The Department of Commerce on Monday named Simon Szykman as new chief information officer, a position in which he will be responsible for managing the department’s 2.6 billion annual IT budget.

As the new CIO, Szykman will also be providing leadership, establishing policy, and maintaining oversight for the IT investments supporting the diverse portfolio of programs across the department’s bureaus.

Szykman previously served as CIO at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Prior to NIST, Szykman was director of the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, where his duties included the coordination of planning, budget, and assessment activities for the Federal NITRD Program. In this role, Szykman reported directly to the National Science and Technology Council and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, where he also worked temporarily as a senior policy analyst, focusing on issues including cyber security and high-end computing.

Szykman has also worked at the Department of Homeland Security, where he as the department’s first director of cybersecurity R&D led the development of cybersecurity R&D plans, programs and budgets, as well as the development of the government’s first interagency Federal Plan for Cyber Security R&D.