Treasury CIO moves on

Mayi Canales, acting chief information officer at the Treasury Department, is resigning her post to start a consulting firm.

Canales, 44, told her staff Oct. 11 that she is leaving Oct. 25 to form a company that will perform strategic planning and contract management, focusing on federal and state customers.

"I always said I'd go back to the private sector before I'm 45, and I'll be 45 next summer," she told Federal Computer Week in an interview Oct. 16.

Canales said she is known "for streamlining and cutting, and you can't do that forever." In government, she said, "when we make cuts, streamline and take control for a year and a half, historically people leave, and they let [other] people come in and stabilize."

Since replacing CIO Jim Flyzik, who is on detail to the Office of Homeland Security until mid-December, she has been charged with restructuring the CIO's office. She has cut positions and contracts and changed the reporting structure within the organization. Although she was named acting CIO in April, she had been doing Flyzik's job on and off for the past 18 months while he was on various details.

Flyzik said Canales has been seeking to return to the private sector. "That's all part of her career plan," he said.

As for rumors that the inspector general is looking into her work, Canales said, "There is no IG report. I have been investigated left and right. That's what happens when you make cuts. It's just a fact of life."

Canales said she saw the opportunity to start her own company with Migo Miconi, a friend who recently retired from his job with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.).

Canales also said she is working on finding a replacement at Treasury and that she does not know what will happen to her position as co-manager of the e-government portfolio for the CIO Council.