Vivek Kundra - Professional Recognition

Professional Recognition

In May 2011, Kundra was selected by EMC Corporation for their Data Hero Visionary Award for his pioneering work under the Obama Administration to reform how the Federal government manages and uses information technology. EMC states that, "Kundra has led the nation to seek innovative solutions to lower the cost of government operations, while exploring ways to fundamentally change the way the public sector and the public interact."

In March 2011, Kundra was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader for his professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

Kundra was awarded the 2010 National Cyber Security Leadership Award by the SANS Institute for uncovering more than $300 million each year in wasted federal spending on ineffective certification and accreditation reporting and demonstrating an alternative approach called "continuous monitoring" that provides more effective security for federal systems at lower costs.

Kundra was named Chief of the Year on December 21, 2009, by InformationWeek for driving unprecedented change in federal IT.

Kundra was named by InfoWorld among the top 25 CTO's in the country. He was also selected as a 2008 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium Award Finalist on ‘Balancing Innovation and Cost Leadership’. Both organizations cited the "stock market" approach to IT portfolio management that Kundra implemented for the District of Columbia. The system measured project performance and allocated IT investments similar to the way the public companies trade on the stock market.

Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Ash Institute also awarded the Innovations in American Government Award (2009) to “District of Columbia’s Data Feeds: Democratization of Government Data”. The project spearheaded by Kundra, Mayor Fenty, and CPO David Gragan was cited for “increase in civic participation, government accountability, and transparency in D.C. government practices” through sites like the Digital Public Square and the DC Data Catolog.

Kundra was recognized as the 2008 Government Sector IT Executive of the Year by the Tech Council of Maryland. The organization cited Kundra's efforts to increase public access to government information and services through live data feeds and data sets. Kundra was also a recipient of the Federal 100 Award for significant contributions to the federal information technology community.