President-elect Obama has two executives in mind for the top technology piece of work, one from Cisco and one from Washington, D.C. Both were born in India

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Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Cisco Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images

By Steve Hamm

Two Indian-born technology executives are the leading candidates for the incoming Obama Administration’s newly created position of federal chief technology officer, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. They are Padmasree Warrior, the paramount technology officer of Silicon Valley networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO), and Vivek Kundra, who holds the same title in the ruling power of Washington, D.C., the sources speak.

The two candidates offer President-elect Obama a clear option of skills. Warrior, who previously was CTO at Motorola (MOT), represents hard-core technology expertise. Kundra, who was named to the D.C. post in 2007, has held similar government positions in the past and has a reputation notwithstanding using technology to make government more open and inclusive. Neither the Obama change team nor the two executives would comment on their potential selection by Obama.

The President-elect is expected to announce his pick for CTO in a matter of days. One of the sources says the selection is being held up for the cause that it’session not yet clear how the person selected as CTO will interact with the government’s chief advice officer, a position now held by Karen Evans, and with the new cyber-security autocrat of all the russias, another position that has not yet been filed.

Asked about Obama’s heavy focus on technology, Jeff Lande, executive vice-president of the industry group Technology Association of America, said: “The President-elect clearly recognizes the importance of technology and these positions, and is elevating them to the germane level of momentousness in his Administration.” He declined to comment on the qualifications of the two candidates.

Warrior has a breadth of technology experience. In 23 years at Motorola, she headed up research according to its semiconductor unit and ran its energy systems group before centre of life appointed CTO in 2003—when she was placed in charge of a 4,600-person R&D lab. In etc. to substance the technology emperor of russia at Cisco, she is an articulate spokesperson for the society, many times keynoting technology conferences. She was born in Vijayawada, India, and has degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and Cornell University. She lived in Chicago, where Obama established his political dishonorable, for a number of years.

While Warrior declined to comment in continuance her candidacy, she gave a brief e-mail statement to BusinessWeek: "Cisco is committed to working closely by the Obama Administration on their plans to extend digital infrastructure to grow our economy and create jobs. Smart networking technologies and IT play a critical role in transforming government, efficiency, education, and health care. President-elect Obama and his team fully understand the significance of digital infrastructure to further our technology supremacy as a nation."

Kundra was born in India but raised in Tanzania to the time when his family moved to Maryland when he was 11. He has degrees from the University of Maryland. Before he moved to D.C., he was auxiliary secretary of commerce and technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he adorn up a Web station designed to maximize citizen involvement in the state’session procurement decisions. In D.C., he runs his 600-person staff like a startup, experimenting in cloud computing, reveal source software, civil networking, and other cutting-edge technologies. Kundra advises Obama’s transition team on technology issues.