U.S. CTO stepping down

U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park is stepping down from the job he has held since March 2012, and plans to take on a new role working as part of the White House team from Silicon Valley, a source familiar with the matter told FCW.

In his new post, Park will focus on recruiting top tech talent to the federal government, channeling ideas from the tech community into smarter IT delivery efforts, the source said.

Recently, Park played a role in bringing in ex-Googler Mikey Dickerson into government as director of the U.S. Digital Services team.

"The move and new role allows Todd to return to California at the end of the month, in time for the start of school for his children," the source told FCW. "He and his wife have planned to move back to Silicon Valley for a long time, and after multiple extensions of his tour of duty in Washington, he needs to move back home for family reasons."

Park joined the Obama administration in August 2009 as CTO at the Health and Human Services Department, where he played a central role in the original 2010 launch of HealthCare.gov. Then, when the 2013 iteration of the site proved unable to handle citizens' searches and attempts to register for coverage, Park stepped back in to help oversee the fixes and relaunch. 

Prior to government service, Park co-founded Athenahealth and Castlight, a web-based health care shopping service for consumers.

An official announcement from the White House on Park's departure is expected soon.

Note: This article was updated on Aug. 22 to clarify Park's role in the various iterations of HealthCare.gov.