GSA names Remez as chief knowledge officer

The General Services Administration yesterday said it would create the position of chief knowledge officer, an executive management post that will be responsible for tapping the agency's information technology to help employees access information for their jobs.

Shereen Remez, who has served as GSA's chief information officer since 1997, will be the agency's first CKO. As CKO, Remez will be responsible for leading the agency's use of knowledge management practices, which are aimed at gathering, sorting and presenting information throughout an agency in a way that makes it easier for people to understand and share information and use it to make decisions.

To bring together IT and business issues, Remez will work with GSA's CIO and the chief people officer, a position created last year to tie together all the human resources functions at the agency.

The focus at GSA initially will be on encouraging employees' creative work and practices to help foster change, according to a statement from Remez. The agency also is looking to create an "online knowledge repository" on its World Wide Web site. That repository will centralize how-to information for employees, such as how to sign up for federal health insurance, and for federal contractors, such as how to get on the GSA schedule. It also will include contact information for all GSA programs and offices.

GSA administrator David Barram yesterday named Bill Piatt to replace Remez as CIO. Piatt has been CIO of GSA's Public Buildings Service since February, and most recently he served as CIO for the Peace Corps.

Both Remez and Piatt will take over their new duties beginning June 15.