Wooten named to head VA program management office

David C. Wooten, a retired Navy aviator and senior program manager, has been tapped to head the new project management office at the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials said Tuesday.

Wooten will serve as the associate deputy assistant secretary for policy, portfolio oversight and execution and will oversee the VA Program Management Office, which handles high-risk and high-value information technology projects.

He will be in charge of developing performance goals for projects and managers and overseeing financial and technical parts of projects.

Wooten retired from the Navy on June 1 after 30 years on active duty. His military career included service aboard the USS Coral Sea as a surface officer and deployments to Iceland and Japan as an aviator.

He also served as detailer for Aerospace Engineering Duty Officers, and managed more than 350 aerospace engineering duty officers. He followed that tour with duty as the Missions Systems Lead for Avionics, Computer Systems, Software and Weapons Systems Integration for the Joint Strike Fighter Program.