Karl Mathias to Join NASA, Leave Chief Information Post at HHS

Karl Mathias, the Department of Health and Human Services’ chief information officer, has announced that he will step down on Dec. 1 to assume an undisclosed role at NASA.

HHS Deputy CIO Jennifer Wendel will serve as acting CIO when Mathias exits, Federal News Network reported.

Meanwhile, La Monte Yarborough, the department’s chief information security officer, is expected to serve as acting deputy CIO.

Mathias, a 2023 Wash100 winner, wrote in an email to staff that his new NASA role would allow him to “get back into the engineering realm.”

He is the eighth individual to fill the HHS CIO role in a permanent or acting capacity in seven years.

Mathias previously served as CIO of the Marshals Service, where he oversaw a new cloud migration process for applications and systems. Earlier, he served as deputy head of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s electrical engineering department.

His educational background includes a doctorate in computer science and software engineering from Auburn University.