Karen Britton
Former CIO, Executive Office of the President, The White House
Ms. Karen Britton is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. She holds a Master of Science Degree in Management from Florida Institute of Technology. She is a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College and is a certified Program Management Professional.
Ms. Britton began her professional career with the Submarine Maintenance Engineering Procurement and Planning (SUBMEPP) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a General Engineer. In 1990 Ms. Britton joined the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Headquarters, Submarine Directorate where she served as project engineer for SSN688 Class submarines. In May of 1998, Ms. Britton was selected as the Assistant Acquisition Program Manager in the USS VIRGINIA Class Program Office. Early the following year Ms. Britton served as the Team Submarine Congressional Manager responsible for all public affairs and media inquiries.
In 2000, Ms. Britton was promoted to the position of Deputy CIO for IT Capital Planning. Ms. Britton then served as the Deputy Command Information Officer for Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) where she was responsible for managing Command-wide Information Technology planning, policy, and budget. Ms. Britton departed the Department of Navy in 2007 for an opportunity in the private sector and was selected for a Program Management position where she provided support to the Department of Energy for implementing capital planning and developing an enterprise architecture plan.
In July 2009, Ms. Britton joined the Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President as the Deputy Chief Information Officer. Subsequently, Ms. Britton received her Commission as Special Assistant to the President, Chief Information Officer. During her tenure at White House, Ms. Britton spearheaded cloud computing strategy, agile software development methodologies, and open-source approaches to deliver the President’s message to the American people in a variety of innovative ways. Ms. Britton directly supported the President’s vision of cybersecurity protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of unclassified information systems.
In her current role at e-Management, Ms. Britton assumes a broad range of responsibilities including the company’s expansion into the Department of Defense (DoD), federal civilian and intelligence agencies. In addition, Ms. Britton is responsible for developing strategic commercial corporate relationships.
Ms. Britton is a graduate of Excellence in Government Fellows Program. She is also a recipient of the Partnership for Public Service Leadership in Action; the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award; and the National Women of Color in Technology Award.
