Robert Howard Confirmed as Veterans Affairs’ CIO

The U.S. Senate confirmed Robert Howard (sporting the red tie, above) as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’  (VA) new CIO on September 30.  He most recently served as the VA’s acting CIO after Robert McFarland resigned in April 2006.  Howard joined the VA in May 2005 as senior advisor to the deputy secretary and became the supervisor of the Office of Information Technology in May 2006. Previously, he spent 33 years with the U.S. Army.

The Georgia CIO Leadership Association named the recipients of its 2006 Corporate CIO of the Year award: Sue Powers, SVP and CIO of Worldspan; Mark Ryan, SVP and CIO of Matria Healthcare; and Joe Oesterling, CIO of managed services provider Cbeyond. The Georgia CIO of the Year Award is given out every year to IT executives who have demonstrated outstanding technical leadership in Georgia and who have excelled at managing their organization’s information systems.