IRS hires transition manager

The Internal Revenue Service has hired another private-sector executive to help oversee the agency's computer modernization plans.

Stan Ratcliffe, who has spent more than 25 years as a manager and executive with a series of computer, telecommunications and data-processing companies, will become the project director of transition management for the IRS' division overseeing modernization.

In this new position, Ratcliffe will help move new systems from development and testing stages to daily operations. He is the latest of at least a dozen new executives hired to help the IRS turn its 1960s tax operation into a 21st-century one.

"Stan Ratcliffe brings with him a breadth of experience and a track record of getting results," said John Reece, the deputy commissioner for modernization and the agency's chief information officer.

In the 1990s, Ratcliffe worked for Sabre Inc., a leading provider of information services to the travel industry. He has also worked for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), Electronic Data Systems Corp., Sprint, Northern Telecom and Digital Equipment Corp.

"Implementing new systems in the IRS' daily operations will require both re-training our staff and re-engineering how we do business," said Reece, another private-sector alumnus. "Stan has the skills we need to make this transformation a success."