Release No. 0216.97

                                           Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                                 laura.trivers@usda.gov
                                          Martha Cashion (202) 720-3310
                                                martha.cashion@usda.gov

HOBBS SELECTED AS DEPUTY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER FOR USDA

     WASHINGTON, July 2, 1997--Ira L Hobbs has been selected as the deputy
chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according
to acting Chief Information Officer Anne F. Thomson Reed.

     As deputy CIO, Hobbs shares responsibility for the overall management
of USDA's information resources management and information technology
assets, managing a staff of 260 IRM professionals and $1.7 billion in
physical assets.  

     "Ira Hobbs brings to the job a strong background in IRM as well as
administrative management," Reed said. "Given the ever-increasing emphasis
and reliance on technology in all aspects of the work place, he will help
USDA move toward the 21st century with a new vision of the way we do our
work."

     Prior to accepting the position as deputy CIO, Hobbs was the director
of USDA's Office of Operations from May 1994 to June 1997.  He had overall
responsibility for management of the four-building headquarters complex and
directed the departmental procurement program.  He received USDA's Honor
Award for Superior Service in 1996. 

     Previously, Hobbs was the director of the Information Systems and
Communications Division of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
from August 1989 to April 1994.  He served as the deputy director of that
division before becoming the director with responsibility for the overall
IRM program of APHIS.

     Hobbs began his career with USDA as a Presidential Management Intern
in 1978.  He was a personnel management specialist within APHIS' Human
Resources Division from 1980 to 1983 and then he became branch chief and
later deputy director of APHIS' Administrative Services Division from 1983
through 1988.  He was responsible for management and delivery of services in
Procurement, Space and Property Management, Information Management Programs,
Safety and Health, and development of agencywide policy in these areas.  He
received USDA's Honor Award for Superior Service in 1985.

     Hobbs is a native of Tallahassee, Fla.  After a three-year tour of
duty in the United States Army, he received a B.A. degree in political
science from Florida A&M University in 1976.  He earned a master of public
administration degree from Florida State University in 1977.  During that
same year he received the Odell Waldby Outstanding Graduate Student of
Public Administration Award.
     
     Hobbs is a member of the Presidents Committee for Purchasing from the
Blind and Severely Disabled; Leadership Washington, Class of 1996; the
American Society for Public Administration; and the Conference of Minority
Public Administrators.