As CFO, Grams will oversee the custodial accounting of $2 trillion in tax revenue plus the $8.8 billion budget of the IRS. He will also manage strategic planning, performance management, financial accounting systems, financial policy and budget formulation and execution. He replaces acting CFO Lawrence Rogers, who is still with the IRS, working in an advisory capacity with commissioner Rossotti.

Grams has a deep background in managing the finances of major government institutions. Most recently, he served as acting assistant secretary for management and CFO of the Department of Veteran Affairs, where he managed a budget of $47 billion. Prior to that, as CFO of the VA's healthcare system, he oversaw a budget of $19 billion. Before joining the VA in 1994, Grams worked in the Office of Management and Budget. In the year 2000, he received the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service.

Reece takes on the duties of both chief information officer and deputy commissioner, which have been consolidated into one position. He replaces former CIO Paul Cosgrave who left the agency in January and moved to New York to be closer to his family. Cosgrave is now in private practice. Reece also replaces former deputy commissioner John LaFaver, who works at the Treasury Department.

Reece will be responsible for all information technologies operations for the service and will oversee its many projects on business systems modernization. Those projects include the reorganization of computer systems and the updating of business practices and other aspects of technology.

Reece comes into the position with a new organization structure already in place. His job will be to build on that structure by modernizing the systems that it supports.

IRS Commissioner Charles O. Rossotti was confident that Reece's background in the private sector would contribute to his capacity to bring IRS technology up to the standards of American business. Rossotti said that Reece is "exactly what the IRS needs now."

Reece joins the IRS from Time Warner, where he worked with the Information Technology managers of seven business units to establish global messaging, networking, intranet, information security and supplier leveraging systems.

Prior to Time Warner, Reece served as chief information officer at Alexander & Alexander, a global insurance broker, where he implemented a worldwide information and telecommunications strategy. He has also worked with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Strategic Planning associates, IBM, Union Carbide, and American Express.

-- SmartPros News Staff

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