Charles Havekost

Health and Human Services
Charles Havekost
Chief Information Officer

For Charles Havekost, chief information officer at the Health and Human Services Department, consolidation is king. Like many federal agencies, HHS is engaged in several efforts to merge nonproprietary business systems with those of other agencies. But the department also is looking across government to merge in the areas of grants and health research.

HHS is consolidating the administration systems at the National Institutes of Health for all research and discretionary grants, Havekost says. In addition, the department is a leading player in the Grants.gov Web site, which is now the government's public point of entry for anyone looking to apply for any type of federal grant. The Grants.gov portal is something "near and dear to my heart," Havekost says. Before becoming CIO, he ran the program. "It has proven that we can consolidate and streamline forms and use the same kind of data collection tools," Havekost says. He adds that the grants site can serve as a model for other agencies. "We all think our business is unique and special. And there are things about it that are," Havekost says. "But we have to recognize that there are things about our business that have a lot in common and are or should be exactly the same."

Havekost began his federal career as a junior fellow at NIH, and has worked more than a quarter-century in the technology and grants arenas. In 1999, he briefly left the federal government and became a director at a start-up telecommunications firm, BroadBand Office Inc. He returned to the government in 2001.

Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said Havekost's private sector experience prepared him for the role of CIO. "Charlie's experience from his years in the federal government and in the private sector make him an ideal candidate for bringing to HHS the best both worlds have to offer," Thompson said in April 2004, when Havekost became chief.