White House Names Top Facebook Engineer as First Director of IT
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White House Names Top Facebook Engineer as First Director of IT
The White House just added another Silicon Valley veteran to its growing roster of tech experts.
This afternoon, President Barack Obama will announce a newly created position for David Recordon, who has worked as one of Facebook’s engineering directors since 2009. Recordon will join the White House as the director of information technology, perhaps the most glorified IT position in history.
Before accepting the government position, Recordon served as the social network’s engineering director for five years, leading teams behind Facebook’s internal productivity, HR and video conferencing tools, among many other projects. As the IT director, he’s expected to “build on the Administration’s Smarter IT Delivery efforts to ensure that the technology utilized by the White House is efficient, effective, and secure.” He also has to “[modernize] software used to collaborate, and [bring] use of new technologies in line with private sector best practices.”
Recordon, according to a statement from the White House, will “ensure that the technology utilized by the White House is efficient, effective, and secure.” He’ll lead the effort to merge any overlapping systems and ensure that the government’s software is up-to-date and just as secure as software in the private sector.
Recordon’s appointment is part of a recent effort by the Obama administration to grow its dedicated tech staff. Last year, the president launched the U.S. Digital Service, hiring former Google engineer Mikey Dickerson to lead it. Dickerson played a fundamental role on the team that rescued HealthCare.gov after its catastrophic launch in 2013.
If the White House’s proposed fiscal budget of 2016 is approved, its aggressive hiring of top tech talents from the Valley won’t stop with Recordon. After all, the administration is asking for a $105 million budget to form a digital team for each of its 25 agencies.
After a visit to the White House in March 2014, during which he took a selfie in front of the podium in the room where the president gives press conferences, Recordon hinted at his growing involvement with the U.S. Digital Service.
