Kelly Fletcher to join State Department as chief information officer

Kelly Fletcher is set to join the State Department as chief information officer, FedScoop has confirmed.

According to four people familiar with the matter, she will move to the State Department from the Department of Defense, where she has served as principal deputy CIO and the primary adviser to CIO John Sherman.

Fletcher’s appointment comes after FedScoop in August revealed that acting CIO Glenn Miller will step down from the post at the year’s end.

Prior to holding the principal deputy CIO post at DOD, Fletcher served as deputy director for program analysis and evaluation at the Department of Homeland Security. At that agency, she also led the realignment of the Federal Protective Services.

Between 2016 and 2018, Fletcher served in the Navy including as acting Navy CIO and business modernization lead, and earlier in her DOD career worked within the Office of the Secretary of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, where she served as special assistant to the deputy director and as an operations research analyst.

She received her doctorate in engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and her bachelor’s in science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Several senior IT leaders have exited the State Department in recent months. Glenn Miller took over as acting CIO following the departure of then-chief information officer Keith Jones in June.

Meanwhile, in August veteran IT leader Brian Merrick stepped down from his position as director of cloud programs at the department, a post he had held for three years.

Details of Fletcher’s appointment were first reported by Federal News Network.

In a statement on its website, the State Department said: “In her role as the Department’s Chief Information Officer, Dr. Fletcher will establish the strategic direction of information technology, including oversight for $2.5 billion of programs throughout the Department of State. 

The department added: “Dr. Fletcher brings a wealth of experience in both technological and strategic resourcing domains.  She is a member of the Senior Executive Service, having served as the Principal Deputy Chief Information Officer at the U.S. Department of Defense and as the Deputy Director for Program Analysis & Evaluation at the Department of Homeland Security – among other leadership roles in federal government.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include comment from the State Department.