HHS names blockchain expert as new CIO

HHS has appointed Jose Arrieta as its new chief information officer effective May 28, a department spokesperson confirmed.

As CIO, Arrieta will develop the department’s information technology policies and investments, as well as oversee the department’s IT systems and security activities.

Arrieta’s appointment fills a post that has sat empty since Beth Killoran left the role in fall 2018. Killoran, who was appointed permanent CIO at HHS in 2016, has since joined the General Services Administration as deputy CIO.

For the past nine months, HHS Chief Technology Officer Ed Simcox has served as the department’s acting CIO.

News of Arrieta’s new post, first reported by FCW, was announced May 23 at the Association for Federal Information Resources Management’s annual leadership awards.

Arrieta joined HHS as associate deputy assistant secretary for acquisition in January 2018. In that role he’s become known as an advocate for blockchain, a decentralized and permanent ledger of online transactions.

A tool he led development of—HHS Accelerate—became the first blockchain-based tool to receive authority to operate in the federal government in December.

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