USDA CIO to join Accenture

Christopher Smith, who has been CIO since 2009, will retire April 7.

Christopher Smith will join Accenture Federal Services on April 9 as chief technology and innovation officer, the company announced March 28.

Smith will retire April 7 from the Agriculture Department, where he served as CIO since 2009, leading one of the largest federal government migrations to cloud computing and large-scale data consolidation efforts.

His federal government experience also includes senior positions with the General Services Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, and he served 25 years with the Air National Guard as a communications officer.

Smith served as co-chair of the Best Practices Committee for the Federal CIO Council and as government chair of the American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council’s Executive Leadership Conference.

He also is a 2012 Fed 100 winner.

Smith will be responsible for developing the technology agenda for Accenture's federal business and overseeing services provided to federal clients in strategic areas such as secure cloud computing, big data, logistics and supply chain and cost reduction.