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Even in the tumult of the Trump White House, Christopher Liddell is toiling away.
Since joining the team in January, the former chief financial officer at Microsoft has led the president’s efforts to modernize the whole of government — from the way it purchases technology to the services it provides citizens who need to interact with the feds online.
That’s no easy task. It’s one that has eluded Democrat and Republican administrations for years. Liddell, though, has tried to jump-start that work through efforts like the American Technology Council, a group of federal officials and tech industry executives he helped convene this June. Months later, Liddell’s team is forging ahead with reforms that might make it easier for companies like Amazon to sell their cloud wares in Washington, D.C.
Importantly, that early work at the White House has come at times despite Liddell’s own boss. Scores of business executives abandoned Trump earlier this year for his controversial comments about the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va.
But those same companies are still engaging with the administration behind the scenes. And when they do, they are talking to feds like Liddell.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
