Michael W. Carleton Selected as GSA Chief Information Officer

GSA #9734

September 19, 2000
Contact: Bill Bearden (202) 501-1231
bill.bearden@gsa.gov

WASHINGTON, DC -- Michael W. Carleton has been selected as the new Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the U.S. General Services Administration. He will replace William "Bill" Piatt, who will be leaving the agency on October 20 for a post in the private sector.

Carleton joined GSA as assistant CIO and has been serving as Acting CIO for the Public Buildings Service since June 2000.

"I am very pleased that we were able to get Mike Carleton to accept this position, because now he can step in and be a strong leader right away. This is a time of great competition for talent in the technology world, and we at GSA have been serious about trying to attract talented people who are leaders and have strong information technology skills; Mike is one of those people," said GSA Administrator David J. Barram. "He brings excellent technical credentials and a well-earned reputation for developing people into leaders. Every day GSA must continue to earn its place as a force for innovation in the federal system. With people like Mike Carleton in our leadership team, I have every confidence that we will do so."

GSA's CIO is the principal advisor to the Administrator and all GSA offices on information technology and its potential for improving customer service and the performance of GSA's operations. The CIO leads governance of IT investments, aligning corporate and business line investments to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency, in addition to operating the agency's core IT infrastructure.

About his new position Carleton said, "I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead GSA's continuing aggressive use of information technology. GSA's commercial-like business practices and its electonic government strategies make this a very exciting place to be today and for the foreseeable future." Carleton said that there are lots of exciting challenges on the horizon. "Evolving the FirstGov.gov portal at Internet speed, collaborating with the various GSA Services on IT capital investments, and achieving a world class information infrastructure for service delivery are at the top of my agenda."

Prior to joining GSA, Carleton served as Chief Information Officer for the Office of the Secretary and Deputy Director of the Office of Information Resources Management at the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services from September 1996 until June 2000. His experience demonstrates leadership, organizational skills, technical management, human resource management and development, policy development, and customer service. Recent assignments include information technology investment reviews, millennium readiness, computer security critical infrastructure protection, and bureau-level service delivery of applications systems, wide and local area network management, and desktop computer support.

Carleton earned an M.S. in Information Resources Management, from Syracuse University in 1998. He is also a graduate of the National Defense University Information Resources Management College, the Society for Information Management Regional Learning Forum, and the Federal Executive Institute. His M.P.A. is from Northeastern University, and his B.S. is from Boston University.

Carleton is a past president of the Capital Area Chapter of the Society for Information Management. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Offender Aid and Restoration of Arlington County. He also teaches in an executive development program for emerging CIOs. He lives in Arlington, VA, with his wife Jeuli Bartenstein.