Richard McKinney (executive)

Richard Lewis McKinney
McKinney in 2023
Born	(1950-05-17) May 17, 1950 (age 75) Portsmouth, Ohio
Education	Tennessee State University
Occupation(s)	Nashville, Tennessee, Microsoft, Chief Information Officer of the United States Department of Transportation, AECOM
Awards	FedScoop 50 - Federal Leadership Award (2014, 2015) [1] Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders (2016) [2] Federal Computer Week Fed 100 (2016) [3]

Richard Lewis McKinney is an American information technology executive and public servant who served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) from 2013 to 2017 under President Barack Obama. ^{[4] [5] [6]} He is known for his leadership in public-sector IT modernization at the federal, state, and municipal levels.

Early life and education

McKinney was born and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio. He earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Public Administration from Tennessee State University.

Career

1985-1999: Early Public Service

McKinney began his public career in 1985 as an administrative assistant at the Tennessee Department of the Treasury, where he helped install and manage early personal computers. He later joined the Tennessee Department of General Services, serving from 1987 to 1995 in roles ranging from Information technology consulting to Assistant Commissioner for Administration, overseeing Information systems, Budget, and State Property.

From 1995 to 1999, he was the Director of Legislative Information Systems for the Tennessee General Assembly, where he led the development of a digital bill drafting and tracking system, ^[7] one of the first in the nation, and launched the legislature's first official website.

1999-2005: Chief Information Officer of Nashville/Davidson County

In December 1999, McKinney was appointed Chief information officer of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, a position he held until October 2005. During his tenure he:

• Consolidated 19 data centers into 3.
• Unified 9 separate email systems into a centralized service.
• Led the city's JD Edwards ERP upgrade project.
• Elevated Nashville's digital ranking from last to top 10 in the Center for Digital Government's Digital Cities Survey.

2005-2011: Private Sector and Ministry Work

From 2005 to 2011, McKinney worked at Microsoft as a Government Technology Advisor, ^[8] helping state and local governments modernize their infrastructure and exploring early cloud computing solutions. From 2006 to 2008, he also served as an Elder at Bellevue Community Church in Nashville.

2013-2017: Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation

In May 2013, McKinney was appointed Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Department of Transportation. ^{[9] [10]} He served under Secretaries Ray LaHood and Anthony Foxx until January 2017. In this role, he:

• Managed a $3 billion IT portfolio across multiple DOT agencies.
• Established the DOT CIO Council to unify IT governance.
• Migrated DOT systems to Microsoft 365 Government Cloud.
• Oversaw a major network reengineering effort and universal PIV card deployment.
• Launched an application and digital services mapping initiative for consolidation.
• Served as Lead CIO for the OMB FITARA Executive Working Group, which authored federal guidelines for IT reform. ^{[11] [12] [13]}
• Co-chaired the Federal CIO Council Workforce Subcommittee.

2017-2019: Advisory and Consulting Roles

Following federal service, McKinney held several concurrent roles:

• Vice President for Enterprise IT Strategy at AECOM (2017) ^[14]
• Principal at Deep Water Point & Associates (2017-2019)
• Founder/Principal of Richard McKinney Consulting LLC (2017-2019)
• Senior Fellow at the Center for Digital Government (2017-2019)

2019-Present: Vice President at SAIC

Since August 2019, McKinney has served as Vice President for Government Digital Transformation at SAIC, helping federal clients modernize IT operations. In February 2022, he was formally listed as Retired - Former Federal CIO, continuing to speak and consult on digital transformation in government. He was also Associate Professor, Electronic Engineering Technology School of STEM - Computer Technology. ^[15]

Personal life

Richard McKinney lives in Summertown, Tennessee with his wife. He is the father of five and grandfather to several grandchildren. In his free time, he enjoys landscape and nature photography.

References

1. FedScoop Staff (November 20, 2015). "Top 50 leaders from federal tech community honored at FedScoop 50 awards". FedScoop. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
2. Computerworld staff (February 29, 2016). "Premier 100 Alumni, 2000 - 2017". ComputerWorld. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
3. Troy K. Schneider (February 8, 2016). "Congratulations to the 2016 Federal 100". NextGov. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
4. Brian Heaton (May 16, 2013). "Richard McKinney Named CIO of U.S. DOT". Government Technology. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
5. Tom Temin (March 22, 2016). "Leveraging Hybrid Cloud Architectures to Deliver Federal IT". Federal News Network. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
6. "Statement of Richard McKinney Chief Information Officer US Department of Transportation" (PDF). House.gov. November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
7. "Welcome to the State of Tennessee Bill Tracking System". TN.gov. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
8. "Richard McKinney". MeriTalk. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
9. Brian Heaton (May 16, 2013). "Richard McKinney Named CIO of U.S. DOT". Government Technology. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
10. "FedMentors: DOT CIO Richard McKinney". FedScoop. June 30, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
11. Carten Cordell (May 16, 2016). "McKinney: 'IT is a team sport'". Federal Times. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
12. Nicole Blake Johnson (December 11, 2015). "What CIO Empowerment Looks Like at DoT". govloop. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
13. Jason Miller (March 10, 2017). "Why the former Transportation CIO brought the FITARA hammer down". Federal News Network. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
14. Keith Wood (April 26, 2017). "AECOM names Richard McKinney vice president of enterprise IT strategy for its Management Services group". AECOM. Retrieved June 29, 2025.
15. "Richard McKinney". Nashville State Community College. Retrieved June 29, 2025.