Department of Veterans Affairs appoints Neil Evans as acting CIO
The Department of Veterans Affairs has appointed Neil Evans as acting chief information officer.
He takes over the role from Dominic Cussatt, who is understood to have left the agency to join the State Department.
An agency spokesperson said Cussatt has assumed a dual role at State, holding the positions of both chief information for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and director of the INR Office of Technology and Innovation.
Evans was previously chief officer of the agency’s Office of Connected Care and takes up the job after a two-decade career at the VA. He continues to work as a physician, and previous roles include a stint as a senior adviser to the Federal Electronic Health Modernization Program Office.
While Evans takes the role of VA CIO in an acting capacity, in an official capacity it requires presidential nomination and Senate approval.
Earlier this year, Cussatt became acting CIO at VA following the departure of former CIO James Gfrerer, who left in January at the start of the Biden administration. Earlier in Cussatt’s two-decade career spanning the public and private sectors, he worked as national co-chair of the NATO Information Assurance and Cyber Defense Capability Panel, and as deputy CISO at the Department of Defense.
A VA spokesperson confirmed Evans’ appointment.
Note: This story was updated to include details of Cussatt’s new appointments at the State Department.
