U.S. CIO role on an interim basis.

As U.S. CIO, Scott will help lead the Obama administration's "Smarter IT Delivery Agenda," which is focused on "bringing the best IT professionals into government, establishing effective processes to drive outcomes and accountability, and partnering with the most innovative companies," according to an OMB document outlining the initiative.

OMB will provide more details on Scott's role "in the coming weeks," OMB said in a press release.

Before joining VMware in August 2013, Scott spent five years as CIO of Microsoft, overseeing the software giant's security, infrastructure, messaging and business applications, as well as support for its product groups, corporate business groups, and global sales and marketing organization.

Scott was previously CIO at Disney, CTO at General Motors and vice president of operations at Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

A VMware spokesperson said the Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor is actively seeking a new CIO.