Australian financial regulator hires a CIO

National financial regulator AFSA has completed a four-month executive hunt by hiring Jessica Ho as its new chief information officer.

The Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA), headquartered in Canberra, is the Commonwealth agency in charge of personal insolvency and trustee services, as well as the national system for checking whether third parties hold security interests over prospective real-estate purchases.

The top IT role at the increasingly technology-dependent organisation has been filled in an acting capacity by Todd Porter for just over a year.

AFSA officially notified the public service this week that former ACT government technology executive Jessica Ho had won the role, following an open recruitment begun in September last year.

Ho joins the federal government after nearly three and a half years with the ACT’s shared services group, where she was the director of business development.

According to her Linkedin profile, Ho has also completed stints at the Department of Defence and the Department of Employment.

AFSA’s latest annual report states the IT division is currently focusing on its enterprise architecture to modernise its infrastructure base. The regulator said it is actively exploring ways to extend its cloud footprint.