Interview with Kirit Amin, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Commerce

Kirit Amin, PMP
Deputy Chief Information Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Kirit Amin was named the U.S. Department of Commerce, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), in November 2012. In that capacity, Mr. Amin will focus on the optimization of the current networks/operations as well as the development of new technologies and service enhancements. He is poised to provide leadership and strategic technology implementation, fulfilling the CIO and Department’s IT operational mission, while expanding the use of Department-wide shared services, cloud implementation and emerging technologies.

Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mr. Amin served as the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at HUD where he provided valuable leadership and vision to help define its 5 year IT Transformation initiatives, acquisition strategy for HUDNET, HUD’s next generation Enterprise Infrastructure including WAN, Data Center and end user functions, shared services strategy and implementation, as well as cloud strategy and implementation. He served as the lead on OMB Mandates such as PortfolioStat and Digital Services Strategy. He also led the platform standardization effort, enterprise strategy for tools while providing strategy and technical vision for transformation initiatives of critical mission programs such as PIH/NGMS & Housing/FHA transformation.

Prior to HUD, Amin was the Chief Information Officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA), for nearly five years where his leadership was instrumental in transforming the US State Department, Office of Consular Systems and Technology’s [CST] IT operations consisting of a multitude of overlapping legacy systems, to an exemplar cutting edge IT operation, that was recognized as one of the most innovative and successful IT shops in the Federal Government. He served as principal advisor to CA’s Assistant Secretary and the Deputy Assistant Secretaries on all matters related to IT systems, services, and data that support CA operations of visa and passport services, overseas citizenship services, and the Department’s Border Security Program, as well as data and reporting systems required for the management of the Bureau. He served as a senior advisor and participant for various interagency groups, including other bureaus within the US State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Various Intelligence Agencies (CIA, TSC, NCTC, NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as international organization such as Interpol, ISO, ICAO etc.

During his long and successful career in the Federal IT private sector at organizations such as Nortel/PEC, Infotec, CSC etc., Amin held progressively increasing responsibilities in the areas of IT program/project portfolio management managing several large scale geographically distributed IT Programs and projects for a wide array of Federal Departments such as Treasury, Agriculture, DHS, DOI, DOT, VA, DOJ, the U.S. Air Force Systems Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, Fannie Mae, the World Bank and many more.

Amin has been honored with numerous awards of excellence for leadership, program management, technical vision and IT strategy from both private and public sector. He has also served in an executive role as President for AFFIRM as well as on the Advisory Council Board of AFCEA.

Amin is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) who received an Executive MS in Technology Management from University of Maryland and a BS in Electrical Engineering from M.S. University. He is married and has a daughter who is an alumnus of Virginia Tech and has also followed her father’s career into the Federal IT world.

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