ACS gains VA deputy secretary

Leo Mackay, the Department of Veterans Affairs deputy secretary, is leaving the agency to join Affiliated Computer Systems Inc. of Dallas, which provides business process and IT outsourcing services. He will take a senior executive position in its health care solutions business in Atlanta.

Mackay had held the department's second-highest post since May 2001 and oversaw VA's daily operations. He improved the department's procurement, finance and computer-based operations, established a joint executive committee with the Defense Department to coordinate senior-level policies, and strengthened the "national shrine commitment" to improve VA-run national cemeteries.

Mackay is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Navy's Top Gun training program. He was a vice president of Bell Helicopter Textron before joining VA.