Space calls on the art of leadership for NASA's CIO and technology architect

Since 2009, Cureton has been chief information officer of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  As NASA CIO, she provides the requisite leadership to transform the management of information technology (IT) capabilities and services to support and enable NASA's mission. She ensures that the Agency's information resource management (IRM) strategy is in alignment with NASA's vision, mission, and strategic goals.

Cureton ensures the development of integrated IRM strategies, including standards, policies, NASA Enterprise Architecture, IT security, management, and operations. She has the responsibility, authority and accountability for ensuring that NASA's information assets are selected, controlled and evaluated consistent with federal policies, procedures, and legislation. 

Cureton is among the 13th annual 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology, who will gather in the Innovation & Equity Symposium: Keeping America First in Technology: Public Innovation and Supplier Diversity on Jan. 15 in Washington, D.C.  Previous NASA selectees have included then-Deputy Administrator Frederick Gregory; current Administrator Charles Bolden and former astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris.

Prior to this appointment, Cureton served as the CIO of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and led the Information Technology and Communications Directorate. Prior to her arrival at GSFC, Ms. Cureton was the Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and led the Office of Science and Technology as Deputy Assistant Director. The Office of Science and Technology is responsible for providing leadership in the innovative and efficient application of science and technology used to collect, clarify, and communicate information needed to reduce violent crime, collect revenue and protect the public. As the ATF Deputy CIO, she was responsible for ensuring that the use of Information Technology for the Bureau's mission and business requirements fulfill customer and stakeholder needs. 

Her climb is not uncommon.  According to the U.S. Office of Personel Management, 24 percent of federal technology workers are African-American. Cureton, a music graduate of Washington, D.C.'s Duke Ellington School of the Arts, who graduated magna cum laude in mathematics from Howard University.