The Department of Human Services (DHS) has appointed a former ANZ Australia CIO, Gary Sterrenberg, after a four month search.
Sterrenberg will succeed retiring CIO, John Wadeson, who exited the role in September after five years with the department. Sterrenberg will commence the role on 24 October.
A DHS spokesperson said that Sterrenberg's history in the banking industry would be an asset as it involved significant work with numerous complex systems and was a customer-focused organisation.
Sterrenberg has experience in managerial and leadership roles including the responsibility for the business outcomes of around 800 branches at ANZ, as well as a large ATM and EFTPOS network and six call centres distributed across the country.
Prior to joining ANZ, Sterrenberg held roles with the National Australia Bank (NAB) and a global position with Shell.
In the interim, DHS general manager for health and older Australians, systems division, Eija Seittenranta, has been acting in the CIO role.
“Gary will be continuing our service delivery reform which is the integration of Medicare, Child Support and Centrelink’s IT systems,” the spokesperson said.
“John masterminded the plan and came up with the design and now Gary has stepped in and will be implementing it, but it’s still early stages.”
The department received some $576.2 million in ICT funding in the 2011-12 federal budget to improve access and portfolio business.
$373.6 million was allocated over a four year period for the integration of Medicare Australia, Centrelink and the Child Support Agency’s ICT infrastructure.
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