DeVries Named OPM's CIO

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced Tuesday it has appointed David DeVries as its new chief information officer. DeVries now leaves the Defense Department, where he serves as the department’s principal deputy chief information officer under Terry Halvorsen.

DeVries will join OPM as CIO in the coming weeks. “I’m elated that David has decided to join our team here at OPM,” Beth Cobert, acting director of OPM, said in a statement. “David has decades worth of the technical and management experience necessary to hit the ground running as we continue our technology transformation efforts, and work with our partners at DOD to stand up the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB).”

He takes the post vacated when Donna Seymour resigned following the massive OPM data breach that impacted more than 21 million current and former federal employees. Hackers breached OPM's systems in 2014, stealing data including Social Security numbers, job assignments, performance reviews, insurance details and training certificates. Officials did not detect the breach until April 2015.

“Dave will be missed by DOD, but DOD isn’t losing his expertise,” DOD CIO Halvorsen said in a statement. “As DOD and OPM continue to improve current IT systems and begin the development of the new IT services and environment to support the NBIB, he will play a key leadership role, ensuring integration between OPM and DOD.”

While at the Pentagon, DeVries worked on the department’s mammoth Joint Information Environment (JIE) endeavor and has worked with the intelligence community (IC) on the IC IT Enterprise (ICITE). "Dave will have the ability to bring expertise from DOD into OPM, and ensure that DOD understands how lessons learned from the new IT can be applied within DOD and the other federal agencies,” Halvorsen stated. “This will be a win that improves IT information sharing across all federal departments and agencies."

For his new role, DeVries will focus on enhancing OPM's cybersecurity posture—in cooperation with its interagency partners—as part of President Barack Obama's Cybersecurity National Action Plan, according to OPM's announcement.

DeVries holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle. He also is a graduate of the Army Senior Service College and served as a corporate fellow with IBM Business Consulting Services while participating in the Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellowship Program.