Howell named acting CIO at Interior

Michael Howell will become acting chief information officer at the Interior Department effective Jan. 4, 2007, according to a memo sent to department employees. Howell will fill the position vacated by Interior CIO W. Hord Tipton, whose last day on the job will be Jan. 3, 2007.Howell is CIO at Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service. Earlier in his career, he worked in Interior’s CIO office and was acting CIO at the Bureau of Land Management for two years.Howell, who has extensive experience with geographic information systems, began his federal career with the U.S. Forest Service in Idaho and Washington.He recently completed the CIO Program at the National Defense University’s Information Resources Management College.