VA Appoints Entrepreneur As New Chief Technology Officer

The Federal Savings Bank, an institution specialized in veteran loans, echoes news of the positive efforts made by the Department of Veteran Affairs to reduce the disability claims backlog.

The Federal Savings Bank supports a move by the Department of Veterans Affairs' commitment to reducing the disability claims backlog. The VA has appointed a technology savvy, Washington-based innovator to its ranks.

According to Nextgov, the VA has selected Marina Martin to replace Peter Levin, the VA's former chief technology officer who served for three years and recently resigned in March. While a formalized announcement has yet to take place, Jonah Czerwindski, the director of the VA Center for Innovation, tweeted, "We have a new CTO at @DeptVetAffairs! Welcome to @MarinaMartin!"

Author of "Business Efficiency for Dummies," and former CEO of the business efficiency consulting firm The Type-A Way, Martin served as senior adviser to Todd Park, the CTO at the White House. Park has referred to Martin as, "the baddest of the badass innovators." She was also the first entrepreneur-in-residence at the Education Department.

Information Week reported Martin, in 2012, was selected from a pool of 700 applicants to serve as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. With the intention of delivering meaningful results within six months, Martin spent half a year in Washington D.C. with 17 other fellows working on and enhancing federal government projects to that they'd better serve the public.

big Data Management Experience

Upon the activation of the Open Data Policy, which was created in order to make government data that was previously unavailable to the public accessible to researchers, members of the public and entrepreneurs. Known for improving data sets and standards, Martin worked on Project Open Data, a collection of case studies, tools and code that assisted numerous federal agencies integrate and launch the Open Data Policy. As a result of her work, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget released the Open Data Policy in May.

There has been intense scrutiny overshadowing much of the VA's activities concerning its handling of disability claims. As a result, the VA's difficulty surmounting its backlog could correlate with its decision to bring in such a notable technology innovator, especially regarding large data sets and efficiency - two things that the VA has struggled with since 2001. However, Eric Shinseki, the chairman of the VA, promised the backlog would be completely processed by 2015. With 66 percent of its claims now over 125 days old, Martin's arrival could help the VA achieve that goal.

Contact The Federal Savings Bank, a veteran owned bank, to discuss VA home loan eligibility and other home financing options such as low rate and FHA mortgages.