Billy Mitchell writes Vargas succeeds former OPM CIO Donna Seymour, who announced her retirement from the agency in February.
Acting OPM Director Beth Cobert informed lawmakers of Vargasâ appointment during testimony to the House Appropriations subcommittee on financial services and general government on the agencyâs budget request for fiscal year 2017.
Cobert, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2016, also cited Vargasâ involvement in OPMâs IT modernization efforts at the hearing.
Vargas served as director of human resources information technology transformation at OPM prior to his associate CIO post.
Prior to OPM, he spent more than two decades at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and held senior executive roles there such as associate deputy assistant secretary and director of financial assessments for HUD’s real estate assessment center.