Vivek Kundra joins Salesforce.com

Vivek Kundra was today named the new executive vice president of emerging markets at cloud giant Salesforce.com.

Kundra made his name as the first chief information officer (CIO) of the US Government, controlling an $80 billion IT budget.

He then became synonymous with cloud computing, writing and championing the Cloud First' initiative, making cloud computing the number one consideration for any new technology investments by the Federal Government.

Now, he is leaving his public sector career behind him and joining one of the private sector's cloud computing cheerleaders.

"Vivek Kundra is an amazing technology visionary who opened the eyes of millions to the transformational power of cloud computing," said Marc Benioff, chairman and chief executive (CEO) at Salesforce.

"His disruptive leadership is just what the industry needs to accelerate the social enterprise."

Kundra called his new employer an "industry disruptor, adding: "I am excited to join the most innovative company in the world that is pioneering social, mobile and open cloud computing technologies for the enterprise."

This isn't his first association with Salesforce, however. At this year's Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, Cloud Pro attended a session with Kundra, who confirmed he would be advising the European Union on its cloud computing policy.