Janet L. Barnes

Office of Personnel and Management
Janet L. Barnes
Chief Information Officer

Of the two dozen original chief information officers who were appointed in 1996, only Janet L. Barnes remains. Her longevity is remarkable because of the high turnover in the position at other agencies, some of which have been through three, four or five since the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act officially mandated the top IT jobs.

"I like what I'm doing," Barnes says. "I don't have a reason to leave." As the Office of Personnel Management's CIO, she shepherded the human resources agency through the year 2000 computer bug transition, built up information security defenses and consolidated technology infrastructure. "Information technology is still a key piece of accomplishing the mission," she says. A key question governing her actions is how the agency can "continually do more with less." Thus, she's working to strengthen the investment review process.

As co-chair of the Chief Information Officers Council's IT Workforce Committee, Barnes is keeping an eye on the skills needs of federal agencies. Employees with expertise in information security, project management and enterprise architecture are in demand, she says. To develop such talent, she is helping coordinate an exchange program in which private sector technology specialists spend time working at government agencies and federal workers spend time in the private sector. She also works closely with OPM's e-government coordinator, Norm Enger, on projects to put more human resources functions across government online.

Before coming to OPM, Barnes served as the IT chief at the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and at the Pension Bene-fit Guaranty Corporation. The New York native holds an undergraduate degree in math from Hofstra University and an MBA from the University of Virginia.