Illinois appoints former data chief Tamara Roust as its second chief AI officer

Illinois has brought back a former data chief to help direct its statewide AI strategy. The Department of Innovation and Technology appointed Tamara “Tammy” Roust as the state’s second chief AI officer, returning her to an agency where she led data work during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roust started Friday, according to an email from DoIT communications director Jennifer Jennings cited by Government Technology in its October 20 report. She succeeds Kader Sakkaria, whom Illinois named its inaugural chief AI officer in June. Jennings confirmed that Sakkaria’s final day was July 2, establishing that his tenure ended shortly after the state created its first appointment to the role.

StateScoop had reported his apparent departure a day earlier, citing his LinkedIn profile and state payroll records. The profile listed a move to Marsh as global head of data strategy in July. The Illinois comptroller’s website showed a last state pay date of July 24 and $9,000 in total pay for work between June and July. That payroll date is distinct from the July 2 final working day subsequently confirmed by DoIT.

As CAIO, Tammy will help guide Illinois’ statewide strategy for the safe, responsible, and innovative use of AI.

Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology, in a LinkedIn post quoted by Government Technology

A return after pandemic-era data work

Roust’s previous Illinois assignment was chief data officer, a position she held from November 2019 through October 2020. That period put her at the agency during the opening months of the pandemic. Her new appointment brings her back to DoIT in a different leadership role, with an explicitly statewide AI-strategy brief rather than the data-chief title she previously held.

Her account of that earlier work includes building and deploying Illinois’ contact-tracing systems. According to her LinkedIn profile, cited by StateScoop, she integrated multiple platforms and put the resulting tools directly into the hands of local health departments. The work concerned the systems used to support the public-health response, not just a central collection of state data.

She also described building an automated pipeline for hospital-availability reporting. Roust said that system reduced staff time by 96% and shortened the time needed for analysis from hours to minutes. Those figures are her account of the project’s results, as reported by StateScoop, rather than an independent performance assessment. They concern her earlier data work, not results from her new AI appointment.

Federal policy and private-sector AI experience

At the federal level, Roust served as senior policy adviser for AI and deputy chief data officer at the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research. Her background also includes service as chief data officer and director at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to her LinkedIn profile cited by Government Technology. The roles span both AI policy advice and data leadership.

In the private sector, she led AI initiatives as vice president of data science at XFactor.io. She founded FAIT Consulting in May 2025 and has served as its CEO; the firm provides secure AI solutions to sectors including clean energy. DoIT described her background as more than 25 years of leadership across AI, data and cybersecurity in government and business.