Press Release

Statement by Commerce Secretary Gutierrez on the Appointment of Suzanne Hilding as Chief Information Officer

WASHINGTON—Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez announced today the appointment of Suzanne Hilding to serve as Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Department.

“I am pleased to announce Suzanne Hilding as our new Chief Information Officer. Under Suzanne’s leadership as Acting Chief Information Officer, the Department has made progress in developing stronger policies, strategies and processes in managing emerging threats in both the classified and unclassified domains. Information technology is a top priority at the Commerce Department and I am confident that Suzanne’s experience and knowledge make her well suited to lead the Department’s efforts in protecting the Department's data, products and services, while ensuring large amounts of data and information is readily available to citizens and businesses.”

Background:
Over the past five months, Suzanne Hilding has been the Acting Chief Information Officer where she has made significant contributions that include establishing a Commerce working group to coordinate and integrate activities associated with Critical Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, National Communications Systems and a variety of other Homeland Security related initiatives. Ms. Hilding has more than 23 years of technical and managerial experience. Before joining the Commerce Department, Ms. Hilding enjoyed a distinguished career at NASA serving in numerous capacities, most recently in the Office of Administrator as Assistant Associate Administrator for Space Operations and Exploration Systems Integration. While at NASA, she also served as the Deputy Administrator’s Chief of Staff and worked extensively with the Space Shuttle program including serving as Shuttle Upgrades Manager.