Candidates for state IT chief emerge

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/vita/>Revisiting Vita

Computer bosses for a giant charity and federal agencies are prospects for Virginia's information-technology chief, whose first task will be to salvage the state's troubled relationship with Northrop Grumman.

With the search for a new chief information officer winding down -- perhaps to be completed by month's end -- the names of at least three candidates are being circulated in government and industry circles.

"We should have an announcement within the next few weeks," Secretary of Technology Leonard M. "Len" Pomata said. He has served as acting CIO since the June firing of Lemuel C. "Lem" Stewart Jr. in a dispute over his attempt to withhold a monthly payment of $14 million to Northrop Grumman for continuing failures in service.

According to sources monitoring the search for Stewart's replacement, finalists are said to include:

• Steven I. Cooper, former chief information officer of the American Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security;

• Art Gonzalez, CIO of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service; and

• David L. Zeppieri, top supervisor of computer operations for the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a federal agency that promotes economic development in emerging markets.

Another candidate, Michael Moore, an information-technology consultant and former chief information officer of San Diego County, Calif., apparently has withdrawn from consideration.

Recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International initially screened nearly 10 candidates before trimming the list to about four or five.

The new CIO will be selected by the panel that oversees the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, which hired Northrop Grumman to manage computer and related services under a 10-year, $2.3 billion contract -- state government's richest privatization deal.

Stewart was paid about $189,000 a year. It was not clear immediately whether the VITA oversight board has the authority to offer a bigger salary to the next CIO, particularly if the choice is receiving more in his current position than the state pays.

Pomata, who is not participating in the CIO search, said yesterday that he hopes to hand off to Stewart's successor a state IT program that has been stabilized despite months of turmoil.

That, Pomata said, should free the new head of VITA to pursue "a lot of relationship repair" with state agencies that are angry over Northrop Grumman's performance and with the company itself.

There was no immediate comment from Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Christy Whitman.

In a related matter, Pomata took exception to suggestions by Cheryl L. Janey, the Northrop Grumman vice president responsible for the VITA contract, that state oversight -- described even by government officials as awkward -- is contributing to service problems.

"That was a little over the line," Pomata said of Janey's observation, which appeared in an opinion article she wrote for Sunday's edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I think it's not appropriate."

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or .