After two years of serving as chief data officer (CDO) at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Dr. Theodore Kaouk has moved to the new position of CDO and director of the Data Division at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – an independent agency that oversees regulation of the U.S. derivatives markets – according to his LinkedIn account.
“Dr. Kaouk will spearhead data integration initiatives and collaborate with the CFTC’s offices and divisions to help the agency make informed policy decisions,” CFTC said in a Dec. 21 announcement.
“I’m excited to be joining our new Chief Data Scientist John Coughlan, the Division of Data, and the whole CFTC team, to help advance the commission’s data and A.I. capabilities,” Kaouk said.
In addition to his CDO roles at OPM and now at CFTC, Kaouk has served as chair of the Federal Chief Data Officers Council since 2020.
He also was CDO at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2018 to 2021.
CFTC said the appointments of Kaouk and Coughlan as the agency’s chief data scientist “will enhance the CFTC’s analytic capabilities as the agency increasingly innovates its data-driven culture.”
“The massive shifts in financial markets driven by advances in technology put the CFTC at the center of a new era of financial data, empowering us to more efficiently and effectively execute our mission,” said CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam.
“With these new critical hires, the CFTC is upskilling our data science staff, and increasing capacity and capability to be at the forefront of market innovations,” Behnam said. “We now have the team in place to set a strategy with concrete benchmarks and a clear path forward.”
Coughlan is an eight-year veteran of the CFTC in data science and analytical roles, and before that held positions with Booz Allen Hamilton and the Labor Department.
