Deron Burba will retire as CIO at the end of the month

Burba’s retirement means a reorganization of the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

Deron Burba

Chief Information Officer Deron Burba will retire September 30 after 23 years of service in the Office of the Chief Information Officer. He has served as CIO since February 2012, and prior to that was Director of the Office of System Modernization in OCIO for 11 years.

During his tenure as CIO, Deron and his team maintained a strong focus on customer service, delivering solutions and infrastructure to support the evolving needs of the Smithsonian.

Among Deron’s most significant contributions during his tenure are:

• Implementing the systems for ERP Financials and HR, a significant undertaking in a large institution like the Smithsonian. Deron and his team also implemented the enterprise Digital Asset Management system, which has grown to over 30 million assets, as well as the EDAN content repository, which continues to evolve and provide digital audiences with access to our collections and enables initiatives such as Open Access.
• Continuously improving the IT Security and Privacy programs and maintaining a positive rating based on independent assessments by the Office of the Inspector General.
• Moving the Institution to Microsoft 365 prior to the pandemic and implementing Telework.si.edu, enabling the successful pivot to remote work.
• Collaborating with units to create the Transcription Center, which continues to be an amazing source of engagement from our volunteers, who have transcribed over 1.4 million pages from our collections.
• Implementing 2D and 3D digitization programs and digitizing over 5.6M collection items, including the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and the Natural History Museum’s Herbarium, and others.
• Establishing the Data Science Lab to advance the use of big data techniques, such as deep machine learning for data derived from a variety of sources including genome sequencing, ecological sensors, and mass digitized museum objects.

Carmen Iannacone will serve as the interim CIO. Carmen has been at the Smithsonian for over 17 years and has served as the Chief Technology Officer and head of IT Operations. Carmen’s current role includes overseeing the Service Desk, Endpoint Services, Network, Cloud, and Data Center. Prior to joining the Smithsonian, Carmen was Director, Applied Engineering Division at GSA. Carmen has a master’s in computer science from the University of Virginia.

In addition, Becky Kobberod, Head of Digital Transformation, will oversee the Digitization Program Office, Research Computing, and Digital Platforms, effective October 1.

This move will “better align with the Smithsonian’s goals related to digital technologies and services,” explained Ron Cortez, Under Secretary for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer. “Over the coming months, Becky and Carmen will be working with these three teams to identify a commonsense migration plan. The final structure will become permanent pending Congressional approval of the organizational changes,” Cortez continued.

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