Obama appoints Park as technology chief

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WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- The White House Friday announced Todd Park as U.S. chief technology officer, replacing Aneesh Chopra, the country's first CTO who left the post last month.

Appointed to the chief post by President Obama Friday, Park has been serving as CTO of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services since August 2009.

Hired as the HHS "entrepreneur-in-residence," Park has been instrumental in harnessing the power of data, technology and innovations to improve the health of all Americans, an approach the president has asked Park to bring to a broader national technology mission, a White House release said.

The U.S. CTO is responsible for ensuring the adoption of innovative technologies to support administration priorities, including job creation, broader access to affordable healthcare, enhanced energy efficiency, a more open government, and national and homeland security.

"Todd Park has demonstrated a remarkable talent for enlisting innovative technologies to modernize government, reduce waste, and make government information more accessible to the public," Obama said. "In his new position he will bring those skills to the entire Federal enterprise, ensuring that government will serve all Americans fairly, effectively, and efficiently."

At HHS, Park led the creation of HealthCare.gov, the first Web site to provide consumers with a comprehensive inventory of public and private health insurance plans, and the Health Data Initiative, making vast amounts of information from the vaults of HHS easily downloadable by the public.