DOD CIO Teri Takai during a February 2014 press briefing on the Pentagon's new electromagnetic spectrum strategy

DOD CIO Teri Takai during a February 2014 press briefing on the Pentagon's new electromagnetic spectrum strategy DOD photo by Glenn Fawcett

Pentagon's Chief Information Officer Takai Quits, Last Day Friday

DOD has not named a successor to Teri Takai, who led the Pentagon's cloud computing and mobile expansions. by Joseph Marks

Defense Department Chief Information Officer Teri Takai announced she will be stepping down, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed on Monday.

Takai’s last day will be Friday, May 2, Lt. Col. Damian Pickart said. The department has not yet settled on a successor, he said.

Takai became Defense CIO in 2010 after a career that included being the CIO of California and Michigan and 30 years with Ford Motor Co.

Takai was the top information technologists at an agency that spends nearly half of the government’s annual IT budget. During roughly three years in office, she oversaw the movement of numerous Defense systems to cloud computing and a plan for much broader adoption of mobile technology.

Her agency was also criticized, though, for inefficient contracting processes that auditors said lacked transparency and cost taxpayers more than necessary.