Commerce's acting CIO now official

Suzanne Hilding replaces Barry West, who left the department about five months ago.

Suzanne Hilding, the former acting chief information officer at the Commerce Department, has taken on the position permanently.Hilding takes the reins after working in an acting capacity for the past five months, when the previous CIO, Barry West, announced his resignation.At Commerce, Hilding established a working group that integrated homeland security-related issues such as critical infrastructure protection, information technology security and national communications systems.Before joining Commerce, Hilding was NASA’s assistant associate administrator for space operations and exploration systems integration. She also worked as assistant associate administrator for space operations and exploration systems integration.“Under Suzanne’s leadership as acting chief information officer, the department has made progress in developing stronger policies, strategies and processes in managing emerging threats in both the classified and unclassified domains,” said Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez in a press release.