Meet the CIOs: HUD

Cabinet Agencies

HUD: Steve Yohai

Steve Yohai

STEVEN M. YOHAI
Housing and Urban Development
451 Seventh St. S.W. #4160
Washington, D.C. 20410
Phone: 202-708-0306
Fax: 202-708-3577
E-mail: steve_yohai@hud.gov

Career Highlights:

1996-Present: Director of HUD's Office of IT
1992-96: Director of HUD's Systems Engineering Group
1990-92: Manager of network systems at MCI
1987-90: Director of HUD's Systems Engineering Group
1986-87: Director of management information systems at Dewberry and Davis engineering firm

IT Budget (fiscal years):
1996: $156 million
1997: $213 million
1998: $240 million

Priority Projects:

  • Model Office - using data warehouses, imaging technology and Internet capabilities to help integrate HUD programs.
  • Integrated Disbursement and Information System - using project mapping and special databases to streamline and enhance grant process.
  • HUDware IT - implementing standard user interface.

Biggest Challenges:

"Facilitating truly strategic big-picture thinking on the part of senior agency management. Sometimes merely improving the efficiency of a process isn't enough; we can outsource it or even eliminate it altogether."

Management Approach:

"HUD has established a process for reviewing, scoring, ranking and selecting the projects comprising its IT investment portfolio. High-level business participation is captured through a technology investment board, comprised of senior program managers, and a management committee comprised of the CIO and program assistant secretaries and chaired by the deputy secretary."

On CIOs:

"The chief information officer must establish credibility with senior managers before being taken seriously as a partner in strategic agency planning. Credibility is attained by being responsive to requests for service and making good on schedules for delivery of important systems."

Hottest Technologies:

"We are using the Internet and electronic data interchange to streamline core business functions. Groupware, imaging and intranet technology are facilitating internal communications. And client-server technology is being used to build data warehouses, mapping tools and lower-cost central processing systems."

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