Leiss becomes CIO for Office of Thrift Supervision

The Office of Thrift Supervision has tapped Wayne Leiss to become its new CIO.

Leiss, a former Office of Federal Financial Management official, began his new job in early October following about 14 months as CIO of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“This is an agency that is twice the size of CFTC and twice its budget. … It is more responsibility,” he said. “I also spent 12 years working in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which has a similar mission to OTS.”

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency regulates the nation’s banks, while the Office of Thrift Supervision regulates the nation’s savings and loan institutions.

Leiss will take over for Tim Ward, who held the CIO and chief financial officer position for the last four years. Ward will remain CFO.

Leiss said one of his top priorities will be to migrate OTS to a payroll provider.

“This is a very well run agency,” he said. “What is unique here is the pragmatism to get work done quickly. This agency is in touch with their customers’ needs by an order of magnitude that dwarfs other agencies.”

Leiss, who has been in government for more than 25 years, received his MBA from Stanford University, holds a master’s in systems engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s in aerospace and mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.