Richard Patterson

Richard Patterson is the Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS). In this role, Patterson oversees data management strategy and initiatives and leads efforts to establish robust data governance frameworks.

He joined the State Department in April 2024 after serving as the CDO for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency for more than 3 years. He previously was the Enterprise Data Architect at DCSA.

Before joining government service, Patterson had a 20-year career in the private sector. Most recently, he was the Data Management Technical Lead at Booz Allen and before that was Director of Managed Enterprise Solutions for Mobility at DMI. He also worked in data management leadership roles for several government contracting companies including Phase One Consulting Group, Capgemini, Knowledge Integrity, and TEKsystems.

He earned his Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Georgia, as well as his M.S. in Computer Science, with a concentration in Large Scale Distributed Information Systems and Data Integration.  He earned his MBA from George Mason University, Costello College of Business.