Edward F. Meagher

Appointment of Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology

Edward F. Meagher recently was appointed by Secretary Anthony Principi to serve as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology. In this position he also serves as VA's Chief Information Officer, advising the Secretary on all matters pertaining to information and technology management in the Department. A career senior executive, Mr. Meagher was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in August 2001. In that role he also serves as VA's Deputy Chief Information Officer, providing direction, oversight and management of information technology operations of the Federal Government's second largest department with 200,000 employees in VA medical centers, clinics, benefits offices and national cemeteries throughout the country.

During his VA tenure, Mr. Meagher has overseen the dramatic transformation of VA's modest IT security staff into a dynamic and evolving operational force recognized government-wide as a leader in Federal cyber security innovation and application. It features the largest and most robust virus regime in government, the most advanced incident response capability outside of DOD, an aggressive technical program designed to reduce the large number of VA Internet connections, and rapid development and implementation of emergency response and emergency management capabilities.

He has been a strong proponent of e-Government in order to provide services to veterans and other customers. He has provided the impetus behind many critical Department-wide IT initiatives, including the Telecommunications Modernization Project to strengthen IT networks; the Enterprise Cyber Security Project to implement a corporate approach to security applications across VA; the Corporate Data Center Integration project involving the move of the Austin Automation Center to a single, centralized VA capability under one point of management responsibility, and regional computing initiatives in order to serve many functions remotely.

Prior to his recent appointment, Mr. Meagher served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary on information technology matters. Before joining VA, Mr. Meagher was President and Chief Technology Officer for Entertainment News Services in Burbank, California, where he was responsible for implementation of the company's new business model and development of the technology plan. In the mid-1990s he co-founded the Premier Y2K media company where he produced and hosted the first nationally-syndicated daily Y2K radio program. He has also consulted and lectured worldwide on Y2K technical issues.

Mr. Meagher has received numerous awards in recognition of his performance, leadership and contributions in information technology, both in the Federal arena and in the private sector. Most notably, he was honored with a Federal 100 Award in 2001, presented to the 100 leaders who made a difference in Federal information technology during 2001. A Vietnam Air Force veteran, he was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.

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