InformationWeek Government, the leading media brand focused on helping public sector IT professionals apply new technologies for more efficient and effective government, announces this year's Government CIO 50, a list of the top fifty technology leaders across federal, state and local agencies.

The 2011 Government CIO 50 are driving increased efficiency and innovation in government IT, introducing new platforms and services, bolstering cyber security, and giving workers the tools they need to better serve the public and the nation. This is the second time that the editors of InformationWeek Government have compiled a list of the leading CIOs in government

"Technology vision, clout, and an ability to drive game-changing IT projects -- and show results -- are qualities common to the Government CIO 50," said John Foley, Editor of InformationWeek Government. "These leaders are finding ways to plow through obstacles that get in the way of higher returns on their organizations' IT investments."

The Government CIO 50 includes:

• Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra, and Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients, who are spearheading the Obama administration's efforts to transform and improve federal IT operations.
• New York City IT commissioner Carole Post, who is managing the consolidation of the Big Apple's data centers and IT infrastructure, while introducing new capabilities for city employees.
• FBI CIO Chad Fulgham, who is using agile development to hasten completion of the agency's important sentinel case-management project.
• Rosio Alvarez, CIO of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who is tapping into cloud computing for everything from productivity applications to high-performance computing.

InformationWeek Government's Government CIO 50 report is available, at no cost, from InformationWeek Analytics. The report provides a complete list of CIOs, along with detailed profiles and analysis on their accomplishments.

The Government CIO 50 will be honored at the second annual InformationWeek Government IT Forum, May 5, 2011 at the Newseum in Washington, DC, a full day event that brings together chief information officers, chief technology officers and other top technology decision makers in federal agencies and departments to discuss how they're using technology to drive change in federal operations.