Ryan Cote was named Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation by United States Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao. As the CIO, he is the principle advisor to the Secretary on all information technology related matters.

New to government, Ryan comes to the Department from Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner provides senior leaders across the enterprise with the indispensable insights, advice and tools they need to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the organizations of tomorrow. At Gartner, Ryan served as a CIO Executive Partner, advising global CIOs in its Executive Partners program. Gartner serves CIOs and Enterprise leaders around the world in more than 15,000 organizations in 100+ countries.

Prior to Gartner, Ryan’s career spans over 2 decades of IT leadership in the private sector. Ryan helped launch and successfully exited two tech startups, was a Senior IT Practice Consultant for IBM technologies, and held various IT Leadership positions for Surge Staffing, Contract Lumber, McGraw Hill Companies, and TRW/Northrop Grumman in Columbus, OH. He began his IT career at HP and was instrumental in both M&A and Y2K efforts at Digital Corp, Compaq and HP.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Ryan earned an Executive Masters in Technology Management from Columbia University and earned several degrees from Franciscan University in Ohio – an MS in Administration, a BS in History and Education.