One year after outage, MSPB shakes up tech shop
The Merit Systems Protection Board is reassigning its long-serving CIO in the wake of a systems outage that continues to ripple through the agency.
Almost one year after a devastating IT outage linked to virtualization tools crippled the the Merit Systems Protection Board, the agency is getting a new CIO.
According to an internal email obtained by FCW, longtime CIO Tommy Hwang is being moved to an outside-focused "e-Education initiative" and the Clerk of the Board Bill Spencer will taking over the top tech post. The moves take effect June 27, according to the email.
"As we continue to recover from the system outage from almost a year ago, I have decided that a change in leadership is in the best interest of the agency at this time," MSPB Chairman Susan Grundmann wrote in a June 15 email to staff.
The independent, quasi-judicial agency is responsible for investigating claims of wrongful termination or disciplinary action against federal civil servants.
Spencer told FCW in an email that there was nothing new on the 2015 outage, and that employees were able to work and to telework using agency systems.
Hwang's new role will focus on leveraging MSPB content as online training for external stakeholders,” Grundmann said. Spencer will serve as acting CIO, and Jennifer Everling will be acting clerk.
Hwang has served as MSPB CIO since early 2005.
In July 2015 the independent agency suffered a system-wide network failure linked to its virtual desktop system that led to the loss of some agency data.
The tech shakeup comes as MSPB is also looking to hire a new chief privacy officer.
This story was updated June 17 to include comment from MSBP.