Rick Holgate stepping away from ATF CIO role

Rick Holgate will be leaving his post as chief information officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to an email obtained by FedScoop.

Holgate is taking a job as a federal analyst with research and advisory firm Gartner. He will be assuming that role from Vienna, Austria, as his wife Laura was recently named an ambassador to the United Nations’ Vienna office and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Rick Holgate will be working for Gartner from Austria. (FedScoop)

Holgate has served as ATF CIO since August 2009. Prior to that, he served five years as the command information officer for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, where he was responsible for the delivery of IT services to NCIS’s 2,400 employees worldwide.

He has also served as president of the American Council of Technology, one half of the ACT-IAC nonprofit public-private partnership. In the email, Holgate said he would continue to be active in the ACT-IAC community.

Holgate has been a prominent voice in the federal IT community, paving the road for shared services and mobility.

He will be with ATF for “the coming weeks” as his wife’s position needs to be confirmed by the Senate.

Full email below:

Friends and colleagues,

I’m sure many of you are aware of Laura’s nomination to be the US ambassador to the UN mission in Vienna, Austria. Assuming a timely and successful confirmation, that means we’ll be relocating to Vienna in the not-too-distant future. Accordingly, I’ve been exploring opportunities that would afford me the flexibility to work from/in Vienna. Somewhat surprisingly, one of those private-sector opportunities matured to the point of reality more quickly than I anticipated.

Consequently, I’ll be leaving ATF in the coming weeks to join Gartner, who’s offered me the opportunity to join them as a federal analyst. Though it’s with some significant regret I’m leaving the ATF family, the DOJ community, and federal service, I’m excited to join Gartner and for their willingness to support a move to Vienna. I’ll still be a member of the federal community at large, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to ensure Gartner’s research is as relevant, timely, and usable as it can be in the federal space (I reserve the right to reach out to you for your suggestions!). And I’ll still be active in the ACT-IAC community, as well.

I wanted to let you know personally as soon as my transition became official. As I get more details on my new contact information, I’ll pass it along.

Thanks,

Rick