The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Department of Justice (DoJ), Vance Hitch, has announced his retirement. Vance is the longest serving cabinet-level federal CIO, having been named to his post in 2002. He leaves behind a legacy of progress and professionalism, both for his department and for the federal community, and he will be missed by all.
Here is a bit of his background, from his official bio on the DoJ CIO website:
Vance Hitch manages the Department’s $2.1 billion information technology program, overseeing management, acquisition, and integration of information resources across the Department. His oversight includes strategic planning, policy, capital planning, systems development, telecommunications, information security data management, enterprise architecture, e-government, and user computing. He has served as the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Justice since April 2002.
Prior to coming to the Department of Justice, Hitch was a Senior Partner with Accenture. His projects there included the development of the IT Strategic Plan for the State of Maryland and a comprehensive re-engineering and automation of the City of Philadelphia’s Records Department. Other government organizations that he worked with include the Department of State, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and multiple state and local governments. Altogether he devoted 28 years as a consultant to leading government organizations successfully through major change initiatives.
Hitch earned a Masters of Systems Management from George Washington University in 1973 and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Muhlenberg College in 1967. He served in the United States Navy from 1969 -1973, attaining the rank of lieutenant.
Who will the department find to replace Mr. Hitch? It will be hard finding just the right candidate. I’m hoping the selection committee is looking for someone who knows enterprise IT in the federal enterprise (a serving CIO or CTO would be optimal). The candidate will also need a healthy respect for protection of data, especially data that has potentially personally identifiable information or that is related to legal action. The candidate should also come from an environment where critically important missions are served.
I only know a couple individuals that meet those requirements. But they are playing key roles for the government now. This will be a tough one to fill.
More later.
