U.S. CTO Todd Park: 3 Ingredients For A Private-Sector Mentality In Government

There has been much discussion in government recently about the concept of bringing a private-sector mentality to government, an idea that conceivably could foster more innovation and flexibility than in the past. The idea was the subject of a recent and popular Public CIO magazine story called Startup.gov, in which Government Technology’s sister publication interviewed public officials who mused about the possibility of government emulating Silicon Valley’s business culture.

The topic has been on the mind of federal CTO Todd Park. When earlier this year President Obama tapped Park — the former CTO of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — to be the nation’s chief technologist,  the choice was widely lauded in large part due to Park’s reputation for cultivating innovation in the public sector despite the perceived built-in obstacles.

Indeed, Park had been known for his entrepreneurial spirit long before he joined government, back to the days when he co-founded two health IT companies: Athenahealth in 1997 and Castlight Health in 2008. Park also spent a part of his career as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton...