Gundeep Ahluwalia is stepping down as CIO of the Ministry of Labour after nearly eight years.

In a letter to staff obtained by FedScoop, Ahluwalia wrote that Friday will be his last day at the department, which he joined as deputy CIO in August 2016. After about two months in that role, he was named CIO in October 2016.

“As I reflect on the past eight years, there have been so many successes and milestones that have propelled DOL’s digital infrastructure leaps and bounds ahead of other agencies,” Ahluwalia wrote to staff. “When the team chose the tagline and decided to be the ‘Best in Federal Service’ almost seven years ago, many of us had our doubts, but as the saying goes, ‘When the going gets tough, the strong persevere!’ and that’s exactly what happened. Our successes in creating new funding mechanisms, TMF wins, legendary TechDay, creating resilient infrastructure, websites, applications, mobile applications, data infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI, and emerging technologies are all things I could talk about for days!”

In his letter, Ahluwalia called the department’s greatest achievement during his time its “ability to attract talent and create leaders.”

“We have a formidable leadership factory,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many talented, competent, diverse groups of professionals in one place. The team is always thinking about ways to get things done, and is constantly innovating to improve delivery at a lower cost.”

Ahluwalia, a multiple FedScoop 50 award winner, oversaw the Department of Labor’s IT portfolio during a period of major transformations, including the department’s work to modernize the delivery of unemployment benefits to states during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under his leadership, DOL has also won Technology Modernization Fund awards on a regular basis, a total of five times for projects such as data modernization, cybersecurity, expediting processing of permanent labor certificates, and streamlining the Integrated Federal Employee Compensation System.

Ahluwalia spoke with FedScoop earlier this year at AWS Innovate Day 2024 about how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can impact Labor’s multifaceted mission.

“Every time I say no to AI, my team now makes me throw a dollar in the pot,” he joked. “But I think AI — and all the other capabilities we’ve had: (robotic process automation), blockchain — we need to focus on the mission instead of looking at it from a technology perspective, and that’s what my team is trying to do now.”

Ahluwalia cited examples such as workers’ compensation claims and injuries filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as mission areas that could be made more efficient with AI.

Ahluwalia did not reveal what he will do after leaving the Labor Ministry.

Federal News Network was first to report Ahluwalia’s departure.