Charles E. Johnson

Health and Human Services
Charles E. Johnson
Chief Financial Officer,
Assistant Secretary for Budget,
Technology and Finance

Charles E. Johnson, chief financial officer for the Health and Human Services Department, laughs when asked how his job differs from his similar post at the Environmental Protection Agency.

"There, I had an $8 billion budget. At HHS, I have a $660 billion budget," he says, adding that HHS is "much larger in size and more complex, and much more decentralized than EPA." Johnson's stint at both agencies, however, does have one thing in common: the same boss. Mike Leavitt, who was administrator at EPA, recently became secretary at HHS. It's not a coincidence. From 1992 to 1997, Johnson served as chief of staff when Leavitt was governor of Utah and then as director of his 2000 reelection campaign. He helped Leavitt win a third gubernatorial term, only the second time in Utah history that has happened.

Also assistant secretary for budget, technology and finance, Johnson says he is just settling into his new job-he came on board in July-but a key focus will be updating HHS technology to serve current as well as anticipated demands from the expansion of Medicare.

A more long-term goal, which is part of Leavitt's "500-day plan," is creating an electronic system for managing individual health records, replacing paperwork, to make the health care system more efficient while also protecting privacy, Johnson says.

Johnson spent 31 years in public accounting at firms, including KPMG. He says many of the skills he learned during his career-to communicate, to lead people, to delegate-are the same ones he needs in government. But, he says, one trait is far more necessary in his federal job: patience.

"There are many, many layers," he says. "I found it very hard at the beginning, but all I was doing was frustrating myself. I had to learn to work with it."