Deputy Chief Information Officer for Operations and Management

Charles McClam was appointed as USDA Deputy Chief Information Officer in January 2009. In this position, he is responsible for providing department-wide leadership and strategic direction for USDA’s information technology and cyber security programs. This includes providing policy leadership and operational oversight of 29 USDA agencies Chief Information Officers to ensure the effective design, delivery and use of information technology computer programs and technical solutions that effectively supports and delivers agriculture programs and services directly to USDA customers, including farmers and producers, families, and school lunch programs across rural America, every day and in every way.

Prior to the USDA appointment, Mr. McClam served as the Acting and Deputy Chief Information Officer, U.S. Small Business Administration. In this position, he was responsible for overseeing the management and operations of the Agency’s $115 million information technology enterprise, which included headquarters and 79 geographically, dispersed field office locations throughout the continental United States, Guam and Puerto Rico. In addition, Mr. McClam rose through the application development ranks and has spent his career in a number of key senior information technology management and operations leadership positions at the Departments of Justice, Defense, Treasury, and the Central Intelligence Agency, where he has implemented key mission critical programs that have furthered the goals and objectives of the Administration and the many cabinet level departments he has served in throughout his career.

Mr. McClam is a graduate of Voorhees College, where he earned his undergraduate degree with honors. In addition, he holds a Master’s Degree from the Troy State University. He also attended and completed advanced graduate degree studies in Procurement and Contracts Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Mr. McClam is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and he is a past fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management.