1. Michael John Kotsakas Kratsios was born on November 7,1986 and is an American business executive and government official, who has served as the 13th director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Science Advisor to the President since 2025.
Michael Kratsios served as the fourth Chief Technology Officer of the United States at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
From July 10,2020 to January 20,2021, Michael Kratsios was the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Michael Kratsios was confirmed for the office on March 25,2025.
Michael Kratsios' family is from Volissos, Chios, and the city of Kastoria, both in Greece.
Michael Kratsios graduated from Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, South Carolina, in 2004.
Michael Kratsios was a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Michael Kratsios joined the White House in 2017 as Deputy Assistant to the President for Technology Policy.
At the White House, Michael Kratsios advocated for the promotion of emerging technologies in the United States.
Michael Kratsios led administration efforts on artificial intelligence and quantum information science.
Michael Kratsios is the architect of the American AI Initiative, the national strategy for promoting American leadership in AI.
Michael Kratsios oversaw the implementation of the bipartisan National Quantum Initiative Act, including the establishment of a new National Quantum Coordination Office in the White House.
Michael Kratsios was responsible for developing a first-of-its-kind set of regulatory principles to govern AI development in the private sector.
In January 2020, Michael Kratsios announced the establishment of the National AI Initiative Office at the White House.
Michael Kratsios led the White House effort to integrate drones into the national airspace system, resulting in a presidential memorandum signed October 25,2017, that called for the establishment of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program.
In March 2020, Michael Kratsios launched the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, the largest public-private computing partnership ever created, to match researchers with the world's most powerful computing resources, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery in the fight against the virus.
Michael Kratsios has represented the United States as Head of Delegation at a number of international fora, including G7 Technology Ministerials in Turin, Montreal, and Paris, and G20 Digital Economic Ministerials in Salta, Argentina and Tsukuba, Japan.
Michael Kratsios worked with US allies, including in the G7, to counter China in AI policy, and during his tenure, the US joined the Global Partnership on AI.
Michael Kratsios led US efforts at the OECD to develop the OECD Recommendations on AI, the world's first intergovernmental policy guidelines for AI.
On July 13,2020, the US Department of Defense announced Michael Kratsios would serve as its Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Michael Kratsios oversaw the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Space Development Agency, and the DOD laboratory enterprise.
Michael Kratsios managed a $106 billion research and development budget, the largest in the world.
Michael Kratsios led the Department's efforts to accelerate the adoption of 5G, and in October 2020, announced $600 million in awards for 5G experimentation and testing at five US military test sites, representing the largest full-scale 5G tests for dual-use applications in the world.
Michael Kratsios has advocated for greater participation of historically black colleges and universities and minority serving institutions in the defense industrial base.
In September 2020, Michael Kratsios announced $50 million in grants to HBCUs and MSIs to conduct research in defense priority areas.
In March 2021, Michael Kratsios joined data management startup Scale AI Inc as its managing director and head of strategy, which was a new role within the company.
Michael Kratsios is the youngest person to serve as OSTP director and the first millennial to serve in the position.
Michael Kratsios is the recipient of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest honorary award which can be conferred on a non-career Federal employee or private citizen.
Michael Kratsios was awarded the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Award for Excellence by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 2020.
Michael Kratsios has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wired, Bloomberg, Fortune, and CNN.