Savanrith "Savan" Kong

Mr. Savanrith “Savan” Kong serves as the Senior Advisor, User Experience (UX) Portfolio Management Office (PfMO) in the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Information Enterprise, Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer. In this role, Savan leads the UX PfMO and is responsible for the Department’s execution of UX initiatives. Mr. Kong is responsible for building a common understanding of the Department’s most critical Digital UX challenges, touchpoint, and gaps; creating a UX culture in the Department; and defining approaches, tools, methodologies and processes to address prioritized UX shortfalls.

Mr. Kong is a distinguished product and UX leader with an extensive background spanning both public and private sectors. Prior to joining the CIO, he served as a General Manager at Rebellion Defense showcasing his expertise in crafting mission-focused software tailored for defense and security applications.

Before his tenure at Rebellion Defense, Mr. Kong served as a Digital Service Expert in DoD’s Defense Digital Service office, focusing on rapid response initiatives. He was responsible for a range of projects that included the Basic Optical Biometric Analysis (BOBA) program, a cloud enabled biometric analysis application; and Project Rabbit, a program to improve the employment verification and Chief of Mission approval process for Afghans applying for Special Immigrant Visas.

Throughout his career, he has accumulated invaluable experience across diverse industries. Notably, he played a pivotal role as the first employee at Redfin, contributing to the growth and success of the real estate giant. At Redfin, he co-authored a patent (US9436945B2) for an interactive map-based search and advertising technology.

His influence extended to a medical software company, Kareo, consumer design leadership at Amazon, managing UX teams with their Kindle Content division, and executive responsibilities at startups Conenza and BlogTalkRadio during their nascent stages.