Department of Health CIO leaves IT for finance

Just five months into his stint as chief information officer at the federal Department of Health, Matt Yannopoulos has moved sideways to take over the agency's finance division.

Matt Yannopoulos

Yannopoulos joined Health in May this year after close to two years as the CIO at the Department of Immigration.

At Health he assumed responsibility for the systems that support the department’s operations, and took the lead on the transition to a new outsourced IT provider following a major market testing that saw infrastructure and support taken off IBM and handed to Datacom.

He will now take on the role of first assistant secretary overseeing Health's portfolio investment division.

Yannopoulos' responsibilities will include financial policy development, budget management, financial reporting, procurement and shared services. 

A spokesperson for Health said there were synergies with his new role and the CIO position. She said Yannopoulos was considered the best man for the finance role but declined to comment further on the move.

Daniel McCabe, head of IT for Health's Therapeutic Goods Administration, is acting as the CIO as the department once again hunts for a new IT chief.

The remit of the chief information officer position will remain the same, the spokesperson said.

Both the portfolio investment division and information technology division fall within Health's chief operating group, under COO Elizabeth Cosson.