J. Matt Gilkeson

Matt Gilkeson brings 15 years of proven leadership in information technology with a talent for coalition building, identifying complex organizational priorities, advocating change management and directing resources to recruit, engage and lead diverse teams to exceed goals in product delivery. He is innovative in identifying solutions in design, development and delivery through creative emerging capability and technology systems integration.

In 2024, Matt was appointed to the role of Chief Technology Officer/Chief Data Officer, a new TSA Senior Executive Service position created to strengthen data governance, data sharing, technology innovation and TSA’s use of Artificial Intelligence. The role will provide leadership, a comprehensive data strategy and parody across the federal government and private sector for that responsibility, given TSA’s heavy reliance on data.

From 2019 to 2023, Matt served as the Division Director for the Innovation Task Force (ITF) within the Requirements and Capabilities Analysis (RCA) at TSA. The ITF fosters innovation by integrating key stakeholders in the identification, demonstration, and characterization of emerging solutions in an effort to increase security effectiveness and improve passenger experience. As a founding member of ITF, Matt helped lead the rapid strategy and delivery of enhanced security screening technology by deploying over 170 automated screening lanes. The new technology has increased efficiency by up to 30% and saved over $120 million in federal budget costs.

Prior to joining TSA, Matt astutely achieved collaboration across the functional advocates for the United States Marine Corps Training and Education Command. He capitalized on his domain expertise in delivering strategic information technology solutions to enhance the Marine Corps Training Information System interface with the Defense Readiness Reporting System – Marine Corps. In 2016 and 2019 Matt received the DHS Secretary’s Award for his work on the Innovation Task Force.

He is a graduate of James Madison University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in integrated science and technology.