Karen Britton

Karen Britton, former White House chief information officer (CIO) and special assistant to President Barack Obama, leads LMI’s delivery of enterprise-wide IT solutions—including cloud computing, agile software development, and open-source strategies—to federal customers across the health, defense, and national security sectors. Prior to LMI, she served as chief operating officer of IT solutions provider e-Management, where she had a broad range of responsibilities, including expansion of the company’s federal market practice.

Karen joined the Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President, as deputy CIO in July 2009, elevating to CIO from December 2012 to December 2014. During her White House tenure, she spearheaded cloud computing strategy, agile software development methodologies, and open-source approaches to deliver the president’s message to the American people in new and innovative ways. She also supported the president’s cybersecurity agenda to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of unclassified information systems.

Karen began her career as a general engineer with the Submarine Maintenance Engineering, Planning, and Procurement Activity at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. She subsequently joined the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Headquarters, Submarine Directorate, where she served as project engineer for SSN-688 class submarines and then assistant acquisition program manager in the USS Virginia Class Program Office. She also served as the team submarine congressional manager responsible for all public affairs and media inquiries. In 2000, Karen was promoted to the position of deputy CIO for IT capital planning and lastly served as NAVSEA deputy command information officer, with responsibility for managing command-wide IT planning, policy, and budget. Karen left the Department of the Navy in 2007 for a program management position supporting capital planning implementation and developing an enterprise architecture plan for the Department of Energy.

Karen received her bachelor’s in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her master’s in management from Florida Institute of Technology. She is also a graduate of the Defense Systems Management College and the Excellence in Government Fellows Program. The Partnership for Public Service Leadership in Action Awards, the National Women of Color in Technology Awards, and Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award are among the distinguished honors she has received throughout her career.