Charles Church signed up to work for the government a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with one intent: to help national security with his knowledge of information technology. His plan was to stay five years and return to the private sector once his sons reached college age. In the end, Church stayed a bit longer — and not without his share of successes. Just last year, Church was one of three federal CIOs recognized by a committee of eight of the top editors and writers from Ziff Davis publications, CIO Insight, Baseline and eWeek. Now, as Church departs for the private sector, he looks back on his record of success — and the lessons learned along the way.
What are you proud of most as you leave DHS?
Charles Church: I am most proud of being given the opportunity to establish the Chief Information Office for the National Protection and Programs Directorate, Preparedness Directorate, and Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) Directorate. This included the creation of all programs that manage the IT operations of an organization in accordance with the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1966 (i.e., Clinger-Cohen Act) and E-Government Act of 2002, which includes establishing and maintaining sound IT management and acquisition systems. Each directorate received all “Green” for the President Management Agenda e-governance grades. A close second was being selected in 2007 as the #27 ranked CIO in the United States by a committee of eight of the top editors and writers from Ziff Davis publications CIO Insight, Baseline and eWeek from the ranks of current U.S.-based CIOs who do not work for technology vendors in May 2007. I was one of three Federal CIO’s to be selected for this honor.
Why are you leaving to join ACS?
Charles Church: I joined the government (U.S. Treasury) a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in October, 2001 with the intent to help national security with my knowledge of information technology. My plan was to stay five years and depart back to the private sector once my sons reached college age. I had such a great time and I stayed a little bit longer.
What will be your role and responsibilities at ACS?
Charles Church: I will be the Vice President/Client Relationship Executive - Homeland Security and Defense. I will direct and coordinate activities of functions or business units for which responsibility is delegated to further attainment of goals and objectives. In addition, I will select, develop, motivate, and deploy staff of highly competent executives, managerial, and professional employees to effectively support the functions of the divisions.
Tell us about ACS.
Charles Church: Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (NYSE: ACS) is a premier provider of diversified business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology outsourcing (ITO) solutions to commercial and government clients worldwide. Based in Dallas, ACS is a FORTUNE 500 company of 62,000 people supporting client operations reaching more than 100 countries. They provide their customers with superior BPO services including administration; finance and accounting; human resources; payment services; sales, marketing, and customer care; and supply chain management. They provide their customers with world-class ITO offerings include applications solutions; data center management; disaster recovery; end-user computing; network management; security services; storage solutions; technology review, assessment, and planning; and transition services for human resources.
Any thoughts on DHS as you depart for the private sector?
Charles Church: I would like to thank all the people that help contribute to my team’s success at DHS. I am a strong believer that although organizations will come and go that people don’t. Great people are our #1 resource and I have worked with some of the best.
Loading ...