Interior's deputy CIO to retire

Edward Meagher, deputy chief information officer at the Interior Department and a career federal information technology executive, said today he will retire effective July 1. He will join SRA International in mid-July to work on strategic initiatives in its health care unit. He joined Interior as deputy CIO in February 2006 from the Veterans Affairs Department, where he was deputy CIO and also held other IT positions. Meagher said it was time to move on, and he wanted to get back into the health care area. “It’s certainly my passion," he said. "It’s going to be an exciting, interesting and challenging place to be, and I wanted to get back in where there is a need and opportunity.” . At Interior, Meagher helped oversee the acquisition and installation of infrastructure and applications. He led the consolidation and optimization of the infrastructure at Interior and before that had a similar role at VA. “There are tremendous opportunities for optimization to save money and, more importantly, to improve the infrastructure if only we’ll reach out and make the change,” he said. “But change is never easy.” He has encouraged and pushed agencies to meet IT requirements in security, architecture, capital planning and records management. Meagher has received numerous awards in his more-than-25-year IT career in the public and private sectors, including FCW’s Fed 100 Award and the Eagle Award for being the best among the 100 in 2005. Meagher, an Air Force veteran, is widely recognized for his volunteer work organizing events to help veterans. Since 2003, he has organized dinners for injured soldiers every Friday night at Washington area restaurants and embassies.