The Big Fix

Todd Grams led IRS modernization back from the brink.

Todd Grams hasn't had any easy jobs in his federal career. There's nothing simple about managing the finances of one of the country's largest health care systems, or the secure business operations of an agency that collects trillions of dollars from taxpayers each year. And all performed under the watchful eye of Congress, of course.

Grams entered the Senior Executive Service in his early 30s. At 48, he already has tackled the IRS' sprawling and dysfunctional Business Systems Modernization, designed to better serve taxpayers; developed patient-based funding that re-allocated more than $500 million across the Veterans Affairs Department's 22 health care networks, increasing the number of customers served; and brokered a deal with one of government's largest labor unions to trim jobs while keeping layoffs to a minimum.

Grams started his career at the Census Bureau, which recruited him out of college. The graduate of the University of Maryland then landed at the Office of Management and Budget in the 1980s, working under then-Director David Stockman, and he was hooked. "The opportunities for professional growth at OMB are just tremendous," says Grams, who left the IRS in July 2006 and is now chief financial officer at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology. "When you are at OMB, you are exposed to everything across the government."

By the time Grams joined the IRS as chief financial officer in 2001, the agency already had burned through 10 CFOs in as many years. It's more than a little ironic that the government's most famous financial institution regularly flunked its annual audits. During Grams' tenure as CFO, the agency received consistently clean audit opinions from the Government Accountability Office.

The Business Systems Modernization program, which is still on GAO's high-risk list, was in even deeper trouble when Grams took the helm as IRS' chief information officer in 2003. But he scaled back modernization efforts; created a leadership team that included longtime federal employees who knew the IRS and the project and private sector people with fresh perspectives; and rejiggered the agency's agreement with its contractor, which saved money and increased accountability. He says his approach to his career has always been values-driven: "What are the taxpayers getting from their money when that money is given to me to manage?" He also worked closely with the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS employees, to restructure the workforce. He ultimately eliminated 1,000 jobs but managed to figure out a way for 97 percent of the people affected to either retire or find positions elsewhere in the agency.

Grams, who has moved easily between the titles chief financial officer and chief information officer throughout his federal career, knows both jobs are about more than crunching numbers and overseeing IT projects. They're about managing relationships and helping people accomplish goals that benefit them and the public. He says, simply, "Having the right people around you is critical."