Zillow Speaker Series: Steven VanRoekel, White House Chief Information Officer (VIDEO)

When Steven VanRoekel moved to Washington, D.C., to take a job as managing director of the Federal Communications Commission in 2009, it was his first time working for government. The self-described “geek at heart” had worked at Microsoft since college and had never planned on working in public service.

Just two years later, he was tapped by President Obama as the nation’s second-ever Chief Information Officer, managing an $80 billion yearly portfolio of federal IT spending, overseeing and working to consolidate the 40,000 to 50,000 websites operated by the government, and doing his best to modernize government in a data-heavy, fast-moving and mobile age.