IBM creates chief innovation officer for federal business
By
Nick Wakeman
Jane Snowdon brings her research skills and Smart Cities experience to IBM federal as the group's first chief innovation officer. What will be her focus?
IBM Corp. last week named Jane Snowdon to the new role of chief innovation officer for Big Blue’s federal business.
She most recently co-led IBM’s overall research strategy across 12 global labs through the company’s 2013 Global Technology Outlook. It is expected that she’ll bring insights from that experience to her role in federal, the company said.
“Jane’s role will bring a new set of skills that punctuate the importance IBM places on our U.S. federal clients in such a challenging environment, and the recognition that to become more operationally efficient and effective requires collaboration that harnesses innovation and technology adoption,” said Anne Altman, general manager, IBM U.S Federal, in a statement.
Snowdon has a background in strategy, modeling, analytics and consulting, and will focus on emerging areas such as big data, cloud computing and mobile.
She has been a leader in IBM for developing strategies and driving research efforts worldwide to create innovative solutions for smarter buildings as part of IBM’s Smarter City initiative, for which she received an IBM Research Division Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, the company said.
She also helped define a partnership with Columbia University, City University of New York (CUNY) and New York University for research collaboration to help address New York City’s energy challenges.
Snowdon has a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan.