Chief of Staff
Judith A. Bruns (Judi) is the Chief of Staff to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Chief Information Officer (CIO).
In this role Ms. Bruns plans and directs all administrative, financial, and operational activities for the CIO. She organizes and prioritizes critical issues and gathers information for the CIO to facilitate fact based, data driven, customer focused decision making. She also acts as an advisor and facilitator on strategic initiatives and provides oversight and guidance to projects of high importance. She is responsible for review and approval of all communications and correspondence for the Office of the Chief Information Officer.
Ms. Bruns started her career with a foundation in leadership and key core values in the US Air Force where she was one of the first female jet engine mechanics in an all-male (nontraditional) career field. After 10 years she retrained into Public Affairs where she found her calling and love of information technology. Following retirement from military service, Ms. Bruns went on to harness her information technology, communications and public affairs skills as a consultant performing various roles for entities such as CACI at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NCI for the US Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) and Apogen Technologies for the USDA where she was the project manager for the Network Operations Center (NOC)
She formally joined the Federal Government in 2010, working as a security engineer and founding member of the former Agriculture Security Operations Center (ASOC) where she assisted in the stand-up of the Engineering Division. Ms. Bruns has been instrumental in other positions she has held in OCIO to include creating both the OCIO acquisition program as the Acquisition Program Manager, and the OCIO Communications program as the Communications and Public Affairs Specialist.
Ms. Bruns earned a Bachelor’s in Management Computer Information Systems from Park University and a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems from the University of Phoenix. She is married, and resides in Reynolds, North Dakota.