Rajive Mathur, deputy commissioner and chief information officer at the Social Security Administration (SSA), will step down as CIO on Oct. 26th but will continue to work at SSA through the end of 2020 as a senior adviser within the commissioner’s office.

Mathur joined SSA in June 2017 from the IRS, where he served as director of online services. He led efforts to update SSA’s IT modernization plan early this year.

“His effective leadership to transition the agency to remote work in response to the pandemic is notable. More broadly, Rajive’s work on digital identity/services, cybersecurity, and modernization has set the foundation for a modern IT organization which is delivering better SSA services to the public,” SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul said in an email to staff obtained by the publication.

Saul said Sean Brune, assistant deputy commissioner and deputy CIO at SSA, will succeed Mathur as the agency’s deputy commissioner and CIO.

Since his move to SSA in 2004, Brune has been responsible for the agency's IT modernization initiatives with a focus on improving services to beneficiaries, including the deployment of the Disability Case Processing System using an Agile approach.

Red River has appointed Kush Kumar as the chief revenue officer (CRO), effective immediately, the company reported on Monday. Previously, Kumar served as vice president of  Public Sector Sales since 2011, where he has led sales teams to achieve revenue growth.

“What sets Kush apart is his ability to identify and cultivate the industry’s top talent. He is highly regarded for providing emerging and established talent with the space and opportunity to do their best work. With his leadership, drive and enthusiasm, I have no doubt Red River will continue to achieve record-breaking success,” said Alan Dumas, Red River CEO.

Throughout his career, Kumar has exceeded revenue and gross profit goals and built high-performance sales teams. In his new role, Kumar will be responsible for Red River’s overall revenue growth, as well as Red River’s go-to-market strategy.

Before joining Red River, Kumar began his federal sales career at GTSI, where he served as Department of Defense (DoD) solutions architect. In the role, he worked to  create server, storage and networking enterprise solutions. Kumar grew GTSI’s DoD business to over $350 million. 

After his tenure with GTSI, Kumar served as the DoD/Army sales manager for Oracle, where he leveraged his federal sector experience and long-standing DoD relationships to develop and sell IT solutions that supported the U.S. defense sector. 

“During my tenure at Red River, I have watched our company evolve from humble beginnings into an industry powerhouse,” said Kumar. “I am committed to forging stronger partnerships, expanding our customer relationships and building new market opportunities that will allow Red River to achieve the next level of success.”

About Red River

Red River brings together the ideal combination of talent, partners and products to disrupt the status quo in technology and drive success for business and government in ways previously unattainable. Red River serves organizations well beyond traditional technology integration, bringing 25 years of experience and mission-critical expertise in security, networking, analytics, collaboration, mobility and cloud solutions.  

The U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) has appointed the 2021 class of fellows, which includes 34 technology and industry leaders that will work to develop innovative solutions to national issues, the agency reported on Monday. The fellows will partner with 22 federal agencies to increase resilience.

“Innovation thrives in partnerships, and with this new cohort, Presidential Innovation Fellows is uniting the best talent between the federal government and the private sector to drive the next generation of modern, human-centered solutions for the public,” said acting FAS deputy commissioner and Technology Transformation Services director Bob De Luca.

PIF was launched in 2012, featuring leaders across data science, software engineering, product, design and entrepreneurship. The fellows will merge industry expertise into 26 projects across 22 agencies.

The fellows will work to develop digital health platforms and diagnostic technologies that address the COVID-19 pandemic with the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

PIF Will also create a technical infrastructure to combat adversarial AI with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Artificial Intelligence & Technology Office (AITO), as well as protect consumer rights within the digital advertising ecosystem with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Division of Litigation Technology and Analysis, Office of Technology Research and Investigation.

“Presidential Innovation Fellows have played critical roles in the government’s response to multiple crises since the program’s inception,” said PIF executive director Joshua Di Frances. “Because of this, we have become a trusted partner to government leaders — both in agencies and the White House.”

The new fellows include Marian Adly, Natasha Bansgopaul, Ted Carstensen, Agata Ciesielski, Justin Cole, Antoinette Coleman, Aaron Creel, Masha Danilova, Alex Glade, Scott Gorman, Raashee Gupta Erry, Nathen Huang, Kamya Jagadish, Krishna Juluru, Michael Kreisel, Diana Lam, Vivian Lee, Tricia Martinez, Kimberly McManus, Janine Medina, Sabrina Mohamed, Babatunde Oguntade, Maria Patterson, Abrar Qureshi, Carlos Roqué, Emily Ryan, Payman Sadegh, Arunan Skandarajah, Dave Skender, Colin Supko, Brandy Thomas, Adrianna Valenti, Aamir Virani and Pia Zaragoza.

PIF is part of Technology Transformation Services within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.