HUD CIO is out

Johnson Joy, CIO of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, resigned in the early morning of March 20, according to an agency official.

Chad Cowan, the chief of staff to the deputy secretary, will temporarily serve as the acting CIO. Cowan is a public relations specialist who left communications firm Burson-Marsteller to join HUD last August.

Joy left amid an investigation by the Guardian newspaper into potential corruption and retaliation at HUD. An article on Joy's departure notes that he is facing an Office of Special Counsel probe into allegations that he retaliated against a former executive assistant who raised concerns that contractor Accel Corporation was being overpaid.

Additionally, the Guardian reported, Joy and former agency senior adviser Naved Jafry were both associated with a nonprofit charity called GJH Global Ministries that the Guardian found may have improperly endorsed Donald Trump's presidential campaign and may have collected donations without performing charitable works.

Jafry resigned amid disclosures that he had exaggerated his military record and had been accused of fraud.

Joy and Jafry were connected to each other through the Houston-area megachurch run by Joel Osteen. Joy's previous tech experience included work as project manager on Osteen's mobile app, the Guardian found.

HUD is slated to spend $400 million on IT in FY2018. The agency's FY2019 budget request has that figure dropping to $300 million for 2019.