Australia's New Immigration CIO - Matthew Yannopoulos

02 Sep 2013

Tony Kwan is retiring from his role as CIO of Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) after two and a half years in the role. Taking his place is Matthew Yannopoulos, Chief Technology Officer of Australia’s Department of Defense.

DIAC confirmed in a statement that Yannopoulos will start from 7th October, 2013. According Yannopoulos’ LinkedIn profile, he has been the designated CIO since this month. However, he will be taking a few weeks to ‘learn a little of the business first’.

A spokesperson for the Department of Defense confirmed a report that Yannopoulos’ role is currently being temporarily filled by Major General Michael Milford.

Kwan came over to the role of DIAC’s CIO in 2011 from the Department of Housing, Families, Indigenous Affairs and Community Services. Yannopoulos had an extensive history in the federal government, dating back to 1990, including a comprehensive stint in the ATO (Australian Taxation Office) working on its IT refresh program called as the 'Change Agenda'.

During that time, Yannopoulos worked closely with the second commissioner of the ATO at that time, Greg Farr, who became the CIO of Department of Defense in 2007. Farr created the CTO role to help address the lack of a technology road map in the department, and his natural pick was Yannopoulos, who worked under him until Farr left the Department of Defense last year.

This year alone, Yannopoulos has been overseeing a significant overhaul of the department's desktop fleet, replacing multiple desktops per user with a single thin-client desktop.

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