NASA appoints David Salvagnini as chief data officer

NASA has appointed David Salvagnini as chief data officer, FedScoop has learned.

Salvagnini took up the role on June 4, following the retirement of preceding CDO Ron Thompson last year.

He joins NASA after spending more than 20 years working in technology leadership roles within the intelligence community. Most recently, he was director of the architecture integration group and chief enterprise architect within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Prior to that, Salvagnini was technical director within the chief information office and chief data officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, according to his NASA bio.

Commenting on the appointment on LinkedIn, Salvagnini said: “As I look to the future, I am energized by the NASA mission, ‘NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery’ and the strategic themes: discover, explore, innovate, and advance that enable that mission. I am also excited to grow my network and partner with CDOs and data professionals across government, private sector, academic, and research institutions.” 

In recent years, NASA has worked to increase automated data sharing with government and commercial contractors, including for the Artemis human exploration mission.

Within federal agencies, the chief data officer is responsible for data governance and lifecycle data management, as well as working to make sure agencies meet the requirements of the Federal Data Strategy and Open Government Data Act.

A NASA spokesperson confirmed Salvagnini’s appointment.