Pavan Pidugu, the Transportation Department chief digital and information officer, is leaving his role.

Pidugu, who told his staff this morning, confirmed his last day is Sept. 4. He offered no further details on where he was heading or who would be acting CIO in his place.

Jack Albright is the DoT deputy CIO and Charles Taumoepeau is the acting senior strategy and government advisor in the office, both of which are possible candidates to be acting CIOs.

Pidugu joined DoT in 2020 as chief technology officer for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and became CIO in February 2025. He previously worked in the private sector for Walmart, NCR and Target.

During his tenure as CIO, Pidugu drove a major transformation across the agency by centralizing common technology services and moving toward a product management approach instead of one that focuses on projects.

Pavan Pidugu is leaving as the chief digital and information officer at the Transportation Department.

DoT now has four product owners who will focus on mission areas such as grants, human resources, inspection and registration systems.

The product owners work with the mission owners to consolidate and modernize systems. An early big win for DoT came when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration replaced five disparate systems, some of which are 25 years old, that track trucking company’s compliance with federal regulations.

DoT also will modernize and consolidate 14 different grant systems, which Pidugu said he expected to be completed in about nine months.

Pidugu’s biggest win came when DoT transitioned to Google Workspace from Microsoft Office in six months. DoT employees now have all of their email, calendar and chat capabilities migrated to the new platform.

Additionally, Pidugu has been establishing or expanding shared services for DoT’s offices and bureaus. He said earlier this year that these enterprise platforms are letting his team focus more on building technology that supports the mission areas. Then, the digital factories that lead product development can focus on the customer’s experience.

Transportation asked for $5.6 billion for its IT budget in fiscal 2027,  slightly down from its 2026 request.

Pidugu becomes the third high-level federal technology executive to announce their departure in the last week.

Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia will leave his role on Aug. 31. Interior Department CIO Paul McInerny left the agency recently.

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