Veterans Affairs deputy CIO to depart

Art Gonzalez, deputy CIO for Service, Delivery, and Engineering at the Department of Veterans Affairs has given notice that he will leave his position on March 5. Veterans Affairs CIO LaVerne Council announced the move in a Feb. 22 memo obtained by FCW.

Gonzalez, said Council, "joined VA in 2013 to lead SDE through several phases of change," including the agency's Enterprise Strategy, said Council, who also thanked him for his time serving as the acting head of the Office of Information and Technology after former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Stephen Warren departed and before Council began her tenure.

Susan McHugh-Polley, who led the cybersecurity team that was among Council's first efforts as CIO, will take over the deputy CIO post on an acting basis.

Gonzalez has moved between government and the private sector several times in his career. Prior to coming to the VA in 2013, he was senior vice president and CIO and TISTA Science and Technology Corporation. Before that, however, he was CIO at the Internal Revenue Service for five years from 2004 to 2009. From 1998 to 2002, he was CIO at Oxford Health Plans.