Thomas Flagg, chief information officer at the Department of Education, has been named deputy federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget, Federal News Network reported Thursday.
Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia, a 2026 Wash100 awardee, announced Flagg’s appointment to agency CIOs on Thursday.
As Thomas Flagg steps into the depeuty federal CIO role, federal technology leaders continue shaping priorities around modernization, AI, cloud, cybersecurity and agency IT operations. Those topics and more will be a focus of discussion at the 2026 FedCiv Summit. Register now to save your spot at this Oct. 29 event.
Flagg succeeds Drew Myklegard, who departed the role in September after more than three years to join the private sector. Jay Teitelbaum has served as acting deputy CIO since Myklegard’s departure.
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What Did Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia Say About Flagg’s Appointment?
In an email obtained by FNN, Barbaccia said Flagg emerged from a strong pool of candidates because of his technology leadership experience across multiple federal roles.
“We had an overwhelming amount of interest in this position from an exceptionally strong field of candidates. Thomas stood out because of the depth and seriousness of his experience across multiple technology leadership roles, including his successful service at the Department of Labor and, most recently, as chief information officer of the Department of Education,” Barbaccia wrote.
Barbaccia noted that Flagg’s experience as an agency CIO factored into the selection decision.
“The last point matters a great deal. Thomas comes into this role having most recently sat in the agency CIO seat himself. He understands firsthand the operational realities, constraints, frustrations and opportunities that agency technology leaders face every day,” Barbaccia wrote.
Who Is Thomas Flagg?
Flagg is a more than two-decade IT planning and program management professional who took on the role of CIO at the Department of Education in 2024.
Before joining the Education Department, he spent more than a decade at the Department of Labor, where he served as director of the business application services directorate, IT enterprise shared services transition manager and head of IT for DOL’s wage and hour division, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Flagg held IT-related positions at several companies, including Astor & Sanders, Sevatec, Recorded Books, ZonaFinanciera.com, GTE and Intel.
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