EPA's CIO heading to the private sector

Al Pesachowitz, the first chief information officer at the Environmental

Protection Agency, is leaving government for a job in the private sector.

EPA administrator Carol Browner announced Tuesday that he will be replaced

by Edwin A. Levine. Levine has worked for six years in Florida in the governor's

Office of Policy and Budget on a variety of IT issues, including policy,

planning and budgeting.

In announcing the personnel change, Browner said Pesachowitz, as the

first vice president of the CIO Council, "provided direction that strengthened

information programs throughout government."

In a telephone interview, Pesachowitz said his biggest achievement as

CIO was developing the EPA World Wide Web site and building an environmental

data warehouse to integrate environmental data.

"My biggest challenge has been to use information technology to make

better environmental decisions," Pesachowitz said.

Pesachowitz will spend the next three months on a temporary assignment

at the EPA and then move on to the private sector. He did not say where.

Levine, who will take office on April 3, will serve as the EPA's interim

CIO. He has served as staff director of the Joint Legislative Committee

on Information Technology Resources in the Florida Legislature. He also

has worked for the state of Washington developing information technology

policy.