David Salvagnini

David Salvagnini serves as the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) at NASA. Since joining the agency in June 2023 and taking on the CAIO role in May 2024, he has worked to align NASA’s AI strategy with its broader data governance initiatives to ensure responsible and transparent development and risk management in these critical fields. In his expanded capacity, he leads NASA’s continued collaboration with other government agencies, academic institutions, industry partners, and experts to ensure the agency remains at the forefront of AI technology.

David formerly served as the Director of the Intelligence Community Chief Information Officer (IC CIO) Architecture and Integration Group (AIG) and Chief Architect. In these roles, he worked with Intelligence Community elements and 5-Eye Enterprise (5EEE) international partners on the development and implementation of reference architectures for interoperability, data sharing and technical advancement of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, data services, foundational AI services, and other mission capabilities.

Before joining the IC CIO, Mr. Salvagnini held a variety of positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to include Chief Information Office (CIO) Technical Director, Chief Data Officer, and Deputy Chief of the Enterprise Cyber and Infrastructure Services Division. In these roles, David supported the deployment of AI capabilities and the development of analytic tradecraft related to AI use as part of intelligence production. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service as the Senior Technical Officer for Enterprise IT and Cyber Operations at DIA in June 2016.

Mr. Salvagnini joined DIA as a civil servant in May 2005. Prior to his selection as a senior executive, he served on a joint duty assignment as the Chief Architect for the IC Desktop Environment (IC DTE). In that position, he was responsible for DIA and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) adoption of DTE services, and the transitioning of over 57,000 personnel to the IC Information Technology Enterprise (IC ITE). Previously, Mr. Salvagnini held numerous key leadership positions, to include Deputy Chief, Infrastructure Integration; Deputy Chief, Applications Operations; and Acting Chief, Infrastructure Innovation Division. Mr. Salvagnini’s experience includes all aspects of enterprise IT service delivery, including research, engineering, testing, security, and operations. 

Mr. Salvagnini retired from the Air Force as a Communications and Computer Systems Officer in May 2005 after having served in a variety of leadership assignments during his 21-year career.

He is a native of Setauket, New York and resides with his family in Falls Church, Virginia.