Alan Balutis is Executive Director of The CIO Collective. He recently stepped down as a Distinguished Fellow and Managing Partner with Cisco Systems Public Sector strategy and consulting group. This Business Solutions Group was a direct report to the CEO. It was formed to build CXO relationships, focus on long-term technology and management trends that might affect the industry, and guide the firm’s R&D strategies as well as corporate acquisitions.  

Before joining the networking firm, he served more than 30 years in public service and industry leadership roles.  He was a founding member of the Federal CIO Council, where he served in several leadership positions. At the Department of Commerce, he headed their Office of Management, Budget and Planning and served as the first CIO of a cabinet-level agency. During that period, his work earned him three Presidential Rank Awards. He finished his government career as the Director of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology; ATP was created by the Congress to be a civilian DARPA and fund cutting-edge emerging technologies. He has been selected as a Federal Computer Week (FCW) FED 100 recipient eight times and was voted into membership in both the Government Computer News and FCW IT halls of fame. A strong advocate for government reform, he has authored six books and numerous articles and papers on that topic and spoken at multiple panels and conferences. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and also is a Senior Advisor to Government Executives (SAGE) at The Partnership for Public Service.   

Balutis served as Executive Director and COO of the Industry Advisory Council, a 501(c)3, which he grew to include over 500 member firms. He has also been a member of a number of corporate Government Advisory Boards, including Endeca (acquired by Oracle), INPUT (acquired by Deltek), IT security firms Sigaba and Entrust, Akamai, and most recently Government CIO (purchased by a venture capital firm).