Senate Confirms Former Microsoft Executive Kurt DelBene as VA CIO

The Senate has confirmed former Microsoft executive Kurt DelBene as the Department of Veterans Affairs’ new chief information officer and assistant secretary for information and technology.

In his new role, DelBene will be responsible for managing VA’s technology portfolio and the cybersecurity of the department’s major divisions. President Joe Biden nominated him for the role in November.

DelBene served for more than 27 years at Microsoft across two stints. He first left the company in 2013 to serve for seven months as senior adviser to the secretary of health and human services during the Obama administration, GeekWire reported.

He is credited with playing a key role in improving the HealthCare .gov website, an online portal for citizens with health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

In 2015, DelBene returned to Microsoft to lead corporate strategy and coordinate engineering functions across the company.

Prior to joining the tech giant in 1992, he served as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, according to a Defense Innovation Board biography. His role was focused on business strategy for technology companies.

DelBene was previously a software developer and systems engineer at AT&T Bell Laboratories, working in graphics and imaging software and network switching systems, DIB said.

He was also a venture partner at Madrona Venture Group, an investor in early-stage technology companies, from 2014 to 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

DelBene earned a master of business administration from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, a master’s degree in operations research from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Arizona.