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Obama Appoints Non-Tech Guy As CTO

Posted by Soulskill on from the jesse-ventura's-political-return dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "President Barack Obama has named his chief technology officer, and the appointee is not a Silicon Valley name like so many predicted. He is Aneesh Chopra. As the Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, his job has been to 'leverage technology in government reform, promote Virginia's innovation agenda, and foster technology-related economic development with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship.' But Chopra's not a tech guy. Before he got his secretary job in 2005, he was a managing director at the Advisory Board Company, a public-market health care think tank, as well as an angel investor." O'Reilly Radar is running an article discussing why Chopra is a good choice for federal CTO.

2 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. I'm really curious.... by NewYorkCountryLawyer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    about this. My first reaction was that it was wrong not to appoint a technologist as CTO. Then I read O'Reilly's article, which argues cogently that the appointment makes a lot of sense.

    O'Reilly is someone for whom I have respect.

    I'm really really curious about what the Slashdot community has to say on this.

    Usually I'm writing on legal issues, which I know something about.

    But I am not a technologist, and I have no expertise in government or in policy.

    --
    Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
  2. non-tech Chief Technology Officer by viralMeme · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've seen this at a lot of organizations, the CIO is invariable a non-techie hired on for his skills at schmoozing management than any tech knowledge. Management find real techies a threat as they might get found out. They mostly spend their time quoting the tech press and spouting phrases like 'integrated innovation' and 'empowerment'. The top man specifically hires people dumber then him, else they could be as threat to his job. In turn the CTO hires someone even dumber than he is, and so on down the line. If something 'technical' comes along they hire in a 'consultant', fire him and take credit for his work. Of course any real in-house techies have to be transferred before they figure out just how stupid the CIO really is. So you end up with a business where the longest serving employee has been there less then ten months. Eventually the company goes down the tubes ...