White House creates IT role for former Facebook engineer

20 Mar 2015

A spokesperson for US President Barrack Obama has announced the hiring of one of Facebook’s engineering directors, David Recordon, to the newly-created role of director of White House information technology.

In what surely must be one of the most decorated IT jobs in the US, Recodon will be responsible for modernising White House tech.

His recruitment is part of the US Digital Service (USDS), which was established last year and has seen the government pinch staff from America’s top tech companies to help improve how it utilises the power of technology.

Speaking on the hiring of Recodon in a statement, US President Obama said, “In our continued efforts to serve our citizens better, we’re bringing in top tech leaders to support our teams across the federal government.

“Today, I’m pleased to welcome David Recordon as the director of White House information technology.

“His considerable private sector experience and ability to deploy the latest collaborative and communication technologies will be a great asset to our work on behalf of the American people.”

At Facebook, Recodon led software engineering teams responsible for the social network’s internal productivity tools that enabled staff to create, share and find information efficiently. He was also responsible for open source, engineering education, and the technology behind the company’s HR, video conferencing, and physical security efforts.

White House image via Shutterstock

Dean Van Nguyen was a contributor to Silicon Republic

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