GPO forms new digital director position

The agency charged with distributing government publications has created a new executive-level position to lead the agency's transition into the Digital Age.

This week, the Government Printing Office announced it has promoted Thomas “T.C.” Evans, deputy superintendent of documents, to assistant chief of staff for strategic initiatives.

GPO's Chief of Staff Office had been overseeing GPO's strategic vision.

“It is one of GPO's top priorities to implement the strategic vision for the future of the agency,” said GPO spokeswoman Veronica Meter. “In the role of the newly created assistant chief of staff for strategic initiatives, T.C. Evans will be charged with elevating the vision to the level of executing the strategy.”

GPO's vision, published in December 2004, calls for a future digital system that would verify and track all versions of official content, assure authenticity and provide permanent public access for all branches of government. Citizens would be able to access the system via the Internet.

The modern system will automate most of the content life cycle by October 2007. Information will be available via Web browsing, downloading and printing and will feature search tools and redundant data warehouses.

Effective Oct. 1, Evans will guide GPO’s transformation from a 19th-century printing press operation to a 21st-century electronic information system. GPO will soon relocate from its historic buildings near Union Station to a smaller facility that is more appropriate for the less cumbersome process of digital printing.

For two years, Evans held the second highest-ranking position in GPO’s information dissemination division, which guides the federal depository library program. The program's 1,300 depository libraries are responsible for providing permanent public access to the nearly 2.2 million government documents, including reference maps, the U.S. Code, the Code of Federal Regulations, the Congressional Record and the National Trade Data Bank.

“We have searched the GPO’s executive ranks to find just the right person to help propel the implementation of strategic initiatives,” said Bob Tapella, GPO’s chief of staff. “T.C.’s insight and deep understanding of the information dissemination field will ensure the agency keeps a primary focus on keeping the public informed.”

Evans began his GPO career in 1981 as a supply systems analyst in the Superintendent of Documents technical support group. On the side, he attended classes to earn an MBA from Marymount University. He became a manager in 1988, the year he completed his degree.