Former US government CIO Vivek Kundra joins Salesforce

Former US government chief information officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra has joined Salesforce as the executive vice president of emerging markets.

As the government CIO, Kundra managed more than $80bn in technology investments.

In a statement today, Kundra described Salesforce as "an industry disruptor" and "the most innovative company in the world".

Meanwhile, Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff returned the compliment.

"Vivek Kundra is an amazing technology visionary who opened the eyes of millions to the transformational power of cloud computing," said Benioff.

Kundra revealed at a recent Salesforce event that he had established a "cloud first policy" in government to recognise the innovation produced by cloud providers.

He said that the US General Services Administration Recovery Board and the US Department of Agriculture had cut costs by $42m just by moving email to the cloud.

Kundra had also helped Salesforce market its cloud technology at the event by publically stating his belief that the US government could save up to $5bn over the next five years by moving IT systems to the cloud.

Kundra follows a stream of former government IT leaders on both sides of the Atlantic into private enterprise.

Former UK government CIO, John Suffolk, was appointed as global head of cyber security at Chinese giant Huawei last year, raising security concerns in some quarters.