NASA learned . It is , Thompson admits , “ very much ahead of the federal sector in the chief data officer role and where that sits .” To that end , Thompson sees opportunities to increase hindsight , insight and foresight . Part of that is changing the hierarchical structure of the agency from top-down to a combination with bottom-up .
“ The young workforce demands transparency and they demand to have information available to them to advance their work . The opportunity is right in the middle . That ’ s why in our culture we really have to explain what we ’ re trying to solve . For us , digital transformation is unlocking the door for a massive future . But we also need to gravitate around why we need to change and how .”
All this must happen while missions continue to launch . Nothing can stop during the transformation , which will be integrated into the critical day-to-day work of NASA . Thompson has done his reading . “ If we look at the studies , we know that 70 percent of these efforts fail , so we do not want to be in that category . We want to learn and iterate but we also recognise that is high risk . When you prototype things that are different , it ’ s high risk and great value , great reward , great 312,000 + Jobs across the United States
$ 23.2 bn Annual budget for 2021 fiscal year
18,000 Workforce of civil servants
EXECUTIVE BIO
RON THOMPSON
TITLE : CDO INDUSTRY : AVIATION & AEROSPACE LOCATION : WASHINGTON DC
Ron has more than 30 years of experience in leadership roles spanning the federal government and public sectors . Throughout his career , he has been responsible for organization transformation , data design , innovation , engineering , operational management and governance of complex IT solutions . Ron ’ s breadth of hands-on experience in organizational design and transformation will bring valuable perspectives in partnerships and creative problem solving .
Currently Ron is serving as the Agency Chief Data Officer ( CDO ) and Deputy Digital Transformation Officer ( DDTO ), reporting to the Deputy Associate Administrator at NASA Headquarters .
Ron previously served Associate Chief Information Officer ( ACIO ) Transformation and Data Division ( TDD ) & for the NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer ( OCIO ).