Environmental Protection Agency Chief Technology Officer Greg Godbout, known best for his work setting up the General Services Administration’s 18F digital services unit, will leave government to join Danish tech company cBrain.
According to a release from cBrain Tuesday, Godbout will serve on the company’s international team, primarily working to make sure its F2 software platform fits the needs of U.S. government customers. Godbout will start at cBrain May 1.
Godbout was part of a group of former Presidential Innovation Fellows who founded the 18F team. He served as the group’s first executive director, working on developing innovative contracting tools like FBOpen online contracting database and the Agile Delivery Services Blanket Purchase Agreement.
While at EPA, Godbout grew the agency’s digital services offerings. He set up digital services pilot teams, which helped accelerate development of the agency’s Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest, or eManifest, system. He also worked on EPA’s major E-Enterprise for the Environment project.
Godbout spent nearly 20 years in the private sector before joining the government, where he developed a reputation as someone who pushed agencies to use more innovative methods and technologies to achieve their goals.
He’s also the owner of the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse and last year received a FedScoop 50 Disruptor of the Year award.
F2 is an integrated software platform geared toward government agencies that encompasses a range of functions, like case and records management, inter-office messaging, scheduling, and data sharing. It is continuously developed by its users, according to cBrain company documents.
cBrain, a publicly traded company, initially developed its software while working with the Danish government and has been angling to break into the U.S. market, Poul Hebsgaard, a partner at cBrain, told FedScoop.
“We have some things in the works, but nothing that I can officially talk about yet,” Hebsgaard said.
Permanently stepping into the EPA CTO job will be Robin Gonzalez, a longtime senior EPA official who recently served as Godbout’s deputy. Looking forward, the agency said it plans to post a digital services director.
Federal News Radio first reported Godbout’s coming departure.
Watch the video below to hear Godbout talk to FedScoop about lowering the cost of government.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6bjTPZhuQM
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information about Greg Godbout’s replacement.
Contact the reporter on this story via email Whitney.Wyckoff@fedscoop.com, or follow her on Twitter @whitneywyckoff. Sign up for all the federal IT news you need in your inbox every morning at 6:00 here: fdscp.com/sign-me-on.
