Marion Royal

Program Director, data.gov, Agency Expert
Office of Citizens Services and Innovative Technology, General Services Administration

Marion A. Royal is a nationally recognized and Agency spokesperson on a diverse range of issues related to Electronic Government with specific emphasis on Enterprise Architecture, Data Interoperability and Collaboration.

Marion is currently serving as Program Director on Data.Gov. The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. As a priority Open Government Initiative for President Obama's administration, Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets.

Mr. Royal has worked on a number of governmentwide projects during his 17-year tenure at General Services Administration. Working with Federal Agencies, commercial organizations, and industry forums, he has served as a catalyst to advance International Data Harmonization, Governmentwide Electronic Messaging, Electronic Directories (X.500), Public Key Infrastructures, and Information Management and XML. He also served as Chief Architect during the Quicksilver task force that launched significant e-gov initiatives and he remains active with the Architecture and Infrastructure Committee chartered under the CIO Council.