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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has named George Mason University alumnus Melvin Brown II as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), following the retirement of former CIO Guy Cavallo. Brown, a seasoned leader in IT and cybersecurity with more than 30 years of experience spanning military, public, and private sectors, steps into the role after serving as OPM’s Deputy CIO since January 2021.
Brown earned his master’s degree in New Professional Studies from George Mason’s School of Public Policy, now the Schar School of Policy and Government, in 2003. The degree is now incorporated in the one-of-a-kind Organization Development and Knowledge Management program (ODKM), directed by founder Tojo Thatchenkery.
In his new position, Brown will spearhead the 2,500-employee agency’s digital transformation, focusing on enterprise technology modernization, and bolstering the agency’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The OPM is responsible for overseeing all policies that support federal human resources departments, among other duties.
His leadership has already contributed to OPM achieving an A rating on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard, a key measure of IT progress across federal agencies.
Before joining OPM, Brown held pivotal roles in government IT leadership, including director of enterprise business management within the Small Business Administration’s Office of the CIO and senior advisor for the Department of Homeland Security’s Presidential Transition Office.
Brown is a board member of the 23,000-member nonprofit FinOps Foundation, where he promotes collaborative approaches to cloud financial management. The organization represents some 10,000 companies.
An OPM spokesperson praised Brown as “an integral leader in delivering many of OPM’s accomplishments in modernizing IT.” His leadership, they said, will continue to drive the agency’s mission of providing efficient, high-quality service to federal employees and their beneficiaries.