The Department of Energy (DoE) is tapping Ross Graber – a security technology veteran with stints at Twitter and Google – to become the agency’s next chief information officer, knowledgeable sources told MeriTalk.
Graber is bringing to the new CIO post a broad portfolio of private-sector cybersecurity experience, and according to sources, is coming most recently from an engagement at the State Department on behalf of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
His start date in the new role at DoE is not clear but is thought to be imminent, sources said. The Energy Department did not respond today to a request for confirmation of the appointment.
Graber will become DoE’s newest CIO after a rapid series of changes atop the agency’s technology leadership stack.
Earlier this month, Ryan Riedel, who was named CIO in early February, stepped down from that position and returned to Elon Musk’s SpaceX where he has held senior technology roles since 2020, sources told MeriTalk, adding that Riedel’s appointment as CIO was intended as a 60-day detail from SpaceX.
That move put Dawn Zimmer, who joined DoE in November 2024 as principal deputy CIO, into the role of acting CIO at the agency. DoE’s website identified her as principal deputy CIO as of this afternoon.
Graber has been senior director of securing engineering at Procore Technologies since 2020. Before that, he was director of security at 2K from 2017 to 2020.
During his four-year tenure at Twitter running from 2013 to 2017, Graber held the titles of risk and data analytics senior manager, and information security manager.
He was a security and privacy technical program manager at Google from 2009 to 2013.
