Richard A. Spires

Richard A. Spires currently serves as an independent consultant specializing in senior-level operations and information technology issues for large-scale corporations, IT product companies, and US Federal Government entities.

Mr. Spires was appointed and served as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO) from August 2009 till May 2013. In this capacity, Mr. Spires was responsible for the strategy and operations of the department’s annual $5.6 billion investment in Information Technology (IT). Mr. Spires was the chairman of the DHS Chief Information Officer Council and the Enterprise Architecture Board. Mr. Spires also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Federal Government CIO Council and the Co-Chairman of the Committee for National Security Systems (CNSS), the committee that sets standards for the US Government’s classified systems.

Mr. Spires held a number of positions at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2004 through 2008. He served as the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, having overall responsibility for the key support and administrative functions for the IRS, to include Information Technology, Human Capital, Finance, Shared Services, Real Estate, and Security functions. Prior to becoming Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Spires served as the IRS’ CIO, with overall strategic and operational responsibility for a $2 billion budget and a 7,000-person Modernization and Information Technology Services organization. Mr. Spires led the IRS’s Business Systems Modernization program for two and half years, which is one of the largest and most complex information technology modernization efforts undertaken to date.

From 2000 through 2003, Mr. Spires served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Mantas, Inc., a software company that provides business intelligence solutions to the financial services industry. In helping to establish Mantas, Mr. Spires successfully led efforts to raise $29 million in venture funding. Prior to Mantas, Mr. Spires spent more than 16 years serving in a number of technical and managerial positions at SRA International.

Mr. Spires has been involved in a number of entrepreneurial initiatives. He is an investor and currently sits on the Board of Directors of Mortgage Harmony, a company bringing innovative loan products to the mortgage industry. He previously sat on the board of Mail2000, a company that provided distributed print operations throughout the United States. Mail2000 was sold to UPS Corporation in 2001.

Mr. Spires received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University. Mr. Spires has won a number of awards for his leadership in IT, to include the 2012 Fed 100 Government Executive Eagle Award, TechAmerica’s 2012 Government Executive of the Year, Government Computer News 2011 Civilian Government Executive of the Year and was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering in 2006.

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