Virginia IT chief picked by Youngkin leaving after less than a month on the job

The new head of Virginia’s information technology agency is leaving after working less than a month in the position.

Phil Wittmer, who was tapped by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to be the chief information officer at the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), is stepping down from his post, a Youngkin aide confirmed to The Hill on Friday.

It was not immediately clear why Wittmer was leaving. The Richmond Times-Disptach first reported of Wittmer’s departure. The Hill has reached out to VITA and Youngkin’s office for further comment.

Between July 2015 and February 2018, Wittmer had served as Kansas’s chief information technology officer, Government Technology magazine reported. Wittmer worked in private sector information technology for over 20 years and had returned to private sector work after resigning from his role in Kansas.

Wittmer took over the CIO position from Nelson Moe, who had been with VITA for close to seven years, the Times-Dispatch noted. The agency’s chief operating officer, Jonathan Ozovek, said earlier this week that he would also be stepping down from his position Feb. 25, StateScoop reported.

“I said upon arrival that I’m gone when Nelson’s gone,” Ozovek told StateScoop. “The reason by that is Nelson personally brought me on in 2019 to perform a turnaround on VITA and then to push technology transformation in Virginia. I do believe we’ve achieved very good success and we have one of the best teams out there in terms of technology.”

Ozovek said he would be moving into a private sector role.