Illinois rehires former chief data officer to serve as chief AI officer

Tammy Roust, who previously served as the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology’s chief data officer, was rehired this week to serve as the state’s chief artificial intelligence officer after the quiet departure of Kader Sakkaria after just a month on the job. 

Roust served as the state’s CDO from November 2019 through October 2020, during the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Sakkaria, who was tapped to serve as CAIO in June, appears to have departed. His LinkedIn shows that he joined the professional services firm Marsh as its global head of data strategy in July. According to the Illinois State Comptroller’s website, Sakkaria’s last pay date was July 24, and he received a total of $9,000 from the state for the work between June and July. 

StateScoop has reached out to DoIT for comment about Roust’s hiring and Sakkaria’s departure, but did not hear back before publication. 

While she was with the state as CDO, Roust built and deployed the state’s contact tracing systems during the public health crisis by integrating multiple platforms and giving those tools directly to local health departments, according to her LinkedIn page. She also built an automated pipeline for hospital availability reporting, which she said reduced staff time by 96% and cut time-to-analysis from hours to minutes.

Most recently, she founded and led the AI firm FAIT Consulting as its founder and CEO. She also served as a senior policy advisor at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research, and led AI initiatives at XFactor.io. 

“Tammy brings more than 25 years of leadership in AI, data, and cybersecurity across federal and state government and the private sector,” DoIT said on LinkedIn. “As CAIO, Tammy will help guide Illinois’ statewide strategy for the safe, responsible, and innovative use of AI.”