Richard A. Spires to Serve as IRS Chief Information Officer

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Mark W. Everson today announced the appointment of Richard A. Spires as the agency’s new Chief Information Officer, effective Sept. 17.

Spires, a private-sector information technology executive before joining the IRS in early 2004, will be responsible for virtually all aspects of the IRS’ information technology systems, including its mission-critical modernization program.

“Richard has been an important contributor to the significant progress we’ve made over the past few years in our modernization efforts,” Everson said. “In particular, he successfully spearheaded our program that mandates the electronic filing of tax returns by large corporations and nonprofits. Some in the business community had questioned whether the necessary technical infrastructure could be developed. Richard oversaw this landmark effort, which achieved its goal.”

Spires served most recently as the Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Applications Development. In this role, he has had responsibility for more than 400 electronic systems within the IRS that support tax administration. Spires has also had oversight of the projects within the Business Systems Modernization (BSM) Program.

In partnership with the Small Business and Self-Employed Division and other IRS business units, Spires co-developed the agency’s Modernization Vision & Strategy and its associated Five-Year Plan for information technology development. The plan emphasizes smaller, incremental releases of products delivered more frequently, leverages existing systems where appropriate and takes a unified, portfolio-level view of investments.

From 2000 to mid-2003, Spires served as the President, Chief Operating Officer, and a Director of Mantas, Inc., a software product vendor. Prior to Mantas, Spires spent more than 16 years with SRA International, serving in a number of technical and managerial positions.

Spires received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and a bachelor of arts in mathematical sciences from the University of Cincinnati. He also holds a master of science in electrical engineering from The George Washington University.