Mr. David Nelson currently serves as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC). He was selected for this role in 2016 to oversee the NRC’s
information technology/information management (IT/IM) portfolio, including those IT systems
supporting nuclear reactor safety and nuclear materials and waste safety. In addition to the
IT/IM portfolio, he is also responsible for the NRC’s information resource management,
enterprise architecture program, cybersecurity program, information and records management
program, information collection program, and the agency’s implementation of the Freedom of
Information Act and the Federal Privacy Act of 1974.
Mr. Nelson previously held several important roles at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS), including CIO and Director, Office of Enterprise Information; Director, Office of
Information Services; Director, Office of Enterprise Management; and Director, Data Analytics
and Control Group for the Center for Program Integrity. The Office of Enterprise Information
managed the CMS’s $2.6 billion IT portfolio, including the complex ecosystem of applications
and trusted data exchanges supporting Healthcare.gov, the Medicare claims processing
system, and the Medicaid support and quality reporting systems. The Data Analytics and
Control Group is the CMS’s primary focal point for analytics related to fraud, waste, and abuse
at the CMS. It provides statistical and data analysis for program integrity issues in the original
Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Prescription Drug Plan programs. Mr. Nelson
joined CMS in 2004 as the Director, Division of Call Center Systems, Office of External Affairs
and Beneficiary Services, and was charged with improving access to information for 40 million
Medicare beneficiaries.
Before joining CMS, Mr. Nelson served in a variety of challenging private sector leadership
roles, including co-founder of two broadband development companies that provided access to
underserved markets in the United States. Mr. Nelson also served in executive operations roles
both in the United States and abroad for several leading IT development and
telecommunications companies, and as Vice President of Operations for a telecommunications
firm where he managed the commissioning of several hundred satellite earth stations in 50
countries across Europe, Latin America, and the United States.
Mr. Nelson served in the U.S. Air Force, Yakota Air Base, Japan. He holds a bachelor’s degree
in business management from the University of Phoenix