John Zangardi

CIO, Department of Homeland Security

As the IT chief for DHS, John Zangardi commands the largest civilian agency IT budget in the federal government. Currently, he’s leading a large-scale digital transformation at the department centered on a migration to the cloud. Zangardi said he’s also working to modernize and simplify how the
department hires and retains cyber talent. “The ability to support a modern, capable IT environment requires acumen across technical and business disciplines,” he said. “The competition for talent is high, and we simply cannot compete with private sector salaries. Our competitive advantage is the mission, interesting challenges, and public service. We must reach out through as many avenues as we can to attract a wide variety of candidates.