Budget

DorobekInsider: UPDATED – Grams to join VA as principal deputy assistant secretary for management

UPDATE as of 1:20p ET: W. Todd Grams, who serves as the chief financial officer at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and previously serv...

Federal News Network Staff

November 6, 2009 11:29 am

3 min read

UPDATE as of 1:20p ET: W. Todd Grams, who serves as the chief financial officer at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and previously served as the chief information officer at the Internal Revenue Service, will actually be the principal deputy assistant secretary for management starting Monday.

Rita Reed, who has been serving in that post, is retiring at the end of February and she will be helping Grams with the transition until she retires.

Here’s what Rita told colleagues about Grams’ position:

Mr. Grams will be filling a SES position as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management. Mr. Grams will be responsible for overseeing Departmental resource requirements, development and implementing of agency performance measures and financial management activities relating to VA programs and operations. This includes managing a Departmental accounting and financial management system that provides for management cost, budgeting and accounting information. In addition his office will oversee the capital asset management activities that include important new energy initiatives across VA.

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It sounds like a CFO, but…

We are hearing that W Todd Grams, who serves as the chief financial officer at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and previously served as the chief information officer at the Internal Revenue Service, will join the Department of Veterans Affairs as the acting chief financial officer.

Grams has served mostly in the CFO side of organizations, although before 2001, he served as VA’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Management which included the roles of the Department’s Chief Financial Officer and Senior Procurement Executive.

Here is his bio from NIST…

W. Todd Grams
Chief Financial Officer

W. Todd Grams is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology. Appointed in July 2006, he is responsible for all NIST-wide administrative offices and functions, including: human resources, information technology, safety, facilities, construction, finance, acquisitions and grants management, budget, and security.

From 2003 through 2006 Grams served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where he was responsible for all IRS IT functions nationwide. He led the turnaround of the long-struggling business systems modernization program and restructured 15 percent (1,000 positions) of the IT workforce to improve effectiveness and efficiency. From 2001 to 2003 he was the CFO of the IRS where he was responsible for the accounting of $2 trillion in tax receipts and the oversight of the IRS’ $10 billion operating budget. Under Grams’ leadership the IRS’ achieved its first-ever consecutive years of clean audit opinions while improving the quality and timeliness of financial data.

Read more: Budget

Prior to joining the IRS, Grams served at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from 1994 to 2001, initially as the first CFO of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and then as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Management of the VA. He instituted improved financial discipline over an annual health care budget of $17 billion through a new resource allocation system that significantly reduced patient costs, increased the number of patients treated, and increased the quality of care.

Grams served in a variety of positions at the Office of Management and Budget from 1983 to 1994, including appropriations bill tracker, budget examiner, and Chief of the Veterans Affairs Branch. He began his career at the Bureau of the Census in 1980 as a budget analyst.

In 2006, he received the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service at the IRS. In 2000, he received the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service at the VA. In 1997, he received the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service at the VA. Grams graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1980.