Maria Roat to Retire as Deputy Federal CIO

Deputy Federal Chief Information Officer Maria Roat has announced her retirement after serving for over four decades in government. She has been serving as deputy federal CIO since May 2020 and also served as the first director of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program in 2013.

Former Federal CIO Suzette Kent said Roat took her role to heart and was always the first to bring forward new ideas. Kent added that the outgoing deputy federal CIO always brings out the best in the people she works with and has a keen eye on delivering results getting the industry involved by expressing her expectations.

Roat, a former Wash100 winner, was the CIO of the Small Business Administration for over three years before joining the Office of Management and Budget. She helped the SBA overcome technology infrastructure challenges and turned the organization into a cloud-centric entity. 

She also served as the chief technology officer at the Department of Transportation and handled various leadership roles for over a decade at the Department of Homeland Security, Federal News Network reported.

At OMB, Roat became part of numerous initiatives aimed at technology modernization and emerging technology adoption. She was part of the Technology Modernization Fund Board and was a key player in a pilot to test governmentwide collaboration tools to help agencies transition faster to the cloud.

Roat retired from military duty in 2007 after 25 years of military service with the U.S. Navy and the Naval Reserve.