CELEBRITY FRIDAY: (Openly Lesbian) Megan Smith Named CTO of United States

This is very cool news! A former acquaintance of mine, Megan Smith, who is now known as one of the most prominent out people in Silicon Valley as a Vice President at Google with responsibility for its non-profit activities, has been named the Chief Technology Officer of the United States by President Barack Obama!

The official announcement was made by Dr. Joh Holdren, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy today in a blog post where he quoted President Obama saying:

Megan has spent her career leading talented teams and taking cutting-edge technology and innovation initiatives from concept to design to deployment. I am confident that in her new role as America’s Chief Technology Officer, she will put her long record of leadership and exceptional skills to work on behalf of the American people. I am grateful for her commitment to serve, and I look forward to working with her and with our new Deputy U.S. CTO, Alexander Macgillivray, in the weeks and months ahead.

This is a very cool sign to women (and openly LGBT) that this President will appoint people to prominent and important positions that they are qualified for.