NASA has appointed Sean Gallagher as the agency’s chief information officer (CIO), responsible for its portfolio of information technology products and services. Gallagher had been serving as acting CIO since January, and the agency said his permanent role is effective immediately.
“Sean Gallagher’s leadership has been instrumental in strengthening NASA’s IT foundation and ensuring our workforce has the secure, modern tools needed to enable groundbreaking missions every day,” NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson said. “As CIO, Sean will continue advancing the agency’s technology capabilities to support discovery, innovation, and mission success across NASA.”
Before the appointment, Gallagher served as deputy CIO for operations in NASA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer at headquarters in Washington, as well as a senior adviser for transformation. NASA said the team provides services to tens of thousands of end users in the US and abroad, and that Gallagher worked with NASA centres to implement IT operating models.
Gallagher previously served as CIO of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, leading IT initiatives supporting aeronautics, space, research and engineering, and test missions. He joined NASA in 2012 as Glenn’s deputy CIO and earlier worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a senior associate supporting federal, defence, and commercial customers.
NASA said Gallagher developed leadership and management experience as a Signal Corps officer in the United States Army, including roles as a platoon leader, human resource manager, and network engineer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from John Carroll University and a master’s degree in computer information systems from the University of Phoenix.
