Navy CIO Jane Rathbun announces exit
Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer Jane Rathbun is leaving the federal government after more than three decades of service.
Rathbun announced her departure Friday in a post on LinkedIn.
“It is with gratitude, pride, and humility that I close out this chapter of my career as a civil servant,” she wrote, adding that sone of the best aspects of her career included delivering “game changing capabilities and mission outcomes,” driving strategy, “busting bureaucracy,” and partnering with industry and academia to “solve some wicked problems,” among others.
Rathbun officially took the helm as Navy CIO on a permanent basis in 2023 after performing the duties of the job in an acting capacity for several months. During her tenure in that role, she’s overseen major IT modernization initiatives for the department — which includes both the Navy and the Marine Corps — overseeing a $12 billion-plus portfolio.
She recently signed a new “containerization technology usage” policy for software development. A few months prior, she unveiled a strategy to drastically consolidate legacy IT networks and their respective infrastructure into an integrated system that leverages enterprise IT services. She’s also championed efforts to move to the cloud and enterprise services, via initiatives like Flank Speed and others, and update the sea service’s approach to information superiority.
Other key focus areas included cyber readiness, zero-trust architectures, “optimizing transport diversity through commercial tech,” and SIPR 2.0, according to her Navy bio.
Rathbun’s tenure as CIO also coincided with DOGE efforts by the Trump administration to find efficiencies in the Defense Department, including within the Navy’s IT enterprise.
“It’s all about making the right investments in modernizing, but modernizing with an eye towards effectiveness and efficiency. We’ve got this new administration. We’ve got the DOGE in working with us, and they’re focused on effective consumption of commercial software. Are we doing the best job we can deliver in buying and utilizing the software that we have?” she said at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference earlier this year.
Prior to taking on the job of Navy CIO, Rathbun was dual-hatted as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for information warfare and enterprise services, and chief technology officer in the CIO’s office.
Before that, she served in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition as deputy director for defense business systems.
Rathbun has also held positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and with U.S. Africa Command, as well as at NASA.
She first joined the Defense Department in 1994, according to her LinkedIn bio.
In her post announcing her departure from government service, Rathbun did not disclose what she plans to do next in her career.
“I am excited for the next phase and the art of the possible,” she wrote.
